Resilience: The Power of Adaptation

Doug Fleming

Humour always makes isolation and quarantine easier. This poor gal was able to overcome her fear of the narrow runway. Not pandemic related but she is resilient.

Carole Tidler

Taking refuge in home, family, friends and memories of times and places from the past, has led to moving forward armed with a renewed sense of what has always been important in life.

Catherine Trembath

Creating art gave me the resilience to cope with the pandemic. It helped me to process not only my feelings but also the overwhelming news cycle. In an effort to help others cope through creative expression, I adapted my teaching to include online classes.

I found myself drawn to painting portraits so I could spend time with loved ones. This portrait of my daughter feels like a conjuring of a wisp of a moment in time that could disappear into the waves with a breath.

Lois Goodnough

This painting reflects the need to continue doing what you love and that which inspires you during a time of insecurity and confusion. This pandemic over the past year and a half has left many of us frightened and depressed. The continuation of actively pursuing the things that bring you joy, be it art, music, education, etc. reduces stress and enables us to create and spread joy in an otherwise difficult situation.

Birgit Coath

I started this painting before the full impact of Covid 19. As I became more isolated from friends and family, I turned my thoughts to being my own best friend. As this painting progressed I reconnected with, (somewhat neglected) childlike joy. I became my best playmate.

Dara Bernd

Our ocean is a refuge a way of escape from the confines and restrictions we all have been facing. Whether it is a walk on the beach, a soothing swim, a paddle or a sail, the sea has been healing our battered spirits.

Judy Wilson

I have spent a lot of time walking or hiking along the Englishman River. The constant, yet changing beauty is a testament to the power, adaptability and endurance (resilience) of nature - a reminder and inspiration to move forward with my work during the pandemic and that, this too, shall pass.

Norma Emerson

What began as a sensual study of colour, and light passing through glass, changed when an iris dragon emerged behind the pears. Having an imagination open to adapting with humour sustained me throughout this painting, making it fun. Perhaps my next painting will be a dragon that looks like an iris? I saw Gaudi's architecture in Barcelona in 2019, and feel his transformation of building materials to organic forms will continue to inspire me.

Lynn Orriss

I did this painting in March of this year. We were in lockdown at the time and waiting for available vaccines. "Waiting" represents the feeling I was having in regards to our being able to get together, in close proximity, and do something fun.

Francine Champagne

You can see more of Francine’s work at:

https://tessellations.ca/

Dawne Brandel

This past year I have been walking Rathtrevor Park almost everyday.

Dealing with grieving and the pandemic has made this a tough year and the beauty and energy of this place has given me strength.

The beautiful light coming through the forest, or the wave action on the beach, wind in the trees or the ravens and bunnies would lift my spirits.

Sometimes when I came home from my walks I would paint what I felt of the place...not painting from reference, so the images are not what is actually there but how I percieved the place...

The healing nature of all the beauty that surrounds us is the best medicine there is.

Angie Bettam

Lockdown was difficult, it drained creativity and enthusiasm. Walking became the main activity, and during those walks along the coast and rivers, I started envisioning paintings. My enthusiasm for painting in watercolour was awakened and I produced a number of paintings of which Resting at Rathtrevor is one.

Gerda Hofman

Resilience means to be able to understand circumstances like Covid 19 and unfortunate accidents in your life that need to be resolved with a positive result in the end.

This can be done by looking for the real knowledge behind each situation and coming to an understanding and creating a solution by having conversations with other people.

There are 3 hand wipes glued onto this panel.

Susan Schaefer

The pandemic gave me time to quietly reflect on my artwork and think of how I wanted to move forward.

I remember being asked more than once, if I was ‘painting up a storm.’ My response was, no not really.

I was taking more time on each painting and enjoying the process.

As the title says, some days, time seemed to stand still.

But I could take comfort knowing that I was moving forward, one brush stroke at a time.

Jacqueline Dunn

The pandemic gave me time to reevaluate my path and values, leading me back to my original artistic intentions: painting from places in the heart. I paint for the young and young at heart who hold fast to the wonder of the world.  The pandemic retaught rabbits and people alike to "learn to smell the flowers."

Brenda Milne

With the sudden changes in the world, it was important for me to focus on the positive and not let myself get pushed down from the pressures and changes that I could not control. For me this was through a fantasy world that exists within my imagination, untouched by the world around me. I chose to focus on beauty and hope, images and subjects that bring a smile and a feeling of peace and comfort.

Charles Hebert

Painting has led me out of the dark slow motion place I dwelt in for years. Now I feel light. I have joy now and I survived.

Eileen Macdonald

Throughout my life, I've had several people say things to me that hurt. And from the black hole, the darkness, the hurt, I've fought and climbed out of it to clamber up onto the solid rock of my faith and remember the words that give me hope.

Linda Greig

What could I do to survive and thrive during Covid? I could walk on the beach. Walk in the forest. Work in the garden. Read. And paint!

Painting is what kept me going during those dark times and continues to brighten my days. My inspiration is my garden, and flowers in general - I enjoy creating vibrant and cheerful blooms with acrylic paint, ink, fabric, yarn and papers.

Best memory: February 2020 - sitting with my good friend at a picnic table in Rathtrevor, with toques, gloves and blankets..painting!

Rain or shine, Covid or not, I know I will continue to paint!

Barbara DeMott

In order to survive covid seclusion and the sudden death of my husband during lockdown, and having never painted in acrylics successfully before, I took an online acrylic painting course which engaged me and also provided for a wonderful subsequent commission. Painting has given me respite, renewal and a sense of peace in the difficult and transitional period of my life.

