Elaine DeCoursey, Painter

I am a painter and urban sketcher. I draw and paint to observe and learn about my environment.  As a city dweller, it’s important to me to connect with the natural world through flowers, farms, gardens, and parks.

Farmers’ markets are special places where consumers can meet farmers and support local agriculture. These markets can be vibrant and inspiring places that have the synergy of people, places and fresh produce in a simple and timeless architecture of tables and tents. I have travelled extensively with sketchbook in hand and have started to develop finished paintings based on the places I visited. In my drawings and paintings of farmers’ markets, I look for what makes these places unique such as the people, produce, colour and settings.

Like my mother and grandmother, I am an avid gardener.  Through my passion for flowers and gardens, I am developing expressionistic portraits of local flowers. With this series, I strive to capture the structure, shapes, colours and vibrancy of growing plants.

I drew for many years before I started painting, including architectural and figure drawings. In my painting practice, I look for ways of incorporating drawing into finished paintings. I am currently experimenting with combining ink with acrylic gouache. I have also started painting with oils for plein air painting.