Art Fx is a year-long series on Huntsville Doppler featuring Huntsville-area visual artists.
“Fire and Ice”, a 9″x12″ watercolour, was inspired by “the wonderful Ice Trail at Arrowhead Park, their Fire
and Ice evenings, and my love for creating wildlife characters,” says artist Catherine Luce.
“I have been grateful that Arrowhead Park has been able to reopen this year.”
Catherine began this piece before the pandemic struck last year, “but had a bit of trouble finishing it with ‘pandemic brain fog’ and feeling I should be doing something more useful. I am now able to get back to that place of whimsy and find joy in creating with the hope it makes someone smile.”
This painting has sold but prints and cards will be available.
“Fire and Ice” by Catherine Luce
About the artist:
Exploring dreams, the fantastical and the slightly surreal are elements that keep me engaged with illustration, painting and sculpture. I enjoy creating visual stories with interesting characters both human and animal. The landscape and wildlife around Huntsville, where I live and Algonquin Park is an inspiration for this work.
Much of my work in which I have explored the surreal has been in watercolours, a medium that can create atmospheric, moody effects. After sketching out characters I often create a background landscape with a loose wet in wet approach, exploring ways I can create light, clouds and mist to add interest to the painting. To paint the characters a more controlled technique of transparent glazes is needed. I love to add expressive lines with a brush or quill pen to create lost and found edges to give movement, feeling and depth. I also work in acrylic for larger works such as murals and large wildlife canvases.
The papier mache sculptures began as a project for Nuit Blanche North which has been the catalyst for other projects including marionettes and smaller, fantastical sculptures. Recently I have been working with youth and helping to build giant puppets for the Huntsville Festival of the Arts Snow Queen Project.
My art training began with a diploma in Interpretive Illustration at Sheridan Tech. I have worked as a wildlife mural artist and graphic designer at a Nature Centre, in magazine design, as an illustrator, puppet maker and children’s art educator, recently teaching at More Than Just Art. I have displayed my work in various fine art shows with the Huntsville Art Society. My artwork and art related products are available online and at my home gallery, Mystical Woods Studio that is part of Artrail Muskoka Purple Banner (self guided studio tour).Visits are by appointment only at this time but I will welcome visitors as things improve!
My work can be viewed at catherineluce.com, on Facebook and on Instagram @mysticalwoodsstudio
See more local art in Doppler’s Art Fx series here.
Don’t miss out on Doppler!
Sign up here to receive our email digest with links to our most recent stories.
Local news in your inbox three times per week!
Click here to support local news
Catherine, What a lovely scene. You are so clever !!