About the Artist

Isabelle Eve Rancourt

 

I've always been an artist without knowing it. I started painting at the age of 10, when my mother enrolled my brother and me in an oil painting class. I was introduced to painting by a talented artist from Beauce-Appalache (Quebec, Canada), Claude Crevier. With him, I learned several painting techniques. He taught me how to use colors to create landscapes. I loved it. My brother and I were very talented!

 

I tried my hand at various fields of study: graphic design, political science, art education and ended up with a diploma in architecture. I worked in this field for a while, but soon realized that it wasn't where I belonged. So, pregnant with my eldest, I decided to devote myself totally to my family and spent the next 20 years homeschooling my 3 children. We had a lot of fun exploring, experimenting and learning together. Every day was a new challenge, a new adventure.

 

A few years ago, the need to escape my daily life brought me back to my love of painting. I was overwhelmed by life and needed an escape, so I decided to enroll in an abstract painting course with a wonderful artist from Virginia (USA), Jean Sampson. She showed me how to create by letting go. Learning to let go and abandon all the rules of painting as I had seen and learned them was hard. I didn't know what to do! What did abstract mean? What exactly was I supposed to paint? There I was in front of my easel, not knowing what to do... So I decided to pick a few colors and start painting anything and something at the same time. It took me a few lessons before I really understood; I knew how to paint landscapes or draw portraits, but the abstract was so confusing for me! But when I finally understood, I fell in love with it!

 

Now I continue to explore and experiment with painting, sometimes more abstract and sometimes more realistic. Every day I discover and learn something new. 

Art is a great adventure, full of challenge and pleasure.