Artist Statement
Laurie Thompson’s was initially focused mostly on creating paintings of colour and light inspired by the natural beauty that surrounded her. The broad expanse of Alberta skies, the rolling Prairie hills, the rocky shores of cottage country in Ontario, are what made her days most enjoyable. More recently, she has found a creative release in the uniqueness of abstracts, and letting go of the representational boundaries which confined her. When Laurie started painting and collaging abstracts, she found immense satisfaction in the open-ended nature of abstraction. Not knowing what she will end up with when she starts a piece is a discomfort which takes getting used to, but she finds the process liberating.
Artist Biography
Laurie Thompson calls Calgary home, but spent her younger years in a small, lakeside town outside of Montreal. As a child she would visit her grandparents in Alberta and always knew she was going to live in Calgary. The big sky, dynamic landscape from mountains to streams to prairies, and the light of the western sun inspires her work, along with lake country in Ontario and its lush forests, rocky shores, expansive lakes, and islands.
Laurie works primarily in oil and acrylic, en plein air and in the studio from photos. During the summer, she likes to drive through the Calgary countryside for inspiration.
