Hallie Watson

Large paintings & oil pastels

April 5-30, 2019
Opening April 5, 7-9pm

Chase Gallery
The Nova Scotia Archives
6016 University Avenue
Halifax
 

 

 

Artist Statement

   “A Walk in the Woods” is a love story between me and the natural world. When I was a child, my parents bought a farm in the rolling hills of Mono, an hour and a half drive from Toronto. All my childhood weekends were spent there and I learned about the quiet growing of the natural world. From it I learned about wonder and beauty.

    This show is about trees.

    I sit and draw in front of my subject. Each drawing is a record of that particular day. Weather, time, light, sounds and bugs are all part of the drawing. It often takes two days to complete one.

    It turned out one day that one drawing wasn’t enough, so I made another to join up with the first. Some of the pieces in this show are the result of this joining up. Each of the drawings is still complete in itself, a documentation of that day, but is intimately related to the drawing beside it. Each separate drawing is signed and dated for the day it was made. It is a delight to see the joined up pieces develop. Often they go together imperfectly but I consider this to be an acceptable result of the process.

    Huge, quiet, long lived and slow growing, trees experience time in a different way. The trees that our ancestors planted live through generations. They soar upwards. They make us look up with awe. They are survivors. They adapt and carry on living. Their bark shows the lines of growth, their leaves move with the wind and absorb the sun. They show us that life is complicated and splendid.

Line of Trees, 25th Sideroad
oil pastel on paper 34.5” x 135”
Aug 7, 2012, Aug 13, 2012, Aug 16, 2012, Aug 21, 2012 $7,000 four drawings to make one piece.

Green Woods with Fence
oil pastel on paper
83” x 99”
July 12, 2014
July 15, 2014
July 17, 2014
July 21, 2014
July 24, 2014
Aug 6, 2014
Aug 7, 2014
$11,000
seven drawings to make one piece.

Looking up into a Pine Tree
oil on canvas
47” x 77.5”
May 2016
SOLD $5100.00


Poplar Trunk
oil on canvas
75” x 47”
March 10, 2013
$6,200


Skyscraping # 1
oil on canvas
75” x 47”
Jan 23, 2013
$6,200

Skyscraping # 3
oil on canvas
77.25” x 47”
June 3, 2013
$6,200

Spreading Maple
oil pastel on paper
27.5” x 78”
July 11, 2018
July 15, 2018
July 25, 2018
July 29, 2018
SOLD $5350.00
four drawings to make one piece

Maple Tree
oil on canvas
49” x 52.5”
2018
$4,225

Maple Trunk with Sky
oil pastel on paper
19.75” x 55.5”
Aug 13, 2017
Aug 19, 2017
$4,075
two drawings to make one piece

The 100 Acre Woods
oil pastel on paper
78” x 27.75”
July 10, 2015
July 12, 2015
Aug 11, 2015
Aug 12, 2015
SOLD - $5400.00
four drawings to make one piece

Suzie’s Tree (Maple)
oil pastel on paper
39.5” x 27.75”
Aug 9, 23, 2017
Aug 23, 2017
$3,740
two drawings to make one piece

Shady Pine Forest
oil pastel on paper
19.5” x 27.5”
August 2, 2016
$2,000

Pine Tree and Forest Floor
oil pastel on paper
9.5” x 27.5”
July 16, 2011
$2,000
two drawings to make one piece

Green Ash
oil pastel on paper
39.5” x 27.75”
Aug 6, 2016
Aug 10, 2016
$3,740
two drawings to make one piece.

Ploughed Field with Tree
oil pastel on paper
19.5” x 27.5”
August 13, 2010
$2,000

Yellow Apples
oil pastel on paper
19.5” x 27.5”
July 25, 2017
$2,000