Janick Lorion

Flowers represent happiness; their beauty energizes and comforts me.

Janick Lorion has been a watercolour artist for more than 35 years. Born and raised in Laval, Quebec, under the tutelage of her father, she started oil painting at age 9 and by age 14 was exhibiting at the Foyer des Arts gallery in Montreal’s downtown Eaton’s store. In 1986, she switched from oil painting to watercolours and studied with a number of well-known watercolour artists. As a professional agrologist, Janick worked as a biologist for the Canadian government, with a strong interest in indigenous plants, heritage seeds, biodiversity and sustainable agriculture.

With rich, vibrant colours and a free and open style, Janick’s paintings explore the wonders of nature, particularly the beauty of flowers. She comments “Painting flowers is an expression of my inward flower garden, a world where everything is possible, where colours are extra bright and where I am constantly exploring and simplifying designs to reveal their essence.” Her inspiration and creative processes come from her love of plants and nature’s seasonal cycles. “Nature is everywhere, in all of us, and embracing everything. It is mysterious, beautiful and in a constant survival mode. Janick’s paintings are an interpretation of nature’s forces, beauty and strength with the goal to inspire everyone to be gentle and tender with it, and to feed our secret inner gardens.

Janick has exhibited in galleries in Quebec, Ontario and New Mexico. She has participated enthusiastically for a number of years in Art in the Park events in Ottawa and Kingston, Ontario and various fund-raising silent auctions.

Her love of the out-of-doors is reflected in other aspects of her life. She is an avid cross-country skier, hiker, cyclist and organic gardener. Janick resides in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

ART AUCTIONS

2002  Participated in Silent Auction held by the Association of Registered Interior Designers of Ontario (ARIDO), benefiting the Canadian National Institute for the Blind (CNIB), Ottawa, Ontario

2002, 2003, 2006  Council for the Arts in Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario – Holiday Wreath Silent Auction

2003  Art donor for a silent auction for An Evening with Abigail, Ottawa, Ontario
2005  The Tulip Art Exhibition & Sale at the Westin Hotel, Ottawa, Ontario

2009  Participant in the Art for Heritage show at St-George’s Cathedral, Kingston, Ontario

ART FESTIVALS

1997-2006  Art in the Park, Ottawa, Ontario

2001-2002  Art at the Billings Estate Museum, Ottawa, Ontario

2003-2006  Art in Strathcona Park, Ottawa, Ontario, as well participant in its silent auction for the Schizophrenia Society

2003-2018  Women’s Art Festival, Kingston, Ontario

2013-2015  Artful Ladies Show, Ottawa, Ontario

ARTIST STATEMENT

I use a free and open style to explore the wonders of nature, particularly the beauty of flowers because: Flowers represent happiness; their beauty is energizing and comforting – peonies are among my favorites.

Painting flowers is an expression of my inward flower garden, a world where everything is possible, where colours are extra bright and where I am constantly exploring and simplifying designs to reveal the essence of flowers.

My artistic approach focuses on bright contrasting colours selecting a warm or cold dominance, while painting negative shapes against positive ones and ensuring that all shapes or spaces are of different size, colour and angle to obtain asymmetrical compositions.

My inspiration and creative processes come from my love of plants and nature’s cycles of the four seasons in Canada depicting some of the rich biodiversity surrounding us, which I experienced in early childhood and adolescence with my family during camping trips and winter outdoor activities, and which I continue to explore. I see each season as a journey of life cycles to learn from:

• Spring, a season of birth, blooms and breezes filled with soft fragrances luring hibernating wildlife and ourselves outside to rekindle with sunlight; a peaceful time, taming the elements, returning birds and singing frogs, seeding gardens, acclimatizing and preparing for summer.
• Summer, a season of gardening, listening to birds and watching frogs, looking at insects busy feeding on flowers. It is a time for fun, vacation, swimming, exploring, gardening, forest bathing; a time for replenishing, healing and getting ready for fall.
• Fall, a season of harvest, savoring flavors, sharing, hiking, a feast for the eyes on colours lacing the forest; a time to save and store food to get ready for winter.
• Winter, a season for outdoor sporting, sleeping or hibernating in our dens, dreaming of mystical creatures, imagining the next seasons or the next adventures on earth or to others galaxies; a time to rest and get ready for the spring.

Nature is everywhere, in all of us, and embracing everything. It is mysterious, beautiful and in a constant survival mode. It rules our environment, and, through climate change, also shows its displeasure on how we treat it. It is crucial in our daily activities to protect it for our survival and the next generations.

My paintings are an interpretation of nature’s forces, beauty and strength with the goal to inspire everyone to be gentle and tender with it, to feed our secret inner gardens, and cherish it as our best friend.

Most importantly, painting for me is the enjoyment of the process as a way of connecting with my own world, a meditation, and a peaceful, healing and calming moment in my life.

Janick Lorion CV (PDF)