La Dune de Bouctouche, un hommage à Antonine Maillet

       12 x 12", acrylic on cradle aluminium panel

painting #301, 2025-26 / black wooden floater frame

ENGLISH TO FOLLOW

Il s'agit d'une œuvre jumelle de la précédente, rendant hommage à l'auteure Antonine Maillet. L'emplacement de cette peinture est la dune de Bouctouche, plus précisément l'Éco-centre Irving et sa promenade à Saint-Édouard, au Nouveau-Brunswick.

Les deux livres figurant dans cette composition sont ses deux premiers romans. "Pointe-aux-Coques", publié en 1958, lui a valu le prix Champlain, suivi de "On a mangé la dune" en 1962. Ce second ouvrage marque une rupture stylistique majeure : Antonine Maillet commence à s'éloigner du français classique pour laisser la jeune protagoniste du roman s'exprimer avec ses propres mots. Cette démarche a ouvert la voie à l'usage du parler acadien qui allait plus tard assurer à l'auteure une renommée internationale. Ces deux romans sont semi-autobiographiques ; le village fictif de Pointe-aux-Coques s'inspire de Richibouctou-Village et du Cap-de-Richibouctou (Cap-Lumière).

Peu après avoir obtenu un baccalauréat es arts , elle a rejoint la congrégation des Sœurs de Notre-Dame-du-Sacré-Cœur en 1950, à l'âge de 21 ans. Elle a fait partie de cette communauté religieuse de 1950 à 1967. Au début de sa carrière, tout comme ses parents, elle a exercé le métier d'enseignante. Son premier poste d'enseignante se situait à Cap-Lumière, vers 1950. Selon mon défunt père, l'école se trouvait à environ 400 mètres de la maison où j'ai grandi. Ma marraine, alors nommée Rachelle Cormier, a enseigné à ses côtés durant cette période. Cormier était également le nom de jeune fille de la mère d'Antonine Maillet, laquelle est la narratrice de son premier ouvrage.

Ces livres existent bel et bien individuellement, mais sont réunis en un seul volume pour cet édition. Bien que son éditeur canadien soit Leméac (Montréal), cet ouvrage a été publié en 1977 par Marabout, en Belgique. Je l'ai commandé en ligne auprès d'un libraire français spécialisé dans les livres usagés. Toujours à l'aide de Photoshop et de quelques astuces de numérisation, j'ai créé deux nouveaux dos de livre et ensuite recouvert un second bouquin de même format pour réaliser "On a mangé la dune".

Bien entendu, les fleurs lui sont destinées. Quant à la boîte de soupe Campbell's, je tenais à y ajouter une touche d'humour et une référence à la cuisine acadienne. La boîte de soupe Campbell's est évidemment un clin d'œil à Andy Warhol. Situé à Camden, dans le New Jersey, le siège social de Campbell's se trouve juste de l'autre côté du fleuve Delaware, à seulement 4 km (2,5 miles) de Philadelphie. Si le périple d'Évangéline, l'héroïne de Longfellow, s'achevait à Philadelphie, Pélagie — personnage du roman "Pélagie-la-Charrette" d'Antonine Maillet — y arrive en 1776, au chapitre 12. C'est là qu'elle rencontre Beausoleil Broussard, avec qui je partage un ancêtre commun : Michel Sansoucy Richard, venu de France entre 1651 et 1654.

Antonine Maillet s'est éteinte le 17 février 2025, alors que je travaillais sur cette peinture. Par un curieux hasard, ce matin-là, en descendant l'escalier, j'ai entendu mon épouse Suzanne — qui regardait la chaîne Radio-Canada ICI Télé — annoncer la nouvelle de son décès. En tournant les yeux vers l'écran, j'ai vu une image figée de l'écrivaine marchant sur la même promenade en bois que celle figurant dans mon tableau. Bien qu'elle ait passé la majeure partie de sa vie d'adulte à Montréal, elle possédait un magnifique chalet en forme de phare, située à quelques kilomètres seulement de cette promenade.

