Early Fall, 40" x 48"

Acrylic on Canvas.

“When the end of September arrives, we're all in need of sun light. So, in this painting, I decided to pay tribute to the maple tree that graces my street. Strangely enough, this tree helped me through a month of intense rain. Indeed, on my walks in the damp, misty mornings with my dog Raymond, every day since the beginning of autumn, we look at it for a few minutes before heading home. Its wet leaves have gone from soft green to fluorescent pink, and now it's entering its fiery red week.

This isn't anything new, I know, it happens every autumn. But this year, I don't know... this maple brightened up our dark mornings and I found it comforting. Moving. Anyway... Bad day? Find yourself a maple to salute every day and fall will be wonderful.“

Melanie Lefebvre’s work is informed by the region in which she lives, in particular the forest. The artist’s approach to her work is analytical and contemplative and her in-depth observations of her natural surroundings lead her to depict landscapes that are both detailed and romantic. The Forêt body of work explores certain connections between human beings and trees, by inspecting the emotions that bubble to the surface when walking through a forest and realizing that the soil under your feet is teeming with life. A constant cycle of renewal through seasons, under different angles of sunlight.

Each painting invites viewers to truly immerse themselves in the forest, so they can better observe, smell, hear and reconnect with it. Through the play of light and by altering the dimensions of a subject, the artist shows how you can interpret a landscape in many different ways. Thus the depiction of say, a smudge of paint, can also be viewed as a particular shape, a splash of light, a piece of textured material – harking back to the spontaneity and distorted imagery that were characteristic of the Impressionist and Expressionist movements.