Thornbury artist Ivan Papazov-Vanche portrays the frailty and complexity of human emotion
After graduating from Ontario College of Art and Design (now OCAD University), Martha Bull began painting in watercolour in 1983 and started teaching painting on canoe trips 12 years ago. Since 2011, she has shared The Mill Street Art studio in Creemore with fellow artists Sue Miller, Peter Adams and Jennifer Johnson.
“Painting en plein air with watercolour lends itself to both quick sketches in the field and sustained study in my studio during winter,” says Bull, adding that while she works and teaches in other media, she always comes back to watercolour, which offers unparalleled vibrancy because the white of the paper shines through. “Watercolour allows us to respond and develop an art practice that suits our different natures, whether one is a flamboyant colourist who enjoys abstract expressionism or a botanist seeking precision,” she notes.
Her “Bee Inspired” show at the Collingwood Library, which ended in February, was an opportunity to immerse herself in the “endlessly fascinating” subject of bees. “I have been living and breathing bees now for quite a while and I’m not done with them yet,” she says. “I have incorporated some mixed media pieces and different substrates as well as some printmaking into the show. It has been a delightful way to work.”
Bull teaches students from beginner to advanced at the Bay School of Art in Collingwood and privately at the Mill Street Art Studio in Creemore, where she also shows and sells her work
(www.themillstreetartstudio.com). ❧
