Local artist Patsy Granberg focuses on faces in the community in her show running at Showcase Gallery in the lobby of the South Cariboo Business Centre (475 Birch Ave.) in 100 Mile House.
The display downtown features an interesting and captivating collection of her local portraits in pastel.
Granberg says she has been figure drawing (drawing the human form) for almost 30 years, but the past decade has primarily seen her sketching and painting portraits that feature the community’s “friendly faces.”
“I love the challenge of capturing a likeness in a face. It is probably the most difficult thing to do artistically, and I love the connection you get when you are able to draw somebody.”
Granberg adds she feels a successful portrait is rewarding for both the artist and the subject.
After sitting down with each person to sketch them, she then photographs the subject and finishes the work at her leisure, she explains.
Many of her portrait pieces are almost monochromatic, with limited colours used sparingly.
“With my artwork, I strive for simplicity and not too much focus on detail and, hence, they do have sort of an unfinished or raw quality to them.”
Since moving to the South Cariboo in 2007, Granberg says she has found a lot of support and opportunities to broaden her interests, such as through Parkside Art Gallery.
“There are all kinds of opportunities here for the artist to show.”
Over the past three decades, Granberg has done many figure drawings, mostly nudes, she explains.
While life drawing and portraits remain her forte, she has also produced landscapes.
She notes taking advantage of the many workshops offered locally has helped her expand into oil, acrylic and watercolour, as well as palette knife painting.
While the local faces featured at Showcase Gallery were actually sketched shortly after her relocation to this area from the Okanagan, Granberg says she just finished them recently.
“I was going to do a review of some of the new stuff I’ve experimented with, but I still consider myself a portrait artist.
“I just thought, why not put on something brand new that nobody’s ever seen before, and where I feel I have the most experience.”
To view this collection of local portraits on display through November, stop by the Showcase Gallery.
