By Kathryn Stocks
This delightful painting gracing the front page of our holiday issue is called Winter by Moonlight. It was painted by local artist Gillian Morris at her summer art studio in remote Newfoundland in preparation for the West Rouge Artisans market in November.
“I wanted to evoke the crisp stillness of a winter’s evening, the kind where the air feels sharp and everything seems to pause for a moment,” Gillian wrote. “I was inspired by a memory of a Christmas Eve drive to our home near the Rouge River when a deer appeared at the side of our slow-moving vehicle and trotted beside it for a while. That magical encounter has stayed with me over the years. In this work, I tried to capture the intersection of human life and nature’s quiet presence.”
Gillian began painting at an early age. She is largely self-taught but also took numerous painting courses and workshops learning from some of her favourite artists around the world. Her focus has been on acrylic and watercolour painting and she is currently expanding her skills to oil painting.
Her art has been greatly influenced by her natural surroundings of the Rouge Valley, with a particular focus on her love of nature, colour and the effects of light and reflection on water. She is an active member of the The Art Guild of Scarborough and recently won the award for Best Landscape painting at its fall show for her painting Echoes of Light.
Gillian retired from a long career in the nuclear industry and spends her summers being inspired by the scenery near her second home that sits beside a lighthouse in Newfoundland.