Tom Godin has never milked a cow or cut a chicken’s head off, and only once, under protest has he ridden a horse.
He makes no claims of having a real connection with farm life, but none of that has stopped the 100 Mile House artist from taking a world that he has never earnestly been a part of and putting it on canvas.
His new show at Showcase Gallery, called “Not My Field,” studies farm and ranch life from the safe distance he chooses to maintain. With memories of disturbing past run-ins with curious steers etched in his mind, it’s a gap he has no interest in narrowing, but he’s still intrigued with the activity beyond the barnyard gate.
His images come from the three months of ranch sitting he does each year for a friend and from what he calls the carousel of ranching that goes on around him.
“These images are the calm aspect of past experience.”
The collection, vibrant with colour, has an impressionist feel about it and Godin agrees he likes to keep his paintings loose.
“As artists, we’re given a three dimensional world and have to bring it to a two dimensional format. I like people to look at my paintings and put the colours together.”
Painting is a multi-step process, explains Godin, and he strives to stop in what he calls the “lively zone,” where colours are not yet blended and borders between elements of the picture are still rough.
“It takes courage to stop in the high end of colours. The joy of painting is when you’re painting – when you feel like you’re dancing with unseen things.”
Godin has been painting for more than 30 years and successfully supports himself through sales of his work. He chuckles over the first and only art award he has ever won. It was the Jasper National Award for an editorial cartoon, which he drew in 1979 for the Williams Lake Tribune and it was also the first editorial cartoon that he’d ever drawn.
He’s now better known for his writings, drawings and paintings of birds, which have been a lifelong interest for him. Currently, he’s illustrating an e-book for South Cariboo artist and writer Kathy Crawshay.
Showcase Gallery is located in the lobby of the South Cariboo Business Centre at 475 Birch Ave.
