SARA ROBICHAUD: "Double Life" September 14 to November 3, 2012, Nanaimo Art Gallery

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"Ossien"

Sara Robichaud, "Ossien," acrylic on canvas, 2012.

SARA ROBICHAUD: Double Life

September 14 to November 3, 2012

Nanaimo Art Gallery

By Janet Nicol

Sara Robichaud looks for a balance between “awkwardness and beauty” when she creates large-scale abstract expressionist paintings. “An infusion of my day-to-day life and caring for a 17-month-old baby also find their way in” says the Nanaimo-based painter. As her Nanaimo Art Gallery exhibition’s title indicates, she balances her creative work with her role as wife and mother. Robichaud began painting with oils in 1989, and later moved to acrylics. She likes to innovate with tools such as a wide scraper and gels, which give the paint a reflective quality. “I’ve even walked on the canvas,” she says. Looking down at her painting, Robichaud gains another perspective to approach her work. Each piece takes one to two months to complete. The work is finished “when there isn’t anything left to do with it,” she says. “It’s like a musician riffing with his instrument. I’m responding to colours, surfaces and emotions.” Robichaud says she’s always discovering the unknown as she paints. “I’m always thinking the best painting is still to come. There’s a thrill about what could happen.”