Ice Bridge 1920

Clarence Gagnon created this painting, Ice Bridge, with short marks in pastel hues. Imagine him, outside in the cold, wrestling with the pastel stick, trying to capture the ephemeral feeling of a cold winter day. The surface is a sea of small gestures, blues and greens, yellows and grays. Think of the labour involved, the physical act of repeatedly touching the paper with the pastel. Each mark builds up a sense of the landscape, but also of the artist's presence. It reminds me of Vuillard, Bonnard, how they took in the world and translated it into colour. The colours are muted but harmonious, like a quiet conversation between the artist and the landscape. Gagnon uses the pastel almost like a form of drawing, to find a kind of tonal harmony. In a way, all painters are in conversation with each other, riffing on each other’s ideas, pushing the medium in new directions. Painting is alive! It's always changing, always surprising us.