Celeste Larkin-Dion’s inspiration ... A canopy of Nature Most Gorgeous!

Celeste Larkin-Dion

                             

                               By Nancy Snipper

Owning a painting by Celeste Larkin-Dion means nature is nestling right next to you indoors.  She fills the canvas with a furious flurry of foliage and flowers. In fact, had she been born in the early 1900s, The Group of Seven would have become the Group of Eight. Surely, A.Y. Jackson, Thomson, Carmichael would have insisted she join them to paint en plein air. So stunning is her talent to interpret nature in all its glory.

 

 

 

Her passion for all that grows out of the ground is harnessed to her affinity to home in on detail, yet she never sacrifices the general scene. This is the paradox of her genius. The effect is forestry splendour, yet her eagle eye ensures no leaf is left unnoticed. Still, what she does that many artists don’t is keep her canvas uncluttered. A cumulative focal point is created; the viewer is enchanted. You want to lose yourselves in those trees.

 

Her love of gardening – she’s been doing it for over 25 years – and her mastery of it are reflected in her paintings of flowers. She often takes photos of the flowers in her garden or paints them while sitting outside.

Bold colours combined with the silky texture communicated in each petal are sublime. The contrast is delightful as it beckons you to imagine the scent embraced in each blossom. But this is no secret garden; this is a canvas where unbridled beauty produces a state of exhilaration and peace at one and the same time. Joy joins the emotional response.

 Because she paints in an impressionistic style, light and its effects create different moods in Larkin-Dion’s work. Softened by mist and light, many of her works move from the obvious to the muted. They almost seem like works of watercolour, but they are in oil.

 

 

Just when you think Larkin-Dion is defined as a femme artistique des fleurs, you’ll be caught off-guard when you see her Starry Starry Knight painting. It is a paradox on the title of Van Gogh’s famous painting. Now look at what she has created, and you’ll see nothing else resembles the subject in that masterpiece.

Mother and Child is another figurative work is a tribute to all new mothers at their most tender moment.

Buildings and view broadness also capture her painterly eye. Her cityscape of Manhattan was painted from the window in her hotel room. Far more ethereal is her hypnotic painting of Antrim Coast in Ireland. She is in fact of Irish descent; her mother comes from there.

Abstracts, portraits, churches and doorways also figure in her repertoire. In fact, there is nothing she can’t paint. Yet a copyist she is not!

Although Larkin-Dion credits her many mentors, including Ross Schorer, Richard Boucher and Elizabeth Rubenstein as helping her discover her own artistic abilities, it is clear that she is a rare talent in her own right. One suspects Celeste Larkin-Dion was born with a paintbrush in her hand in the middle of a forest glen brimming with all kinds of trees.

 

 

 

You can view many more of her paintings on this website is www.imagicstudioart.com.
 Her email is celestemdion@yahoo.ca.
Here is another surprise. Her paintings are priced within reason. She is a sought-after artist, who believes bringing pleasure to someone through her art is another reward!