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The summer before she started high school, Natasha Banks was perusing the paintings at The Finds, a now defunct store formerly in downtown Huntsville, when the painter-in-residence Terry Gill exclaimed, “You\u2019re an artist!” This surprising revelation, at such a young age, prompted Banks to study art in high school. Gill later supplied brushes and watercolours that she uses still to this day. Throughout her early development, the guidance of local painters and craft persons influenced the techniques she adapted and gave her the confidence to pursue a life in art.<\/p>\n
Her paintings, on display in the online gallery at muskokaunlimited.com<\/a><\/span>, are bold, vibrant and emotionally striking. Her use of colour and her choice of imagery are startling and distinctive. While her body of work is only beginning to accumulate, her current paintings warrant appreciation and serious examination.<\/p>\n Her work captures something internal and unexpected. Using canvas and colour to spark her imagination, Banks allows the painting to evolve\u2014emerge, as it were, as if through its own self-determination. She lets the mood and image come alive in her love of the work and her love for painting.<\/p>\n “Blind” by Natasha Banks (photo courtesy of Natasha Banks)<\/p><\/div>\n Banks divides her creative efforts between painting and drawing. Her line drawings, as she calls them, focus mainly on animal subjects. She takes quiet joy in these small portraits that she has developed into a postcard series.<\/p>\n Typically her drawings are playful, colourful attempts to display intimate characteristics of her subject matter. Banks uses these small drawings to acquaint and inform her audience about the life of the animals, insects and birds she portrays. Any proceeds derived from this series, which is available only through her Instagram account<\/a><\/span> is donated to Aspen Valley Wildlife Sanctuary<\/u><\/a>, a cause she is devotedly passionate about. Banks\u2019s Instagram account is not only a medium for her creativity, but also includes interesting descriptive insights into the nature and habitat of the creatures she draws.<\/p>\n\n\t\t![\""Blind"](\"https:\/\/media-doppleronline-ca.s3-accelerate.amazonaws.com\/2020\/11\/Natasha-Banks-Blind-750x750.jpg\")