Leduc Rep article

Pigeon Lake-based painter Margot Soltice is the Artist of the Month for November at the Elsie Johns Gallery in the Leduc Civic Centre. (Alexandra Pope/Rep Staff)

November's artist has made painting her life's work

Local News

By Alexandra Pope

Growing up, Margot Soltice spent her summers basking in the sights and sounds of Pigeon Lake.

Today, Soltice's paintings pay tribute to the lake's beauty and rich history with their vivid colours and expressive lines.
Soltice's work is on display until the end of the month in the Elsie Johns Gallery at the Leduc Civic Centre. The artist, a self-professed lover of colour, hopes viewers will respond to her idyllic scenes.
"I hope to express the light in any given subject, and playfulness too," she said. "I like to think the feelings from my paintings are light ones."Soltice, who grew up in Edmonton but moved to an acreage near Pigeon Lake with her husband and three children 12 years ago to be "immersed in nature," began drawing at an early age, experimenting with different media including pen-and-ink drawings, watercolours and India ink.
She recently began painting with acrylics and said she loves the sense of freedom of working with a vast palette of bright, bold colours.

Soltice, whose other passions include permaculture and community shared agriculture, recently decided to make art her life's work. Summers are spent working outdoors at various sites around Pigeon Lake, while in the winters, Soltice looks for opportunities to exhibit her work.

So far her work has graced the walls of Cha Island Tea Company and Expressions Café in Edmonton and Black Gold Gallery and Frame in Leduc, and been featured in the annual Edmonton and Pigeon Lake Art Walks.
She also teaches art to various groups of children and adults in the Edmonton area.
"I'm doing what I want to do," she said. "I'm enjoying the fact that I can work with people and express what I see and share it."
To challenge herself further, Soltice, who recently took up camping with her family, hopes to explore and portray more of Alberta.
"We choose campgrounds based on the surrounding visuals," she laughed.
"I'd love to have Alberta as my subject. I like the open quality of rural Alberta and the sense of history we have in all the old outbuildings."
To view more of Soltice's work, visit www.barnswallowcorner.ca.