Mark Hope's 'Sisters'

I recently checked out Mark Hope's 'Sisters' and was immediately struck by how effective a title he chose for this work. The name appropriately draws my attention to the gathering of spruce trees which are presented in the centre of his work.

I was struck, as a landscape painter, by the intricacy of Mark's brushwork and his carefully executed foliage.. Try it sometime. Its a lot harder then it looks. Its one thing to give give trees the suggestion of shape, and another to marrying them together into the general flow of the forest while at the same time, making allowance for the separation of appropriate distance marking values.

Mark's presents a rugged, but yet very beautiful forest. His pine trees are ragged, wobbly and irregular. And, for good measure he sticks in a few spindly trunks of dead trees with lots of twiggy branches sticking out.

I like the pattern of flow in this painting. Mark surrounds "The Sisters' with a sky, a forest background and a foreground which flows in an undulating, horizontal direction across the canvas and this both separates and distinquishes his vertical sisters.

I am enamoured by the colours Mark;s palette. How many ways can you paint a green forest and make it interesting? Mark sets the tone for his work with a colourful, evening sky where evening sunshine warms his branches with a variety of hues and colous. Anything but sap green!


While it may seem like a simple work - it's carefully painted and well crafted. All in all, a fine work which would look good on the wall of my study.

Artist's Comments:

This painting came from a trip I took to Pukaska National Park on the north coast of Lake Superior. The 'Sister' are a stand of Black Spruce at the top of one of the many hills along the coast. It struck me that these trees were all approximately the same hieght and it was not much of a stretch to realize that they would have grown up together. Some had died, others survive, what winters these trees have seen. The black spruce has a very distinct shape that caught my eye immediately. A top knot of foliage with a scarred and bare trunk beneath. Dead branches extend like fingers. These are Tom Thompson trees, I did a very quick plein aire sketch of the stand and it became the basis of my larger studio painting. This may be the first of black spruce Ive done but the fascinating shape and location guarantees it will not be the last.

Mark Hope - Landscape Artist

Mark Hope is an artist who's work immediately caught my eye. Mark is 54 years old and was born in Toronto and he now makes his home in Wasaga Beach, Ontario.

Like many artists, he was born with 'the gift' and it made itself known to him early in his childhood. And in case there may be any doubt on the matter, Mark writes:

" Ever since single digits I remember doing some kind of art. I remember drawing my cat Sam sleeping in a rocking chair, gladiolas in a vase. I couldn't have been more than 9 or 10 when I was doing this. I preferred oil pastels or pencil crayons back then. As a very young teenager I remember sitting at the kitchen table drawing stylized faces using a baby jar lid as a template for the head shape. The fun was in making them as different as possible....hours of fun there. Later I remember sitting quietly alone in my bedroom drawing and painting while listening to 'Boston'. I'd draw and paint anything. Tennis balls, crushed coke cans, aviator sunglasses. I remember doing this day after day...unless I was outside playing ball hockey. I remember going to the museum and seeing people sketching the suits of armor...I wanted to do that!! I remember doing an oil painting of A Y Jackson from a newspaper clipping reporting his death in the newspaper. I took art all through junior high school right up to grade 13. At the end of Grade 13 I won the Art award for excellence."

Mark hasn't strayed far from his first love throughout his life journey. He works in an art supply store in Barrie (about 100km north of Toronto), and he has taught classes in oil painting, during his adult years. And, in between times, he has worked for the government and been involved with the many things that go along with married and single life.

Mark is a landscape artist who has a passion for painting scenes from northern Ontario. But this doesn't stop him from painting still life work, and figurative nudes - not to mention his most recent industrial still life study.

I am impressed by Mark's artistic energy. He admits to knocking off between 80 and 100 works a year. Most impressive! Mark's formal art education ended with high school but he has supplemented it by taking a few workshops and courses along the way. But, for the most part, he admits to being a 'self taught' artist.

Mark finds himself drawn to the works of both French and Canadian Impressionists, And for good measure he throws in the works of classical painters like Vermeer, Rembrandt, Leonardo. with his favourites being Degas, Monet, Pissarro, Salvatore Dali, Lawren Harris, and John Singer Sargent

Mark's works hang in a cooperative gallery in Creemore Ontario and he has participated in many art shows most notably in the "Purple Hills Studio Tour". He most recently applied for his works to be shown at the Toronto Outdoor Show at the Toronto City Hall, and he has 2 solo shows planned for this coming summer and a studio tour as a guest artist in October.

In between times, he enjoys taking trips into northern Ontario and he usually comes back with about 20 or so pleine aire sketches. "I often use them for larger paintings in the studio."

A busy man, indeed.

Mark's works can be found in the Mad and Noisy Gallery in Creemore, Ontario. Please click here.