Elle était la tante de Cécile Maillet, l'une de nos amies les plus proches, également infirmière. Je me souviens avoir brièvement rencontré Antonine Maillet au début des années 1980, chez ses parents. Je dois beaucoup à Cécile. À l'automne 1986, c'est elle qui m'a convaincue de suivre, à ses côtés, un cours de dessin de perspective de dix semaines enseigné par Sylvain Arseneau. La dernière séance était consacrée à une initiation à la peinture acrylique. Quelques mois plus tard, je réalisais ma première toile en toute autonomie. Elle a également joué un rôle majeur dans mon éveil spirituel. Malheureusement, alors qu'elle s'apprêtait à prendre sa retraite comme d'infirmière, elle a été percutée par l'arrière par un camping-car lors d'une sortie à vélo et a subi un traumatisme crânien majeur. Elle est décédée l'an dernier, à l'âge de 69 ans, après avoir passé plusieurs années en établissement de soins de longue durée.

Antonine Maillet et sa nièce Cécile partagaient le même type d’idéalisme : elles étaient des femmes indépendantes, anticonformistes — des esprits libres.

Cécile Maillet

L'un des aspects de la peinture que je trouve particulièrement difficile est la représentation d'éléments flous. Lorsque j'ai réalisé l'étude photographique sur place pour ce tableau avec mon Google Pixel 7, seuls les livres et les fleurs étaient parfaitement en focus; j'avais omis de photographier la structure elle-même, notamment les rampes et les planches de la passerelle. J'ai eu beaucoup de mal avec la zone située immédiatement à gauche, derrière les livres. La semaine dernière, j'ai décidé de retirer le vernis de cette partie à l'aide d'essence de térébenthine distillée pour retenter ma chance afin de créer une image plus harmonieuse. C'est là que mes compétences en dessin de perspective m'ont bien servi : j'ai en effet réinventé cette section en y intégrant une rampe totalement différente.

Ces deux tableaux rendant hommage à Antonine Maillet ont été conçus à l'origine comme soumission au programme d'acquisition pour la Banque d'œuvres d'art du Nouveau-Brunswick (2026). Malheureusement, ils n'ont pas été retenus par le jury. Cette exposition leurs donne une fenêtre de voir le grand jour. 

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A postage stamp of Antonine Maillet was issued by Canada Post on November 27, 2024. One has been affixed on the back of each frame. 

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Un timbre à l’effigie d’Antonine Maillet a été émis par Postes Canada le 27 novembre 2024. L’un d’eux a été apposé au dos des deux cadres.

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This is a sister painting of the previous, paying homage to author Antonine Maillet. The setting for this work is at the Bouctouche Dune, more precisely, the Irving Eco-Centre and Boardwalk in St-Edouard, NB. 

The two books for this composition were her first two novels. "Pointe-aux-Coques" published in 1958 earned her the Prix Champlain followed by "On a mangé la dune" in 1962.  The second work marks a crucial stylistic break. Antonine Maillet begins to detach herself from classical French, allowing the young protagonist of the novel to express herself in her own words. This paved the way for the use of the Acadian dialect that would later bring the author international renown. These two novels are semi-autobiographical. The fictional village of Pointe-aux-Coques is based on Richibouctou-Village and Cap-de-Richibouctou (Cap-Lumière). 

Right after earning her bachelor's degree. Maillet joined the congregation of the Sisters of Notre-Dame-du-Sacré-Cœur in 1950 at the age of 21. Her time in the religious community spanned from 1950-1967. Early in her career, like her parents, she started out as a teacher. Her first teaching job was in Cap-Lumière around 1950. According to my late father, that schoolhouse would have been located 400m from the house I grew up in. My godmother, then Rachelle Cormier thought with her during this period. Cormier was also Maillet's own mother's family name who is the narrator of her first offering.

These specific books do exist individually, but in one single volume for this edition. While her Canadian publisher is Leméac in Montréal, this book was published by Marabout in 1977 out of Belgium. I ordered it on-line from a French used book retailer. Again, with the help of Photoshop and some scanning tricks, I created two new spines and wrapped a second book of the same size to create "On a mangé la dune". 

Of course, the flowers are for her. As for the Campbell's soup can, I had to add some humour and Acadian cuisine in the mix. In English, these titles translate to "Clam Point" (Pointe-aux-Coques) and "We Ate the Dune" (On a mangé la dune), while "Clam Chowder" is the translation for Chaudrée aux coques. Of course, the Campbell's Soup can is a wink to Andy Warhol. Located in Camden, New Jersey, the Campbell's headquarters sits just across the Delaware River - only 4 km (2.5 miles) from Philadelphia.  While Longfellow's Evangeline's peril ended in Philadelphia, Pélagie in Maillet's "Pélagie-la-Charette", arrives in Philadelphia in 1776 at chapter 12. Here, she meets Beausoleil Broussard with whom I share the same ancestor- Michel Sansoucy Richard who immigrated from France circa 1651-1654.  

