Doris McCarthy, Houses on the Neck, Salvage, Nfld, 1999, oil on canvas, 36″ x 48″

One of McCarthy’s favourite places to visit over many years was Newfoundland.  In the early years McCarthy traveled to the outports by supply boat, which was often the only way to get to these isolated places.  McCarthy painted Newfoundland with the emphasis on the inlets and fiords where the simple structure, generous hills and mountains and water reflections provided her with the possibilities for experimenting with form, colour and abstraction as in this fine painting.

Doris McCarthy, Arctic Light, Pond Inlet, 1992, oil on canvas, 24″ x 30″

On one of the few occasions where McCarthy ventured to the Canadian Arctic in the colder months, (in this case January, Igloolik and Pond Inlet), rather than the expected 24 hours of night light, she discovered, much to her surprise and delight, 24 hours of twilight of various degrees and colours.  The flows that were so changeable in the summer months here are locked into place making for a very still and calm, almost ethereal experience. With enormous sensitivity and ability she  has very successfully painted the immensity of the landscape and the subtleties of light in this impressive painting.

Doris McCarthy, Storm Clouds in the Foothills, 1999, oil on canvas, 24″ x 30″

McCarthy was born in Edmonton, Alberta, leaving with her parents for Ontario when she was 2 years old. The land seemed to be ingrained in her even at such an early age and she returned to the foothills and the mountains from her young adult years throughout her life.The big skies with changeable weather, expansive rolling hills and distant mountains gave her much fodder for her paired down abstraction and colour . She packed this painting with an amazingly moody sky which she balanced with the light filled, gently rolling hills in the foreground and a slice of storm filled mountains wedged between.