Humble, soft spoken, generous, trustworthy are a few qualities that come to mind when i think of Benton. He has been our go to man for all our computer technology needs and troubleshooting. I am not sure when we met but sometime over the 22 years of my self-employment. Benton recently gave my grandson some of his handy work, a refurbished computer, and i painted this portrait of him to show my gratitude.
I have sketched many self portraits but this is the first painting of me. It is a partner to the one of my friend Nikki that i painted earlier this year. Artists often paint themselves as they are always ready models. Often you can find the artist blending in the background of many old master paintings. I hope to do more… maybe a birthday painting a year.
Early in the spring of 2021 we went for a hike in the forest with a young friend who recently moved to Manitoulin. Such a delightful spirit she has, ready to leap and dash through the woods in her moccasins but she wore boots as it was a little wet. She sent me a photo of moccasins that she had made. The terrain here is quite rocky and Amber, being in her prime of life, was so agile in her movement along the trail that i imagined that she was a deer. Later I covered a board with leaves and drew a picture of Amber as a deer and set the scene aside. In July i picked up the sketch and finished it.
This painting of Nikki was painted for the Ridvan 2022 edition of e*lix*ir online magazine Sandra Lynn Hutchison, Editor, describes our joint project: This issue of elixir is devoted to reflection on our “Green Island” and on the virtue of trustworthiness — its presence and its absence in our world. In the art section, we feature paintings by Pam Jackson and Nikki Manitowabi, both long-time residents of Manitoulin Island in northern Ontario, a place that is, quite literally, a green island for much of the year. Carried forward on the wings of prayer, their joint art project gives us a glimpse of life on an island that has, in recent times, become home to a community of white settlers, but which has long been home to a confederacy of Anishinaabe tribes — the Odawa, the Ojibway, and the Pottawatomi — and remains the site of the only unceded indigenous land in Ontario.
This is my grandson Cole, he and his dad go fishing often and cook up the catch right on the shore. This is a long time tradition around Manitoulin. In Oct 2021 I started Alla Prima Bootcamp with Chelsea Lang and this was the first pleasing painting where i feel i was getting the loose style. It was painted in Nov 2021. I have been painting a lot of master copies and getting a lot of brush miles but have missed sharing on this website and will remedy that now so stay tuned.
Pam Jackson 