Marlene Van Tassel

About Me

I am mostly a self taught painter having had always the artist within me searching to find the visionary voice to call my own. I grew up in a small town in Nova Scotia and I can remember the quiet moments to challenge my portrait drawing to capture the feeling and expression.

In my exploring of art I have come to find I am a painter who was somewhat of the romantic idealist in my artistic expression. The process of art making holds true to a quote I read "Love the art in you and not yourself in the art". As portraits were always my favorite subject I evolved to find I enjoyed capturing the humane portrayal of the indivdual spirit and placing my artistic visions into the narrative portraits of visual image that communicates a storytelling truth. One that shows the human condition, personal life, the pathos, suffering, and ones struggle against adversity. Its subjects are the lowly, the commonplace, the plebian: the addresses of misplaced societal values and stigmas incurred. Therefore I enjoy the challenge to find the beauty of empathy and feelings. Being a single parent and its challenges somehow my feelings found more of an intense connection to adversities than the beauty in the blossom of flowers or other such images instead I enjoyed the connection I found in empathy and painting the inner expression of feelings I imagined

At times I have explored various workshops to further my insights but found still being an artist is standing alone eventually and growing in ones own strength and not apart of a shadow. More so my painting pathways has inspired compassion and empathy when I contemplate the images of the moment in time of an individual life. Perhaps this is why I enjoy the challenge of capturing the human spirit etched in a portrait it is always intriguing.