About Prairie Grasslands
Native Prairie Grasslands are disappearing and so are the species that rely on this unique eco-system for survival. Candace Savage’s book, Prairie: A Natural History and Trevor Herriot’s book, Grass, Sky, Song inspired me to create paintings about Prairie Grasslands.
My travels to National Grassland areas in Oklahoma, Wyoming, closer to home in the Last Mountain Lake National Wildlife Area, and most recently Grasslands National Park refreshed my senses with the unique sounds, colours, smells and textures that I recognize to be distinct to the prairies. Within them, I discover a place of refuge...a place to breathe deeply. Time stands still where remnants from the past meet with the present.
The diversity and vastness of these wild prairie environments with their endless combinations of form, line and colour reveal a variety of possibilities in art making. The energy of earth, water, air and fire is released visually in the tangled wind-bent grass, the lush-green out of control growth, and the sun-drenched baked colours.