Biography

Paul Lafleur has been an active painter for about 18 years. He gained a great deal of design experience as Manager of International Marketing for a printing and design firm based in Saskatoon,Saskatchewan. Many of his paintings are based on photographs taken and sketches made of Prairie scenes during field trips as a geologist. Paul devotes all of his free time to painting and is well on his way to achieving a long-held goal to become a full-time artist.

An Active Member of the Federation of Canadian Artists, Paul has participated in many group and two-man shows and exhibited at several galleries in Western Canada. A former member of the Canadian Diplomatic Service, his paintings are hung internationally. He has studied with well-known artists in Canada and the United States such as Valfred Thelin, Christopher Schink, Frank Webb, Graham Scholes and Brian Atyeo.

Medium and Technique

I paint in acrylic, gouache and watercolor, or in various combinations to achieve the transparency, translucency and opaqueness that I want to convey. My paintings usually begin with the preparation of a four-value sketch in graphite or charcoal from observations in the field. This is complemented by one or more photographs so that I can fill in details while painting.

In the planning stage, all of my attention is focused on design, including the establishment of a center of interest, good shapes and size dominance. The value sketch is particularly important in watercolor because whites or tints may be reserved. With this approach, I can concentrate on color and technique during the painting process. A decision on color dominance (i.e.cold or warm) is taken early on.

Important factors in obtaining the desired effect are the choice of painting support and paint medium.Collage with rice paper and gloss medium is sometimes used to achieve a certain effect that cannot be produced in any other way.

Style

My style varies according to the subject, look and mood I want to portray. In general, I paint subjects that appeal to me emotionally. While my paintings can be characterized as representational, they are somewhat stylistic in that values, shapes, textures and colors may deviate from nature to emphasize certain qualities at the the expense of other elements. Calligraphy is often introduced to simplify complex objects in their barest recognizable forms. Most of my paintings in acrylic are graphic in style because of the hard edges usually produced with this sort of medium.

I compare my paintings to poems which express in a few words my thoughts and emotions about a subject.

Art Gallery Online
215 Mallin Crescent
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada S7K7X3
Phone: 306-931-3156 Fax:306-242-8091
E-Mail:plafleur@sasktel.net