FLAG news clippings 2009

Colourful language from FLAG artist

By Brenda Anderson - Langley Times - May 09, 2008

When it comes to boasting an impressive colour palette, rainbows still seem to get all the credit. But they’ve got nothing on Judy Webber’s pastel collection. The Cloverdale artist, and Fort Langley Artist Group member, can only guess at the number of pastels she’s purchased over the past few years since taking up the medium, but she knows it’s well up in the thousands, and counting.

After taking a workshop with noted local pastel artist Dianna Ponting a few years back, Webber was immediately hooked on the medium. She’d started her career as an artist working in oils, but once she tried pastels, she quickly fell in love with their pure and vibrant colours. “There’s a real gleam because it’s a stick of minerals. The colour is so intense. I just love looking at them,” she said. Webber soon abandoned all other mediums and “went into pastels, full force.” There’s only so much time and money to devote to art, after all, she said. When Webber signed up for her course with Ponting, the instructor told her the bare minimum number of pastels she should have was about 100. “I thought, ‘When would I ever use 100?’, she recalled with a laugh. In three years, Webber has amassed several thousand pastel sticks because, unlike paints, she noted, the colours cannot be easily blended, except to “glide one over the other,” so any colour you need, you pretty much have to own. And at between $6 and $9 each in Canada, and $4 or $5 in the U.S., where she spends a good chunk of the year, it can add up. “There are probably 1,000 greens available — all colour values from light to dark. “It’s easy to get addicted, and I am,” she laughed.

Webber moved from Vancouver to Cloverdale three years ago because she wanted to be closer to her grandchildren. But even with family nearby, the artist found there was something missing in her new surroundings — her peers. “I wanted to meet other artists. It can be lonely,” said Webber. “I need people to invigorate, inspire and talk about art with.” So, hoping to meet other like-minded individuals, she put her name on the list to be considered for FLAG membership. Last year, Webber got the call she’d been waiting for. Group members brought her in for an interview and looked over her work, before welcoming her to the fold. During the past year of regular exhibits and monthly meetings, Webber said she has definitely found the camaraderie she was seeking. Membership has also afforded her an opportunity to explore a wide range of subject matter through FLAG’s shows at the Heritage CN Station in Fort Langley — each one assigned a specific theme for the artists to explore. “The themes make you come up with things you wouldn’t otherwise,” she said. For the exhibit titled Wings, which ran from mid-May to July 1 last year, many chose to paint birds or airplanes. Webber delivered a still life of a plate of juicy hot wings. While she’s content to stick to one medium the same can’t be said for her subject matter. “Still life, landscapes, figures — I like it all; I want to do everything, said the artist. “I’ve wasted too much time.” While Webber takes a decidedly realistic approach to her figures and still life, the same cannot be said of her landscapes. “I like the impressionists’ approach (to landscapes) — the use of colour that’s not necessarily there,” she said. For her own landscapes, she tends to avoid local subjects, looking instead to California’s desert, where she spends a good part of each year. And it is one of these pieces she will submit for FLAG’s season-opening Wood and Stone show. The mountains and brush fit the criteria perfectly, she said. “I was going to do a still life of stone wear but it never worked out.” Webber plans to set up her easel and work at the gallery when it’s her day to sit with the exhibit, which is open weekends and holiday Mondays. She’s hoping other members will join her, adding she’d be happy to return the gesture when it’s their turn.