Christina Thorsell

Sitting at the beach in Qualicum feeling the weight of the troubled world when, along comes this solo Merganser and, Wow !!!! things felt alot more colourful.

Nature is so Resilient. I thanked the duck and quickly painted this in its honour.

Joanne Ayley

Perspective goes a long way in reviving the human spirit. Time spent among nature’s giants always helps me to put things in perspective, improving my overall resilience during difficult times.

Jacqueline Smith

Resilient as water laughing downstream as it slowly changes rocks.

Be present

Be Kind

Be Grateful

Clare Turcott

This work is very recent and is a part of my Backyard Wild Nature Journal drawing series for a nature journal I have been keeping over this last year. Bumble Bees are amazingly resilient. I find them inspiring and admire their fortitude. Just like us.

Dianne Mecredi

I continually return to the beauty and spirits of nature, to hear the sounds - water giving and nurturing, rustling of trees, birds’ songs. I walk away feeling renewed, comforted and hopeful for a brighter tomorrow. My art will continue to reflect sites I visit that give me most comfort and resilience to carry on.

Janet Lawrence

Painting has been a welcome diversion for me during the pandemic. I have found great comfort in creating peaceful and lighthearted scenes during this challenging time. Although we have all had to maintain a physical separation during this period, the red hearts we have displayed for our health care teams have somehow brought me a comforting connection to others. They are a great reminder that we are all connected and this pandemic has affected all of us.

In my painting, “Apart But Together”, the islands represent our physical separation from each other but the hearts remind us that we are all in this together.

Katarzyna Vedah

Letting Go & Letting the World Be To Grow in Time of One's Own Accord.

“Letting the World Be” is from the Poppy series, created during the 2020 Covid lockdown - the series started as an emotional outlet to help process the experience of restriction - but it ultimately shifted in perspective, from isolation to solitude, and letting go of trying to resist/control external circumstances in favor of self-reflection and inner development.

Zoey Heath

"There is a crack in everything, that's how the light gets in"

- Leonard Cohen

A tree's ability to take root and grow through devastation, ruin and environmental adversity makes trees an iconic symbol of resistance. The image depicts a tree growing through the ruins of a cathedral. A symbol of colonial oppression.

Nature’s ability to find the cracks, take root, and repurpose the ruins inspires me to keep working for change during uncertainty. Though taken in the UK in 2016, the impact of the image didn't hit me until earlier this year, when the solitude of the pandemic allowed me to return to my photo archive and explore alternative photographic printmaking techniques.

As a digital image, this work didn't strike me. Hand printed as a cyanotype, however, the image makes a stronger visual impact. The exchange between digital and analogue art forms is an important balance. Honouring past photographic techniques while still employing contemporary digital technologies allows for an interesting play between the past and present.

Nancy Randall

Calm and thoughtful review of many years of photography is one of the golden lining outcomes of the pandemic year. This inward searching provided me with time to consider photographs for the narratives and messages that they conveyed.

The photograph 'Sunrise' conveys the continuing power of nature to provide us with solace and a sense of resilience and hope. I was also able to consider other ways of presenting photographs and am adapting and experimenting with the aluminum 'canvas' as that provides greater luminosity to the photograph.

Janice Hofman

Comfort and expressing my feelings has always played a large part in my painting, and this last 18+ months has definitely provided me with lots of time to practice, learn and create, as well as reflect on what I want more of in my life. I hope that this experience will help me to create better artwork.

Sarah David

While the pandemic year has brought with it many hardships and challenges, for me it has also been a year of tremendous growth, a time to reflect and listen to myself, and an opportunity to devote a greater amount of time to my art practice. Being able to feel and absorb the seasons of the year and all that they encompass and offer, has been one of the many gifts this pandemic has bestowed upon me. To really live and be present for each one and occasionally capturing moments of them in my art. I have also learned that I too have seasons. It’s this awareness that has guided my ability to ride the waves of change and adapt to the world we are in right now.

Rita Gibson

During the height of the Covid shutdown, I decided to stretch myself by painting an abstract in acrylic. As a watercolour artist working in Realism, this was a huge challenge for me and I had no plans for the piece.

It took months to come together as I had no idea of where I was going and as acrylic was unfamiliar to me, I only worked on the painting when an idea popped up, usually during the night. The picture very slowly evolved into this finished work which surprised and startled me when I realized I had painted all the facets of the Pandemic.

The bubbles speak for themselves, all different sizes with some overlapping. The mesh of the masks are obvious, the black and the beads symbolize the deaths and tears, some tears heavier than others, the glimmers of hope during the dark times are shown by the gold lines and the mixed messages are shown by the squiggles, the words in the centre speak of the healing power of nature with the gold centre symbolizing the light at the end of the tunnel.‎

It has been an interesting journey and I believe the experience has expanded my love of painting to another level.

Halima Rogers

In my creative practice this year, I learned to trust that the next layer of paint comes, that, in fact all the layers already exist within me. I do not need to know about what’s going to happen five layers later, I need only respond to one in front of me.

Pauline Pike

I have refreshed many of my “teaching days” files and artworks during this Covid shutdown time. I have sketchbooks, photos and files from all my travels, and finally painted “Family Reunion” of my relatives in the UK. Using Conte as well as watercolour (because I found an unused set of them in the studio) gave me a new medium. I was able to share this work by sending copies of it to my cousins in England, spread the word that I did not sit still during the lockdowns and pass on a positive souvenir of the time.

Studio time has been slower during the past 20 months, but many new positive ideas have surfaced.