Debi Mackinnon finds inexhaustible inspiration in the lush nature of her native British Columbia, translating its bold colors and rich textures into marvelous canvases blooming with thick brushstrokes. Her arresting compositions portray gardens, fields and vases exploding with bright tones. Her generous style of application creates beautiful, dynamic patterns that evoke both Van Gogh and pointillism, but Mackinnon’s acrylics are applied more freely and voluminously, emphasizing notions of bounteousness and plenitude in the landscapes she portrays.
She creates a sense of natural abundance that occasionally pushes her aesthetic to the verge of abstraction, with dots, lines and dashes of color mingling in a frenetic field of activity. That impression of abstract flatness has to do with Mackinnon’s attentive rendering of light — “The moment the natural light hits the walls,” she explains, “I immerse myself in a cacophony of paint, brushes, and canvas working as long as the light lasts.” Her sensitivity to light, tone and texture results in spectacularly naturalistic landscapes.