Georgian Bay, Ontario
Of the subjects that Evangeline painted, ‘Georgian Bay’ in general was one of her most beloved. After camping with her family in the area for years, she and her husband Arthur bought Green Island near Parry Sound, and a lifelong love of this breathtaking country was forged. The gnarled windswept trees set against the natural strength of the carved rock created an inherent rhythm — subject matter that she would paint over and over again. She was tremendously moved by the Canadian wilderness which was evident in her many paintings of the region and the pen and ink drawings that came to fill her sketch book. The abstract shapes and forms always informed her work in different ways, even those that were not actually ‘Georgian Bay.’ The simplicity of the natural forms and the spaciousness of the sky were very often common to her other landscapes and once she found her unique style in some ways she blended these elements into her work even when she painted locations in the Caribbean or on her travels to other countries. Her fantasy pieces were often a combination of the brilliant colours and light contrasts she encountered in the Caribbean and the shapes and forms of Georgian Bay. After her passing, her family found some ‘fantasy’ work that combined the shapes and forms of Georgian Bay with landscape elements that could only be found in the Caribbean. So…if you notice elements that seem incongruous in some of the work, don’t be surprised…
