Nature Paintings with a Close-Up Focus

It's obvious that Caroline Stanley's nature paintings are based on photographs. Her imagery is realistic, of course, but it’s also her up-close focus, and how she contrasts foregrounds with sharply defined edges – often leaves or tree trunks – and more distant elements with a soft or blurry focus.

Clearly, Stanley, part of Winter Salon, a large group show at Calgary’s Gibson Fine Art until Jan. 20, has a facility for capturing detail with her brush. But she’s quick to acknowledge that imaginative or conceptual art does not come easily, recalling her struggles at the Alberta College of Art and Design when instructors tried to push her out of her comfort zone. “Rainbows and animals are just who I am,” she says.

Stanley graduated in 2007 and began painting portraits of dogs after posting a note at a local dog park saying she was looking for subjects and there was no obligation to buy. They proved popular and led to commissions. She says she has painted some 400 dogs and has an 18-month waiting list. She starts by asking people to fill out questionnaires about their dogs and also tries to meet her four-legged subjects so she can match her palette to their personality. 

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Caroline Stanley, "The hinge of my misguided imagination," no date

oil on canvas, 48" x 30"

She juggles those commissions with nature paintings, which are also popular. Her process starts when she heads out for a walk with her camera. She shoots hundreds of images, often without looking too closely at the composition, hoping to capture something fresh and unexpected. When she gets home, she chooses one that interests her visually. Some of her best-selling paintings look upward under different trees, showing a canopy of branches juxtaposed against the sky.

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Caroline Stanley, "For Now," no date

oil on canvas, 24" x 36"

Stanley is working toward a solo show in May at Gibson, her only dealer, and plans to include paintings based on photos she took during recent trips to Australia and British Columbia.

“I’m really interested in the different colours, patterns, designs and details of nature,” she says. “I think so often we get caught up in a spectacular view of something that we fail to notice the really amazing tiny little things that are right in front of us. So I bring those things into focus in my work.”