Local artist Esther Simmonds-MacAdam said she prefers to paint men.
She has an art exhibition of her oil paintings, Landscapes and Figures, at Fromagerie, 5 Cedar St. until Dec. 31. The 26-year-old artist has recently relocated to Sudbury from southern Ontario, though she said she spent part of her youth in northern Ontario.
Some of her most popular works are of males in passive poses, she said.
“My interest is in the images of men.”
She said while doing a masters thesis in education at the University of Toronto her topic was how education could occur through male body images provided by works of art.
She said she conducted focus groups with women about a number of paintings she did while visiting Spain after graduating from university.
“I painted men who were not in aggressive poses. They were more passive, more emotional, showing a different side to them,” she explained.
“Women find them appealing. It brought out an emotional response in the women.”
She works from photos of men she has known in past years. She said she likes to paint men when they are not posed.
“I like my subjects more natural.”
She said she only started painting seriously in 2006, but she had been introduced to painting with oils, by a neighbour, when she was only 12 years old.
“That is why all of my work is in oils,” she said.
Simmonds-MacAdam reflected that she also did a lot of drawing as a child, and painting was a big switch from drawing.
“I found (painting) was a big brain switch. You are no longer outlining (objects). You have to pay attention to different planes of colours. It is more three dimensional”.
She uses only three colours in her paintings - yellow, red and blue - but in different hues.
“That is how I first learned to paint. I once bought a bright purple but I never used it.”
Focusing on only three colours means she can afford to buy expensive high quality hues of these three basic colours, she added.
“This year I am really getting into the colour red in the portraits and figures I paint. But in my landscapes I use blue much more.”
For more information, visit www.esthersm.com.
