Gordon Leverton - fine art and industrial landscapes

'Passage 1'
16" x 11" Coloured pencil on sanded pastel paper
$450

Canadian artist Gordon Leverton, a fellow member of Fine Line Artists, is having a rather busy time this weekend.

We've known for some time that his pencil drawing, “Passage 1” has been accepted into the Society of Canadian Artists’ 39th Open Juried Exhibition at the Papermill Gallery, Todmorden Mills Museum, 67 Pottery Road, Toronto - which opened today. Given the focus of Gordon's artwork - the industrial cityscapes of Hamilton Ontario - it's very apposite that this gallery should form part of an industrial heritage site.

However there was always the question of who was going to accompany him to the opening reception today......or even whether he was going to get to it at all. All's well that ends well. Wife Nancy shoed him out the door this afternoon and insisted he attended the reception - after she gave birth in the wee small hours of Friday morning to the couple's second child Gemma. Gord will also be bringing home his wife Nancy and new daughter Gemma from hospital this weekend so Gemma can get better acquainted with her big brother Nolan.

Gord will have even more to celebrate in two weeks time, when his first solo exhibition opens at the Mixed Media Gallery. This will also feature in the monthly James North Art Crawl during the month of October 2006. The opening reception for Gord's first solo exhibition is Friday, Oct. 13, 2006 from 7-10pm at 174 James St. N, Hamilton. Free admission.

Other examples of his recent artwork are show below. Gordon uses dry mediums such as coloured pencil, pastels, charcoal and conte. He achieves his results through a variety of styles, including cross hatching, blending and layering colour. Liquid solvents play a big part in his work, enabling him to build several layers of colour, which he then "mixes" to form a solid, unique shade. This, combined with a loose and sketchy approach, allow a serendipitous final outcome, much like a watercolourist leaves some chance to the interaction between water and pape.

In relation to his focus on local industrial scenes, as Gord says

"Most people yearn to escape the city; I find comfort there. The neatly arranged blocks of houses, the social interaction with persons of all classes and backgrounds, not to forget the clusters of artisans and creative people - how can an artist not find inspiration in such a place?"

You can see more of his warehouses, storefronts and streetscapes on his website www.gordonleveton.com. In my opinion, Gordon Leverton is mining a rich seam within his industrial landscape niche and is producing a lot of high quality work . He has a unique eye for his subject of choice and has developed a way of working which well suits the way he wants to portray his subject matter.



Links:

• Gordon Leverton
• Fine Line Artists
• Society of Candian Artists
  

Technorati tags: art , coloured pencils , colored pencils , drawing , industrial landscapes, painting