Drawn From Nature

Finding artistic inspiration in the great outdoors

- Hilary Porado

I was still in preschool when I discovered how much I love to paint, but it was not until Grade 9 that an art teacher sent me outdoors to draw what I saw. The sheer freedom of being outside the classroom and drawing from life was thrilling.

In college, I remember that it did not take too long for our professor to decide that our class was ready to head outdoors to draw. For me, it was like a reward. We were sent out with our huge canvases to paint whatever we wanted. I chose a lily pond on campus.

Born in England, I lived in the United States for a while and immigrated to Canada in 2003. When we moved to Toronto, I couldn’t wait to head out into nature and paint in High Park. When I first set up my easel in 2008 in front of a duck pond, the ducks had the nerve to fly away. I went ahead with the painting anyway and titled it “Where Did the Ducks Go?”