Artist Patricia Mansell feels ‘connected’ to the animals in paintings like River’s Edge.
Patricia Mansell connects to wildlife
Patricia Mansell first took up painting as a teenager in her native England, and she brought her paint kit with her when she emigrated to Canada in 1980. But a career and family life kept her from picking up the brushes again for many years, until one day she went looking for an activity she could do with her aging mother.
“I wanted to get my mum into something so we signed up for a little painting course—here’s a jug, paint the jug; here’s an apple, paint the apple—and I just fell in love with the process and I’ve been painting ever since.”
But it was the work of Robert Bateman that inspired her true life’s passion as a nature artist, and that’s what will be on display March 25 to May 31 at the Rainforest Arts Gallery in Chemainus. “Not that I’m a Robert Bateman,” she said. “But I was just blown away and was totally drawn to that side of things.”
The urge to portray the spirit of her animal subjects has been transformative, and she’s always looking to capture in her photographs ‘a subject with a soul and a being and a story’ that she can recreate on canvas. Animal spirits reveal themselves through exchanged glances, Mansell said.
“I’m not a religious person, as such, but it makes me feel connected with the natural world and the way everything works like clockwork in nature—everything is interrelated, everything is connected, everything is part of a bigger scheme of things that works perfectly.”
She wants people to experience life’s interdependence through her art. “I’d like them to see a connection with the animal. There’s a reason why I’ve painted each one. Something reached out to me and spoke to me and said, ‘Yes, pick up the brush, there’s something you have to paint’.”
As a member of Artists for Conservation, Mansell has dedicated herself to revealing the inner being of the feral creatures she paints. “I never made a conscious decision to be an animal artist,” she said. “I think they chose me, not the other way around.”
Mansell’s Naturally Wild show will be on display at the Rainforest Arts from March 25 to May 31. The gallery, located at 9781 Willow Street in Chemainus, is open Tuesday to Saturday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. More information at PatriciaMansell.com and RainforestArts.ca.