Trap-line upbringing inspiration for artist

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Growing up on her parent's trap-line in pre-Cambrian country near Thunder Bay was perhaps the best inspiration an artist could ever ask for, said Linda Kennard.

"I didn't even see town until I was five," she said. "My parents lived and trapped on the lakes."

Kennard's childhood appreciate of nature is reflected in her majestic lake scenes and realistic wildlife oil and acrylic paintings. Blue herons, loons, or beaver dams are central to her lake work, as is the rocky shoreline typical of pre-Cambrian country.

Her lake scenes move from realistic to what Kennard refers to as "romantic realism"; a realistic setting with vivid pink, blue, or yellow washed skies. Her paintings are rich in detail, but Kennard doesn't waste time doing preliminary sketches.

"My lake scenes are truly from my memories," she said. "I just think about a certain lake back east that I may have canoed on and I think, 'Ok, there were those distant trees, and I bang them on. Then I think about them up close, then of the rocks and how they were and there they are. The lake scenes really just flow."

Her romantic realism paintings are inspired by her imagination. "It just comes out of my brain. I'm having fun with them."

While painting lake scenes, may be easy for Kennard, painting wildlife is not.

"I'm very serious about my wildlife. They are a lot more work. I've got to see them, study them, sketch them, photograph them, and smell them.:"

As is evident in her work, Kennard's favorite animal is the wolf. She studies a pack of wolves at the Polar Park Zoo, using the sketches as inspiration for her work.

"Wolves are a really pleasing animal. There is so much to them and they have the most wonderful eyes." She also favors the Canadian lynx for its magnificent fur.

Besides getting the animal just right, Kennard prides herself on painting the surrounding environment as life-like as possible.

"That's an actual place near Thunder Bay," she said, pointing to her lynx paining. "You could actually walk there on those rocks."

Although Kennard began taking painting lessons at age 13, she didn't start to paint seriously until 1991. Prior to that, she was busy raising children and could produce just one painting every four years.

"I started painting full-time when I turned 40. I didn't want to be 200 before I'm famous, so I thought I'd better work hard at it." Kennard treats her painting like a full-time job, saying it's an important part of self-expression.

"There is so much pouring out of me right now, I'm flying with it."

Kennard prefers to paint large-scale canvasses. Her original works are in her words "pricey," but she does offer small mini-posters starting at $8.50. Her limited edition prints start at $160 while her feature original oils range from the low thousands to $10,000 for her feature piece of a lone wolf.