Gallery of Artwork
(Prints are available for each of these images)
DEVELOPMENT OF The BrickilismTM Style
Under the tutelage of Arthur Lismer (co-founder and member of Canada’s world famous Group of Seven), Elizabeth was taught to paint with big, fat brushes. Throughout her career she wandered in and out of that style and at times along the journey she painted with tiny brushes, particularly when doing high realism egg tempera paintings as inspired by Andrew Wyeth. But she always had the Lismer teachings safely tucked away in her paint box.
In early 2000 she gave up small brush work and began using larger brushes once again.
Her first “fat brush” painting in developing a new style was a Loon with chick. In that painting some of the large brushstrokes of colour were placed one against the other to create a scene that emerged into a complete image made up of larger strokes. She continued developing that style and the strokes eventually became smaller in length until a style of painting using “bricks” of colour was born. The brick-like brush strokes led her to trademark the word “Brickilism” and is akin to Pointilism as created and practiced by Georges Seurat, Paul Signac, Henri-Edmond Cross and Paul Signac among others in the late 1800’s.
The Brickilism™ art effect is not easy to create – each brick must complement the other in both size and colour. In creating brickilism™ paintings, she was inspired by some of her favourite masters: Monet, Manet and particularly Georges Seurat who created a style of painting called pointillism, painting with small dots of color (like pixels) to make up an image.
In brickilism™, each brick is unique but taken together, the colours blend and change until an image emerges.
Many of her brickilism™ paintings feature brightly coloured skies – yellow, orange, pink, etc. This dramatic sky treatment is enhanced by the use of coloured bricks. It also reflects her positive, uplifting and spiritual outlook.
The power of brickilism™ can be seen as a template for the blending of distinct and diverse cultures, people and communities. Each one is unique but as a whole they form a superb, fully intact world that is colourful and bright, just like the sun that’s featured in many of her works.
In the past two decades she has refined this painting method to create a signature style of painting now known as Brickilism™, by Elizabeth Evans.