Featured Artist Enda Bardell

Artist Enda Bardell’s fluid, luminous plein air watercolors express the beauty of the Canadian landscape. Enjoy more of this accomplished artist’s work by visiting her website.

 

 

My interest in art began at around age six after we fled Estonia, the country of my birth, to Sweden to avoid the Soviet occupation. My dad’s crime was defending his country.

 

 

At that time, some of the Swedish children, where we lived, were not allowed to play with Estonian children because we were refugees. Since my mom worked in a paper factory, I had easy access to paper and cardboard. I turned to art and began designing paper dolls with back to front wardrobes, which I gave away in order to win friends.

 

 

My art career continued for a while after immigrating to Canada. My sixth grade teacher recognized my talent and suggested I send one of my drawings—of a family of dogs looking out of a red barn—to an interschool art competition. I won a book for the school library. From then on, I was an artist!

 

 

As a young teenager, I attended Saturday morning art classes at the Vancouver Art Gallery, where I discovered Vincent Van Gogh and Emily Carr. Later influences were Lawren Harris and the Group of Seven. As an adult, I attended art school and various workshops given by local established artists.

 

 

My greatest influence in the medium of watercolour was the late Toni Onley, who became a friend and mentor for a short while before his tragic death.

 

 

I have always been an explorer, venturing into numerous careers from banking to real estate. Most of my callings, however, were creative, such as a costume designer in the movie industry and as fabric artist and designer of simple ladies’ wear in natural fibres. This led me to open my own shop called Enda B. Fashion Limited in Vancouver.

 

 

After having experienced many facets of work, I settled back into art in 2002. I had painted landscapes in oils and hard edge abstracts in acrylics and fabric art. Now it was time to explore watercolours which offered me a certain freedom. I am honoured to have two of my early abstract works in the permanent collection of Estonian Art in Exile at KUMU, the Art Museum of Estonia, Tallinn.

 

 

Now I enjoy painting the great outdoors, whether it is en plein air or from reference photos taken from my adventures. My paintings are devoid of any creatures or manmade objects except for freighters in English Bay, Vancouver, with whom I have a special relationship developed from swimming in the same ocean in which they are anchored.

 

 

I love watercolour for its fluidity, which allows me the liberty to dance with it. I am the leader and watercolour the follower, with a little direction by my brush. My work is mostly intuitive. It is not intended to document any special place.

 

 

My source of inspiration is the feeling of being there whether it be a moody sky, tangled forest or a stately mountain. My goal is to captivate the viewer with the same sensory emotion.

 

Artist Enda Bardell invites you to follow her on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

 

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