Holly McWilliams: Featured Artist
to
The Avens Gallery 101-710 Main Street, Canmore, Alberta T1W 0B9
Holly McWilliam, "Muninn," 2020
oil, 9" x 12"
The Inspiration of a Raven
Two of Holly McWilliams' most mystical and unique bodies of work were sparked by her love affair with colour! First came the Ravens as Holly studied some of her favorite colours: inky, midnight hues. After the Ravens came the Urban Landscapes also inspired by the same colour love affair.
" When I first started painting ravens and crows, I loved inky, midnight hues that were actually anything but black. What was even more exciting to me was how you could pop bright, electric colors into the highlights. My palette was oscillating from violets to indigos, lavender to sea foam green and I found my inspiration from how light hit the feathers of a raven." - HMW
Decades later and having painted hundreds of these birds, Holly still finds herself caught up in the fascination of the colorful midnight palette.
" The color palette I fell in love with has evolved into a collection of misty, ethereal landscapes. These pieces play with the magical moment of discovering how vivid and vast the array of color is in misty greys when you look for it. A relatively new body of work, the urban landscapes, is also inspired from the same color love affair." - HMW
Holly's urban landscapes are created from layers of indigos and inky violets sparked with turquoise and crimsons that give the illusion of dusk settling at that magical hour. The thick, lush paint of the bright street lights in her pieces play with the transparent magical wonderland of shadow making the viewer feel as if they were watching the sun set.
" Little did I know that the iridescent rainbow of color I was seeing would spark a love affair that has lasted for decades." - HMW