For the past 50 years, Errington artist Dan Gray has been working with soft pastels – sticks of pure pigment that result in bright, vivid works of art.
Created on archival paper, Gray said his pieces will last for hundreds of years if properly maintained.
“This will stay like this for 300 years, it won’t fade. It doesn’t go away,” he said.
“There are paintings by the impressionists in pastels from the 1700s that are still as vibrant toady as they were the day they were painted.”
For the month of May, Gray, who has exhibited his work in places like Paris, New York, Minneapolis and Florida, is displaying his latest batch of coastal landscape scenes, created on-location, or “en plein air,” at the Nanaimo North Town Centre’s Art 10 Gallery.
On Saturday, May 5, from 2 to 4 p.m., Gray will be at the gallery to give a demonstration of his process. He will be working on a painting of that morning’s May pole celebration at the Errington farmer’s market.
“I’ve painted the May pole dance maybe six years in a row so I’m going to get a start on it and then come down here and try to finish the painting,” he said.
arts@nanaimobulletin.com
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