Like the fluid colours spill off the edge of a vigorous painter's palette in the throes of inspiration, the paintings of Marc Patrick LaCaille spilled out of Art Space. They wrapped around the walls of the upstairs gallery and also filled the show spaces downstairs in Cafe Voltaire as well.
All of these facilities are located within Books & Company.
The abundance was a sign that the popular Prince George artist had been too long removed since his last exhibition. Even the painting styles caused variation around the rooms involved.
There were sports action paintings, realistic animals, even abstract.
"I don't like to put myself in a box," said LaCaille. "What is constant is the colours, more than the style. I always use bold colours."
Another theme that tiptoes through all his styles is a sense of surrealism.
Some are fully fantastical, some have a hidden figure, some combine the real with the impossible, some just seem to have an uneasiness about them. All have a spark of pleasantness, however.
Even when he makes visual mention of a darker motif, the overall mood is inviting.
His active mind isn't just at play with the subject matter. He also puts his adult curiosity to childlike use in the mediums he chooses. His main tool is acrylic paint, but also some oils, and he also sprinkles in foreign material like sand to make some three-dimensional qualities to the flat canvas.
"I try to paint every day, but, life, it doesn't always work out that way," said LaCaille. He is also a teacher at Heather Park school and a father. His children are not kids anymore, so he is finding more time and more space in his home to expand his artistic skills.
When he hits a creative snag, he does more art. His mechanism to break through a blockage is to set up some cheap canvases and produce images he considers junk, like an athlete goes through drills in order to take command of a particular skill.
"I like some kind of movement in my paintings, even if it's an abstract triangle. I want it to feel as though it's moving, not frozen in time, like it has some energy," he said. "When I do abstracts, what I'm often doing is playing with the techniques and the colours. You don't have to feel bound by making the figure look real or the landscape look real. For me, abstract is a way out. I need to paint, but if I don't feel like working on a specific project I will do some abstracts just to exercise. But if you look at the abstracts you'll see some geometric shapes within the images, then look over here at the realism paintings and you'll still see those geometric shapes. The structures are there in both."
LaCaille's paintings are up at Cafe Voltaire and Art Space for the rest of November.
Many of the images are for sale.
