Arts and Entertainment

Local artist creates happy scenes with her painted work

October 13, 2022   ·   0 Comments

By Constance Scrafield

Local artist, Mary Scattergood recently went to Ireland with several members of her family and she came home thinking, “I can paint that.”

That means that someday, there will be Mary Scattergood paintings of the lush green hills of Ireland, the strong stone buildings of Dublin and no doubt, pubs.

Moving to Orangeville from Kleinburg some years ago, “It was so busy, my husband said he was tired of having to wait to get out of our driveway”, eventually moving to a country home, close to the town centre, she told the Citizen, “And we fixed up the old farmhouse. I have a studio that overlooks the beautiful view we have here.

“This house has been a huge inspiration to me,” Ms. Scattergood said. “We’ve been here six years and it feels just exactly the place I think where I was meant to live.”

During the summer months, they convert an art gallery into a space apart from the house where people can look around but year-round there is a gallery in the house.

“People can visit by appointment which has worked out beautifully,” she remarked.

Relatively new to her life is a “pretty good” website with most of her paintings and options to purchase the originals if they are still available or Giclee versions of her work.

Ms. Scattergood was happy to tell us, “I recently started making Giclee with a printer in Toronto. My painting of the Orangeville Town Hall has just [been] returned to me from the printer. Luckily the original is a little bit smaller; otherwise, they are exactly the same. There will be originals on the walls at the theatre during December, and there are Giclée’s of the town hall.”

As she pointed out, printing in Giclee makes the art affordable. Since her first hope for her art is to be in people’s homes, “They’re meant to be in the hallway, so you can look at it as you come in or go out – hang it in your bathroom! People spend lots of time in there.”

She was enthusiastic, noting, “It’s just terrific, an 18 x 24 Giclee of one of the paintings is $225. I just know when I’m looking to buy something I want to know the price.”

It was learning about the famous American artist Grandma Moses, who began her career at the age of 78 and was Mary Scattergood’s inspiration in high school. She was totally hooked and could not get enough of the elderly artist’s work. Grandma Moses (Anna Mary Robertson Moses) depicted in fine detail mainly the rural life of people of her childhood; she was born in 1860. There is that feeling of history as a real memory.

“I just translate her style into my life,” Ms. Scattergood explained. “I had a beautiful childhood and I paint that time.”

Another artist and influence for Ms. Scattergood is S.L. Lowry, a British artist who also had a penchant for “stick figure” people, not in rural settings but in northern towns close to Manchester.

“I have written a series of children’s books,” she added. “The fairies series [three books] and two books about Pierre, a boy living in Quebec. They are for young children and are sold in Sproule’s on Broadway.

“My fairies series is hardcover, printed in Canada,” she said.

She paints every day but her training has been working at it and taking classes wherever she could.

“Our parents couldn’t afford for my brother and [me] to go to a higher school. I’ve taken classes whenever I can. An artist friend told me once, ‘You wouldn’t paint like this if you had gone to art school.’”

She also loves our local theatre and has a fond connection to Theatre Orangeville.

“I love the theatre,” she said. “We used to spend the winters in the south but we went to see the shows when we were here. I always loved the fact it was such outstanding work; it’s so wonderful to support them.”

Her idea was to do a piece specifically as an auction item for Theatre Orangeville’s ‘Twas the Night Gala. Committee chairperson Laura Sheehan Austin dropped the hint, as Mary Scattergood related, “I love the building. Laura said paint whatever but the opera house would be nice.”

And Mary Scattergood loved the idea.

Furthermore, she informed us, “If anything sells of my originals in the theatre, if a painting sells, the theatre gets half.”

We have more to look forward to with her with a new series she is calling “Captured Creatures,” what she sees on her floors, in the clouds, where she sees alligators and woodland creatures.

“My grandchildren tell me something and I see a painting from my own childhood,” adding wistfully, “I always wished I had that [farm] life as a child. I love rural. A lot of the countryside in Caledon is like the Somerset countryside where I lived as a child.”

Sometimes she has two or three things on the go. Usually, she is in her studio by 10:00 am. She produces large paintings and smaller paintings, which also include Folk Art.

“I’m painting it so people can just go into that scene. What I want is for people to remember something from their own life. That makes me very happy,” she assured us. “And my ambition is to just keep doing my paintings. Grandma Moses lived to 101 and she was still painting. That’s what I want for myself.”

The theme for her paintings is from an earlier time– “my palette was the 50’s; …the 50’s was a wonderful time to live. I just can’t help it – my people wear the coats my mother wore.”

Most importantly, Ms. Scattergood wants people to have some happiness in life.

“If people can look at my work and be happy, think, ‘I want to have one.’ That makes my heart sing.” Ms. Scattergood’s paintings are hanging in the Theatre Orangeville lobby. They are all originals.

Please note that Mary Scattergood is donating half of all sales to Theatre Orangeville.

To learn more about her: www.maryscattergood.com

To purchase tickets to ‘Twas the Night Gala go to www.theatreorangeville.ca or call the Box Office 519-942-3423.

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