Sechelt landscape artist Brian Romer likes to quote fellow West Coaster Joni Mitchell in relation to his skills: “Everything I’ve learned, I learned from admiration and osmosis.” In Romer’s case, it’s clear that he soaked up inspiration from some of Canada’s best painters: the styles and subjects of Tom Thomson, Lawren Harris, and Emily Carr vibrate through his work. Yet Romer’s paintings are contemporary, unique, and affordable for today’s collectors.
Romer’s father was a keen amateur painter as well as an avid fisherman, and Romer began painting because he decided he’d rather clean a paintbrush than a fish. In his 20s, Romer followed the trend to abstract painting, a stage that still informs his current work’s bold compositions. Now, however, he says his “rather advanced age” has mellowed his outlook and he finds himself wanting to simply respond to our area’s natural beauty through more representational landscapes.
Having retired from a varied career in business that took him and his family across North America, Romer now paints every day, holding his small panels on his knees and completing each work in one go. This artist mostly works small because, as he will tell you, “Small allows me to quickly capture the spirit (feel, mood, weather) of the moment which is more important to me than a realistic interpretation.”
However, he also creates larger works in his studio based on the small plein air paintings. Although he experimented with other media along the way, Romer now works exclusively in acrylics for their quick-drying capacity.
A member of the Landing Artists (formerly the Sunshine Coast Artists Co-operative), Romer enjoys the camaraderie and appreciates the structure of two shows per year with, as he puts it, a talented and diverse group of artists.
Even a short conversation with this artist reveals his dry sense of humour. He states that his work has been shown in “various locations over the years, primarily over the bed, behind the piano, and down the entire length of the front hall.” Luckily, those who admire his strong images of the Canadian landscape will be able to view them in a more public setting at the Spring Landing exhibition of the Landing Artists, May 18 to 20 at Gibsons Public Market. You can also contact him through www.romerart.com or by email at [email protected].
– Submitted by Ruth Rodgers
