RUTH DWYER

(OIL)

Ruth Dwyer

www.ruthdwyer.com

ruth.a.dwyer@gmail.com

Artist Statement

            Utilizing intense, saturated coloration, the subject matter of my work is the landscape, albeit abstracted and modern, with a concentration on the corners of the planet that are remote and mesmerizing. 

            Essential to my work is the use of very good oil paints, which function very much like a fine wine:  the colors seem to breathe and have a complexity and a clarity which nothing else can achieve.

            My paintings are often square in shape, a format which I love, and framed simply in an high quality Italian black wood. The framing sets off the paintings and allows them to glow.

Biography

           Prior to launching herself into a full time painting career, Ruth had a career in academia, which she loved.  For years she taught film studies at McMaster University in Canada, and upon retirement returned to her long- time love, painting.

           During her early work in acrylics she was under the color spell of the European COBRA (Copenhagen, Brussels, and Amsterdam) group.   They apply very intensely colorful paints thickly, in large flat areas, and abutting right against each other, using almost no neutral colors to tone down the heat.  Why did she abandon this influence?  Give up acrylics and primary colors?

She shifted her palate when she began her studies with her painting master Patricia Gagic.  Under her tutelage Ruth discovered the joys and mysterious beauties of oil thinly applied to canvas.  Very good oil paints function much like a very good wine does:  the colors seem to breathe and have a complexity and clarity which nothing else can imitate. 

          The subject matter of Ruth’s paintings is the landscape, which she feels she cannot escape, being a Canadian.  Ruth finds extraordinary beauty in distant and remote areas.

“I relate to remote areas and often I paint from photographs that I have taken, for instance the haunting open spaces of Nunavut and the Arctic.  They will be with me forever, they are so beautiful. 

          But I also paint landscapes from other countries, even continents.  I had a trip to Kenya in Africa several years ago and I am still painting from photographs which I took at that time.  Oh, the landscape is all in terra cotta colors, so astonishing; with one or two lone trees emerging from the land at distant intervals.  Very dramatic.

         I often look online at photographs of other countries, places like Iceland, which has incredibly lovely small buildings on rocky outcroppings, hanging at the edges of ocean cliffs.  Such places are an endless source of inspiration and atmosphere.”  Ruth’s paintings are in many collections, both corporate and private, In Europe and North America.

Red Cottage on the Cliff

Oil on Canvas

Red Rocks, Tundra

Oil on Birch Panel

House on Red Hill

Oil on Canvas

The Irishman's Barn

Oil on Linen

Old Barn, Strawberries

Oil on Canvas

Autumn Afternoon

Oil on Canvas

Cottages, Bushes

Oil on Canvas

Cottages, Gold Road

Oil on Canvas

Dark Night, Blue Cabin

Oil on Canvas

The Road to the Village

Oil on Canvas

The Teacher's Cabin

Oil on Canvas

The Grove of Trees

Oil on Canvas

Mist, Blue Cottage

Oil on Canvas

Aerial View, Town by the River

Oil on Canvas

Barn, Near the Shore, N.S.

Oil on Canvas

Foothills, First Snowfall

Oil on Canvas

House on the Cliff

Oil on Canvas

Iceberg Approaching

Oil on Canvas

Iceberg Off the Shore

Oil on Canvas

Red Cabin, Fields of Grain

Oil on Canvas

The Cottage Across the Valley

Oil on Canvas

The Path with Cornflowers

Oil on Canvas

The Stream by McFarlane's Barn

Oil on Canvas

Blue Cottage, Red Road

Oil on Canvas

Field of Clovers and Berries

Oil on Canvas

The Road to Mt. Washington

Oil on Aluminum

OUTDOOR ART!!

Contact for details!!

Autumn Light, Rapids

Oil on Canvas

Bramble Hedge by the Road

Oil on Canvas

Cabin at the Bluff

Oil on Canvas

Cabin on the Tundra

Oil on Canvas

Evening, Red Cabin

Oil on Canvas

Fence by the Road

Oil on Canvas

Gold Hill, Blue Road

Oil on Canvas

Gold Trees, Grassy Park

Oil on Canvas

Mr. Macfarlane's Farm

Oil on Canvas

Mrs. Stewart's Farm

Oil on Canvas

Northern Lights, Hudson Bay

Oil on Canvas

Northern Lights Near

Eskimo Point

Oil on Canvas

Northern Lights, Saskatchewan

Oil on Canvas

Red Barn, White Water

Oil on Aluminum

OUTDOOR ART!!

Contact for details!!

Surf Hitting the Shore

Oil on Canvas

The Path to Miller's Hill

Oil on Canvas

The Road by the

Doctor's Wood Shed

Oil on Canvas

The Tree by the Road

Oil on Canvas

The Tree on Red Hill

Oil on Canvas

Walker's Cabin Crystal Lake

Oil on Canvas

Windfarm Near Chatham

Oil on Canvas

Wood Shed, Gold Hill

Oil on Canvas