Antonine Maillet died on February 17, 2025 while I was working on this painting. Ironically, coming down the stairs that morning, my wife Suzanne was watching Radio-Canada ICI Télé and announced her passing. As I looked at the TV, the image on the screen on pause was her walking on the same boardwalk as in my painting. While she had lived most of her adult life in Montreal, she owned a beautiful cottage in the shape of a lighthouse only a few kilometers from the boardwalk.

 

 

She was the aunt of one of our closest friend and fellow nurse Cécile Maillet. I remember meeting Antonine Maillet briefly during the early 1980's at her parent's house. I owe a lot to Cécile. During the fall of 1986, it was her who coaxed me to join her in taking a perspective drawing course over a 10 week period with Sylvain Arseneau. The last session was an introduction to acrylic painting. A few months later, I would complete a first painting on my own. She also played a great role in my spiritual awakening. Sadly, pending her retirement from nursing, she was hit from behind by a motorhome while on a bike ride and suffered a major brain trauma. She also passed away last year at the age of 69, after spending several years in a nursing home. 

Antonine Maillet and her niece Cécile shared the same kind of idealism: they were independent, nonconformist women—free spirits.

One aspect of painting that I find particularly difficult is painting anything that is out of focus. When I did the photo study on site for this painting with my Google Pixel 7, only the books and flowers were in full focus. I omitted to take pictures of the structure itself, railings and deck board. I truly struggled with the immediate left section behind the books. This past week, I decided to remove the varnish on that section of the boardwalk with distilled turpentine and give it another go in order to create an image that was more harmonious. This is when my perspective drawing skills served me well. I did re-invent that section with an all-together different railing.

These two paintings paying homage to Antonine Maillet were initially conceived as a submission to the 2026 New Brunswick Art Bank acquisition program. Unfortunately, they were not retained by the jury, but this exhibition still gives them a window to see the light of day.

This painting will part of my two-person show with Jon Wilkinson entitled- 

''Still Lives, Still Places'' 

held at the Fog Forest Gallery 

from October 16 - November 6, 2026.

Gallery hours - Thursdays and Fridays from 10 am to 5 pm or by appointment. 

To acquire this painting, please contact the gallery. 
Fog Forest Gallery
14 Bridge Street
Sackville, NB, Canada
(506) 536-9000
website- http:/fogforestgallery.ca

Stop for Gas, an homage to Edward Hopper

Acrylic on gessoed aluminum panel (mounted), 12 x 10''

painting #272, 2019

During the late 1980's, artist Gottfried Helnwein re-invented the famous Edward Hopper painting NIghthawks, by replacing the figures in the painting with Marilyn Monroe, James Dean, Elvis Presley and Humphrey Bogart. I remember quite vividly that it became widely popular and was displayed in every print shops, and in many restaurants and night clubs. Helnwein's Boulevard of Broken Dreams would also inspire the Green Day song of the same name. Nightwawks is probably the first Hopper painting that I became aware of. 

The conception for this painting just happened by happenstance. The background for the painting featuring my rendition of "Gas" was printed on a small box that once held 20 note cards w/ envelopes. The box is dated 2000 on the back. I remember buying it at the turn of the new millennium.  It was a derivative product made for the Museum of Modern Art that was probably sold in their museum store. All the cards are now long gone but I couldn't part with the box. It now stores some rubber stamps.  Earlier this year, I took out the box from a drawer to use a rubber ink stamp to embellish a birthday card. The small Matchbox - 1957 GMC side-step pick-up die-cast was already on my desk. When I saw them side by side.....the whole narrative came to me. The composition is resting on an Edward Hopper art book that was gifted to me by my wife, 20 years ago. A detailed image of "Gas" appears on the glossy cover of the book entitled "Edward Hopper, A Modern Master", written by Ita G. Berkow and published by Todtri in 1996.   

unedited photo study

I've been an admirer of the artwork of Edward Hopper since my early adulthood and have had the opportunity to view many of his paintings up-close in various museums in Europe but especially in the United States.

