Painting the same of thing time and again is not in the cards for a Foothills artist whose work refuses to be typecast. Cayley Alberta’s Estelle Selin has brought her brushes and talent to bear on more than a few different things over the years.
“I love doing figures, that’s people and I also like landscapes and sometimes I put them together,” she said.
Selin has also painted images of rural life and done many still life pieces in the past. Anything that intrigues or inspires her can become fodder for her canvas.
“Some artists work with different styles and will change their mediums often,” said the acrylic painter. “I’m not changing my medium much, in fact I am using it pretty regularly in the same fashion but I do like to change my subject matter.”
An Okotoks resident before her family moved to Cayley 16 years ago, Selin has made her artistic presence known recently in her old stomping grounds. She has a pair of works on display currently at Okotoks Art Gallery and was September’s Art in the Hall exhibitor at Okotoks’ Municipal Centre.
Her continual desire to expand her artistic range took a step forward when she donned the role of a daily painter a couple of years ago.
“Daily painters paint every day and they do small works to get their juices going,” Selin explained. “It’s to keep you active and busy because sometimes finding motivation can be difficult. Painting everyday takes a certain amount of dedication. It’s a mindset. You have to be ready willing to do that on a daily basis.”
Selin maintained a blog at www.estellesgallery.blogspot.com to go along with her daily paintings, which in a way became a visual diary for her. Whatever she experienced one day would end up as a painting the next. Examples of events she witnessed and immortalized include a girl’s basketball game and a charity concert by the Turner Valley based band Cowboy Celtic.
The far ranging painter has two adult children and two that are teenagers. She’s grateful that their level of independence and her husband’s status as the primary breadwinner allows her to devote the majority of her time to art. While she remains open to whatever subject matter possibilities come her way, the artist has recently produced many rural themed pieces. They include a painting of a line grain elevators now hanging near the entrance of Okotoks Art Gallery
“I live in a rural setting out in Cayley,” Selin said. “With my journeys to High River or Nanton I go through rural settings all the time. I have an affinity for them because they are like my backyard.”
Though Selin is never sure where her artistic interests may lead her next the one place she is not headed to is complacency.
“My work is evolving and hopefully getting better,” she said. “My constant focus is to become a better artist.”
