Sofie Skapski
For Sofie the process of painting is always an adventure. There is an amazing point where the struggle between paint, brush, and canvas is taken over by a sort of magic and the work in progress becomes a living thing. While caught in that flow, thought and time are irrelevant – colour and form become everything. It's an elusive place, but it's where she hopes to go every time she picks up a brush and faces a blank canvas. In her work, rather than replicate, she attempts to describe what it is about a scene that has caught her interest. A pattern of branches. A fall of light. The curve of a root cradling a rock.
Sofie Skapski received her art training at Capilano College, Douglas College, and the Instituto de Belles Artes in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. She is an active member of the Federation of Canadian Artists and very involved in the Comox Valley Chapter. Sofie has lived in the Comox Valley since 2004, painting out of her studio in Courtenay. Sofie works in acrylic on canvas, exploring light and mood in her expressive paintings. Lately she has also begun using water mixable oils, and finds the ease of colour blending facilitates the movement and vibrancy she strives for. She displays her work locally at Leaving Impressions Gallery in Qualicum Bay, Originals Only events in Comox Marina Park, and various group shows in the Pearl Ellis Gallery and Filberg Lodge throughout the year.
In her current series of paintings, Sofie is concentrating on cottage windows. The old fashioned charm of the multipanes, irregularities in construction, and timeless layers of paint bring a sense of hominess that resonates strongly in her new work. Whether outside looking in, inside looking out, or as a backdrop to the changing seasons in the cottage gardens, it is the warmth and spiritual comfort of these cottages that the paintings convey. A place of happiness and refuge, family bonds that echo through the ages, and the liveliness of daily life. Colour plays a strong part in achieving this goal. |
