Remembering Arthur Lloy

Artist, Arthur Lloy, a native Nova Scotian, died tragically in a motor vehicle accident on his way to a solo show in 1986. Born in 1929, he was a landscape painter, one who’s passion for the woods lakes and rivers of beautiful Nova Scotia can be seen in his expressive work. I had known of Lloy for quite a few years, but a few days ago I was to rediscover him. I had to deliver some of my own work to a collector, three pieces purchased during my solo show last October. It was a wonderful visit, talking about art is something I love to do, especially when you are surrounded by the stuff!

On one of the walls was a large original piece by Arthur Lloy, a fantastic expressive work in which he depicts the very essence of an early spring river somewhere in the wilderness. I looked at each brush stroke and carefully followed his expressive long lines with the pallet knife. It had a wonderful depth and rhythm, the sky held a luminous quality, showing me he understood clearly the idea of hue and colour value. Looking at it, the scene was something I had seen many times myself, I am sure I could even feel the chill coming off the thick impasto foreground snow!

Seeing such work is surely inspirational, in a sense I feel that Lloy’s passion for the land is also my own. You can see it in each piece, he wanted to tell us something, to help us understand that he saw beauty when he worked.

On a website dedicated to him is this quote, “Who can deny the mood or feelings created by the glint of early morning sunshine on a patch of swamp grass, the magic of maple and poplar on an autumn hillside, the wonderment of a quiet still water nestled among spruce and pine, the mystery and serenity of a hardwood hill in the late afternoon of a winter’s day , the breath of a spring wind crossing a lake, the smell of damp moss in the shadows of a forest swamp, the mood and power of the land and the elements.” Here he says it all, but what he felt really comes out in his work spaced over a thirty year painting career, and obviously a deep relationship with nature.

His subject matter is the same, the land, it is something that is always there yet never the same. Since seeing Lloy’s work, he has inspired me to work ‘big’. I have done three large works in as many days. It’s the wonderful thing about being a painter, you leave something behind, in Lloy, he left me inspiration.

Online Link to his work and biograhpy