Gretchen Markle

GRETCHEN MARKLE

Gretchen Markle was born and raised in Northern Ontario, where her early years were spent on the North Shore of Lake Huron. In 1976, she moved to Vancouver Island and the Pacific Ocean, and in August, 2010, she moved across the country to Nova Scotia and the Atlantic Ocean.

The wild beauty of her three homes has had a profound and lasting effect on her art making. As well, the presence of large bodies of water has been an abiding influence on her perception of light and movement. Her recent move to Nova Scotia presented her with a whole new world of landscapes and shapes to excite her imagination. Although she was unable to paint over the winter, in April she finally settled in beautiful Lockeport on the South Shore and is now working again.

Because of her deep connection with the natural world, much of Markle's work is landscape. However, whether landscape or figurative, representational or abstract, her pieces are an attempt to move beyond the boundaries of mere picture making to a consideration of deeper issues: a tribute to the beauty of nature, a feeling of wonder at its complexity, and a sense of responsibility for its survival.