Wanda Doyle's painting Moonlit Sail won the VISUALS People's Choice Award, as visitors of the one-day Art at the Market group exhibition on Saturday, Aug. 1 voted for their favourite among 45 pieces created by seven local artists.
Doyle's heavily textured blue metallic acrylic painting on three wood panels resonated with voters.
"I love the three-dimensional acrylic - I can feel the waves," one wrote on her ballot.
"The feel of the movement is very apparent," another voter said.
This People's Choice Award, created for members of the Squamish Valley Artists Society, is Doyle's third after winning also in 2006 and 2007.
Doyle was enthralled by painting as a child but a hectic work schedule as an adult didn't leave enough time for her art until she retired. She decided to revisit her childhood passion when a newspaper cartoon inspired her. Thinking it would make an excellent painting for her new home she bought materials and set about creating it in 2003.
Doyle, an active VISUALS volunteer for the past three years, is also a member of the North Shore Artists Guild and the Federation of Canadian Artists. In May 2007 she won the North Shore Artists Guild Jurors' Choice.
She works in acrylic and oil paints, and loves to explore with colour schemes, styles and subject matter.
"All my paintings are different," she said. "No particular style stands out. My work represents who I am - someone who loves variety, enjoys the freedom of jumping from one thing to the next and likes to experiment. My mood is always changing so nothing is ever the same."
Moonlit Sail is Doyle's first heavily textured painting, a style she loves and plans to develop further. This work stands out for the self-confessed perfectionist because it came together so easily which is rare.
"It takes me months and months, sometimes years to finish a painting to the point where I really like it. I am always coming back and putting a dab here and a dab there, changing this colour and that colour.
"That's actually how I do anything in life. I focus on something to the minute detail. It frustrates other people if I am working on a committee project. In painting nobody else needs to be bothered by my perfectionism because I can do it all by myself."
However, Doyle has found perfect can be effortless.
"One of the things I learnt was how it doesn't have to be hard. Moonlit Sail has to be the easiest painting I have ever done in the shortest amount of time. Yet it has won the People's Choice.
"I was feeling very loose and easy when I created that painting. It just flowed. I didn't have to rework things. It was virtually finished within a couple of days and then I made a few tweaks here and there. I took some time deciding where to put the sail boats in the picture."
Doyle is preparing for VISUALS' ArtWalk, held Sept. 19 and 20 in venues across Squamish. Doyle's works will be in the new Pure Flower Shop and Frame House, and the UpStares Gallery, both on Cleveland Avenue.
Samples of Doyle's work can be viewed on her website, www.nsartists.ca/wandadoyle. Also visit www.squamishart.com.
