nik harron

Northern lights

artnik — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 22:24:03 +0000

While not a literal representation of the aurora borealis, the colour and sense of light in this painting is evocative of the surreality of the northern lights.

36×36in
acrylic on canvas
2010

This painting is available for purchase.

Ploughed field after rain

artnik — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 22:23:47 +0000

Driving along the backroads of Southwestern Ontario in the wet, stormy days of early spring the ploughed fields wait for the green to burst from the ground and renew the landscape.

24×24in
acrylic on canvas
2010

Private collection of Roxanne McClenaghan

Port Stanley thundercloud

artnik — Fri, 28 May 2010 17:40:17 +0000

This painting is a typical summertime scene in Port Stanley. Shortly after sunset a thunderhead is building over the lake.

36×36in
acrylic on canvas
2010

Private collection of Matt Rounds & Anthea Rowe

Lake Huron shower

artnik — Fri, 28 May 2010 17:39:54 +0000

A familiar sight from growing up on the shores of Lake Huron. A late summer shower rolls over the gray lake in the afternoon.

36×36in
acrylic on canvas
2010

Private collection of Meredith Nelson.

Lifting rain

artnik — Fri, 21 May 2010 15:30:19 +0000

I’m often asked by people who have seen the early stages of one of my paintings why I don’t ever exhibit works at the texture stage and forgo the glazing stage that brings colour to the paintings. This piece is probably about as close to that as I’ll get in the near future.

36×36in
acrylic on canvas
2010

The painting is available for purchase.

Fading light Lake Huron

artnik — Sun, 16 May 2010 19:49:41 +0000

The sunsets of Lake Huron are fabled to be the prettiest in the world. Long after the sun has gone, however, just before the darkness falls the sky takes on a calm glow stained pink and orange at the horizon by the last colour of the fading day.

36×36in
acrylic on canvas
2010

Private collection of Bonnie Morrison & Matthew Krone

Lake after the rain

artnik — Sun, 16 May 2010 19:45:11 +0000

As the clouds clear in the long light as the sun sets, the air is filled with the smell of passing rain over a lake in northern Ontario.

36×36in
acrylic on canvas
2010

The painting is available for purchase.

A Lazarus Painting

artnik — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 18:27:21 +0000

Like many of my paintings this one has a story. Painted in the summer of 2007, I originally abandoned it to the garbage can. It sat there poking out of the trash for two weeks before one in a series of concerned neighbours finally convinced me to rescue it and rework it into it’s finished form.

Sometimes a painting has a difficult birth, and this one departed so far from my original intent that halfway through I gave up on it.

Subsequently, it was selected by a gallery owner as one of their favourites (it’s also my partner’s favourite piece curiously enough). The piece hung in a notable gallery up in Tobermory for a summer. I was unfortunately not able to make the show, but wish I had! When the piece was shipped back to me I noticed the gallery had placed hanging hardware on it – but apparently it must have been hanging in the gallery upside down because the hardware was on the bottom edge of the frame!

untitled
2007
acrylic on canvas
36×36in
Collection of Terry Zavitz

Zavitz / Jindal Commission is on the wall.

artnik — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 18:18:07 +0000

Recently I was commissioned by Zavitz Insurance / Jindal Financial to create a mural-sized painting for their corporate headquarters. The painting is a pentaptych which measures 100 inches by 60 inches, and is based on a smaller painting the company purchased from a recent show.

The painting on location at Zavitz Insurance / Jindal Financial

This was the first time that I’ve ever been asked to paint another version of a previous painting, and the first at this scale based on the painting process that I’ve developed over the last decade. While this painting shares a lot stylistically with the original, the larger scale subtly changed the overall feeling due to the limitations of working with palette knives.

Thank-you to Zavitz and company for the commission. I’m excited to see the work finally find it’s home.

untitled, pentaptych
2009
acrylic on canvas
100×60in
Collection of Zavitz Insurance / Jindal Financial

In a sunrise, the ghost of a tree.

artnik — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 23:52:52 +0000

Incorporating loosely controlled physical interactions in my painting process means that occasionally accidents completely change the direction of a piece midway through their realization. Initially a source of frustration I have begun to embrace the unexpected and experiment without the sense of risk and loss that accompanied my earlier career. Sometimes, I have to admit, it’s nice to surprise yourself.

This painting originally began as an homage to Japanese graphic arts and was to be a depiction of a cherry tree in blossom. In the end, it became more representative of the lone trees that dot the landscape in Southwestern Ontario’s fields and out of the way copses. Although it’s different than my idea, there’s always more time to paint that ghost of a tree.

untitled
2009
acrylic on canvas
36×36in

This painting is available for purchase.