Painting darker side of life

By Sean Meyer/London Community News/Twitter: Newswriter22 Sarah Kane has no problem admitting she finds her artistic inspirations in the darker side of life. Kane, 30, was born and raised in London and has been interested in art for as long as she can remember. For Kane, whose original interest came from shadowing her brother’s drawings when she was just three years old, the darker, more Gothic point of view has always been inspiring for the worlds she creates through her artwork. “I have just always been drawn to the dark side of things. I like to create a separate reality in what we see every day and tell stories in a dark way while not having it be obviously Gothic,” Kane said. “I do like to show some of the more powerful sides of women for instance, more of a power stance than just painting them in a pretty field with flowers. I am drawn to darker motivations in music and movies, everything inspires my art from there.” Kane’s inspirations will be on display during her exhibition next month at the Arts Project. Double, Double, Toil and Trouble takes place July 10-21 in both the north and south galleries. An artist reception will be held on Saturday, July 14, from 7-9 p.m. This exhibition is a continuation of Kane’s previous show, Something Wicked This Way Comes, which featured more of the characters and stories from Greek mythology. The new exhibition will feature more than 40 pieces in Kane’s preferred mediums, acrylic paintings and graphite and conté drawings. Kane said she didn’t have enough time to tackle what she really wanted in the first show, making a second all the more important as she has fallen in love with the subject matter. “I always loved Greek mythology. It isn’t that I get the stories exactly right, I put my own spin on everything,” Kane said. “The characters are often very different. I just want to get the overall feeling I get when I read the stories. Or take one of the characters and throw them into a different scenario, see them a different way.” One place Kane said she finds inspiration, certain for her landscape pieces, is in Algonquin Park. Kane, along with her husband Peter, have travelled to Algonquin on three occasions, twice in the winter. Her process is to then take photographs, utilize different exposures, manipulate the images in Photoshop and then bring the ideas they create to her canvass. Kane said she would love to travel worldwide for her inspirations, but for financial reasons, she is currently keeping to road trips within five or six hours away. But whatever her inspiration for a particular piece, the question for Kane soon shifts to what medium she will choose, typically either acrylics or graphite. “The tricky part is graphite is near and dear to my heart. It takes a certain type of person to appreciate the graphite work, maybe one in 10 really take notice. Colours grab people’s attention,” Kane said. “But when I see a piece I have photographed, or an image I have been using, in black and white, you can just tell it is a more interesting story. It just jumps out at me.” Kane has been showing her work for many years now, with her first ever solo exhibition taking place at the Arts Project. In fact, her upcoming exhibition will be her eighth at that particular venue. “It is a place I have always gone, checking out the artists. It means a lot to me. It means a lot to me to show here,” Kane said. “Eventually I want to branch out, show in places like Toronto, but I will always keep London as my base for showing.” Before she can focus on the future, Kane is busily preparing for the upcoming show. And busily probably isn’t a strong enough word for the routine Kane puts herself through, particularly around a show as large as Double, Double, Toil and Trouble. “Usually I have a three-month crunch time where I am working around the clock, 100-hour weeks. But with this one, I have been working since January,” Kane said. “It is bittersweet, I love it, but at the same time it is absolutely exhausting. But when I get the work up on the walls, I think it just feels great. It feels like you have really put something together.” With 41 pieces finished, and a few more being worked on, Kane said she is really focused on producing the best exhibition she can — even if she is never totally happy with what she creates. “I never ever feel great about my work. But there are a few things with this show that I am really excited about,” Kane said. “I am pretty hard on myself, I am never completely happy. But I have worked hard. There are some very passionate pieces in here, pieces that are very near and dear to my heart.” Find us on Facebook: London Community News