The story of Lethbridge artist Arlene Litchfield is on canvass.
The show “Reflections of My World” is on display at the McCain Art Gallery at the Coaldale Library until Aug. 30.
The 54 pieces have been on display since the beginning of the month.
“ There are seascapes, landscapes and winter scenes. It is a real potpourri,” Litchfield said.
The pieces reflect her life living across the world from Hawaii to Ireland as well as a lot of pieces from Medicine Hat and Lethbridge. They are all grouped by subject matter — one wall is dominated by seascapes from Hawaii and Ireland, another wall is winter themed, another is summer and the fourth wall is a collection of some of her more experimental pieces.
“The oldest one is from 1962— the year I was married,” she said indicating a large, wintery landscape. She was born and raised on a farm near Fort Macleod.
“My mom painted and I loved it,” she said. She went on to earn her BSC in Education with minors in art and music. She lived in Hawaii with her husband in 1966-70, then moved to Medicine Hat in 1970, where she started teaching part time at Redcliff. She also taught at Galbraith School in Lethbridge. She earned a Masters of the Arts in Art Education and taught at Medicine Hat College but took an early retirement to take care of her ailing husband and focus on creating her own work rather than teaching.
While most of the pieces are landscapes of varying sizes, they range from soothing beach scenes from Hawaii, to a boat transformed into a bar in Ireland. There also a variety of snowscapes, landscapes and still life paintings. They are a mix of oil paintings, watercolours and acrylics.
“A couple of them I just painted recently. But most of them are ones I painted since 1991 when I retired,” said Litchfield who spent her career teaching art and drama in Medicine Hat at Medicine Hat College.
“ As soon as I moved to Lethbridge I got involved with the Lethbridge artist’s club,” she said.
She has been planning this show for a year, choosing the paintings she and her family liked the best.
“It was fun. My daughters helped me put them up. One daughter would say she didn’t like one painting and the other would love it,” she said.
She has also had her own shows in Fort Macleod, Raymond and Pincher Creek and has been part of group exhibitions. She has also been recruited to paint set for a community theatre production of Brigadoon. She has been a member of the Lethbridge Artists Club since 2006. A friend commissioned her to do a painting based off a postcard.
“I painted a couple of them from postcards and photographs, but I’d rather sit and paint something right in front of me, though that wasn’t practical during the winter,” she said.
She noted it is difficult to choose a favourite piece, though said her time in Hawaii was the most inspirational.
“Chinaman’s Hat— I spent a lot of time painting on that beach. Those were the funnest four years I had,” she said.
The reception for the exhibit is Aug. 27 at 7 p.m. at the McCain Gallery in the Coaldale Library.
