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Cendrine Marrouat: Is there one piece among your father's body of work that you prefer? And why?
Vaness Simpkins: There is, and he sold it! There is this one painting of an evening sunset on a grey day with warm purple hues...somewhere deep in the woods and if I had to sum up my father’s personality in one painting it would be that one. It’s a very relaxing, peaceful, still, quiet scene, you know, one of those moments when you’re in nature and you are suddenly aware that you are one with it all, the crickets and the sounds of a babbling brook. That painting has always had a special place in my heart.
Aside from that painting, it’s REALLY hard for me to pinpoint a favourite, I love them all for different reasons. His lilies with deep blues and wildflower scenes with big open skies are on the top my list of favourite scenes.
CM: What has your research into your family's past taught you? Any favourite anecdote?
VS: All of this research has taught me a few very important things.
1 - Do what you love and love what you do. Dad’s motto - Life’s too short to waste time doing something you don’t enjoy.
2 - Work for yourself, don’t buy into the system, your freedom is way too precious to slave over someone else’s dream.
3 - Connecting with Nature is the fastest way to reconnect with the source within you. Reconnecting with your intuition, your guidance, God, peace and serenity is essential for being happy. That’s why I live in the woods. My sister Cristina is an adventure tour guide in British Columbia and takes his clients way out in the back country. I guess we both adopted a love of nature from dad.
CM: What is next for you?
VS: I’d like to start on my grandfather's horses and make prints of those. He was voted one of Canada’s BEST horse painters in a very difficult medium, watercolor, and he nailed it! I used to ride horses and fell in love with his paintings, so I’d like to share those as well with the horse lover community.
I’d also like to connect with different health services, corporations and legal offices to promote my family’s artwork to hang in the waiting rooms. Very peaceful scenes go a long way in very tense and stressful waiting rooms.
Big picture, I’d like to connect with the Montreal Museum of fine art and do a “Simpkins” art legacy show, to showcase all four Simpkins artists and their work, and share their contribution to Canada’s heritage.
CM: Where can people find more information on your father and his work?
VS: I’m in the process of putting up a new site called www.SimpkinsArt.com where folks can find out more about the Simpkins story, explore the art collection and find out about prints for sale.
CM: Any last words?
VS: You don’t need to be an art connoisseur to fall in love with one of my father's artworks. The feelings evoked from his paintings are something ever more sought after, especially in this day and age of hustle and bustle, busy, stress-filled lives. Ron was truly a talented, humble, and eccentric artist who lived life on his own terms, and found profound joy in his daily paintings of nature and light. Many of his artist friends say that his paintings bring them feelings of peace and tranquility, and a sense of understanding… Art critics say that if an artist can bring out feelings in the viewer, he has reached his goal.
Take some time to see just what a Simpkins is all about. His artwork allows everyone of us, whether we live by a forest or not, to step into nature more often than we currently are.
End of the interview.
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Cendrine Marrouat may be contacted for potential interviews, reviews and general enquiries at info@cendrinemarrouat.com
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