Carole Malcolm enjoys working where not every step is planned and controlled, exploring the impression of a landscape while inviting the viewer to share a pause in everyday things and the memories that it triggers in their own selves. Her current work is consistently evolving out of a continued interest in the natural landscape.
We asked the Carole Malcolm 5 questions to get to know her better, here’s what she told us!
Which artist has influenced your artistic practice the most?
That artist is Georgia O’Keeffe. Her work is amazing and it has influenced me from the very beginning of my art career. She is a true pioneer for women artists and her story of fierce independence inspires me as well. I have her photo and some of her sayings posted in my studio to remind me of her.
Why and when did you decide to become a professional artist?
The “when” is easy….from the time I was a small child I was drawing and painting in my room as an escape (remember this was way before computers haha). The why is more difficult to answer but I know it has always brought me solace to do the work. I noticed how I improved with practice and making many mistakes from an early age. Art was something I could make out of very few supplies and little money especially when my children were young and I was in the military.
While still working with the military I began showing in a gallery in Ottawa. After my first sale there I began to work towards developing an art career, this was over 20 years ago.
Since then I have taken courses in how to have a website, learning about framing, shipping, small business practices and continuing to paint. I continue to learn with each painting and know I have much art to make.
What do you want people to remember about your work and your work as an artist in general?
I would like people to see the love and homage to Mother Nature that I am trying to present with each wave, tree or flower in the painting. I grew up in a small town and spent a lot of time at the beach or in the forest, I always feel more at home there than in any city.
Do you have a particular ritual of creation?
To begin, I like to get up early in the morning, make myself a pot of coffee and start painting while all is quiet.
I paint in large series such as a seascape series in various sizes. First, I prepare my canvases by troweling on modeling paste before painting. I have a bunch of plastic jars of my own pre-mixed colors. That way I enough to use on all of the canvases so that the series have a very similar palette and feel. I like to use liquid acrylic so that I have the option of using them to achieve a watercolor effect or with a palette knife for more texture.
Then, I start with painting the background on all the canvases (there could be up to 20 of various sizes). Once that is dry I move on the mid and foreground using palettte knife and large brushes. Also, I like to throw wet paint, the floor in my studio looks like a Jackson Pollock painting!
Besides painting, what is your favourite hobby?
My favourite hobby would be fostering some baby animals for a local zoo. My husband and I have raised a Fennec Fox, two marmoset monkeys, a ruffed lemur, a bobcat and presently raising a baby kangaroo named Riley.
To discover all Carole Malcolm‘s paintings available at Galerie Bloom by click here !