To acquire this painting, please contact: 

Galerie de Bellefeuille

1367 avenue Greene, 

Montreal, Quebec H3Z 2A8 

Tel: 514.933.4406

e-mail- art@debellefeuille.com

website 

-SOLD

Canoes at Moraine Lake

Acrylic on gessoed hardboard, 15 x 11''

Oct. / Nov. 2009, #177

The image may look familiar, since this is a larger version of the painting, Study of Canoes at Moraine Lake. Even when I did the study, I realized that I was challenging the laws of landscape art by drawing the horizon in the dead center of the image. In return, the top and bottom half may appear to compete one against the other for the subject matter's focal point. I wanted the viewer to see both part as having equal weight by the magic of perspective, and use the canoe as a mode of transportation in order to truly enter and explore the landscape instead of looking at it from the lake's edge.

This painting will be part of the art auction for Ability NB, held in Fredericton, NB, during the month of November, 2014. Details to follow. 
-SOLD

Study for Canoes at Moraine Lake

Acrylic on gessoed hardboard, #169

7 x 5'' - 2009

I've visited parts the province of Alberta three times. All three included visiting the Rocky Mountains. In December of 1983, I got the opportunity to ski beautiful Sunshine Village Resort in Banff during winter. The last two trips in 2005 & 2007 were in the summer. The majesty of the Canadian Rockies is breathtaking. It is difficult to stand in front of a scene like this without being in awe.

Just a few kilometers from Lake Louise is Moraine Lake. Moraine is a glacially fed lake situated in the Valley of the Ten Peaks. The emerald color water is attributed to the refraction of light off the rock flour deposited in the lake on a continual basis. Lake Louise & Lake Peyto shares the same phenomenon. Moraine Lake is one of the most photographed locations in all of Canada. It is known as the ''Twenty Dollar'' view, as it was featured on the reverse side of the 1969 & 1979 Canadian dollar bill. The rental canoes at Lake Louise are an orangy color, while those at Moraine Lake are in the primary colors + Hunter green. I had not painted a landscape for several years, but this one was irresistible. I am already planning a larger version.

Part of my solo show- Near & Far - October 16-30, 2009.

-SOLD

Reflecting on being Acadian

Acrylic on gessoed hardboard, 12 x 12''Created Dec. 6-14, 2008, #153

Continuing my author/book series, this one is especially sweet. One of my favorite non-fiction books with the bonus of having one of my favorite artist on the cover.

I read Notes from Exile on being Acadian by Clive Doucet during the summer of 2002, in the wake of painting a piece entitled ''Fort Beauséjour'' that would become part of the permanent collection of Le musée acadien du Québec à Bonventure, Qc. (the Acadian Museum of Quebec) where I was fortunate enough to have a solo exhibition during that fall.

Notes from Exile recalls the journey of the author who was acting as a journalist for CBC radio during ''Les Retrouvailles'', the first World Acadian Congress and reunion that was held in south-eastern region of New Brunswick in 1994. It is an incisive, charming, touching and sometime witty account while he wrestles with the question of his own identity of being a Canadian with an Acadian father and a British mother. It left me with an enlightened sense of pride of my own personal identity and hertiage of being an Acadian. Notes from Exile is listed in the top 100 titles of it's publisher, McClelland and Stewart Inc.

The Acadians were the first French settlers to arrive to the New World back in 1604. The first settlement was established at Saint-Croix Island in the Bay of Fundy located on the New Brunswick / Maine border. A year later they would move to the mainland at Port Royal in Nova Scotia. The Acadians later established themselves in parts of what is now New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, parts of eastern Quebec and the New England seaboard. British colonists captured Acadia in the course of Queen Anne's War (1702–1713), and its conquest was confirmed in the Treaty of Utrecht (1713). The French residents of Acadia were given one year to declare allegiance to Britain or leave N.S. In the meantime, the French signalled their preparedness for future hostilities by beginning the construction of Fortress Louisbourg on Isle Royale, now Cape Breton Island. The British grew increasingly alarmed by the prospect of disloyalty in wartime of the Acadians now under their rule. In the summer of 1755, the British attacked Fort Beauséjour and burned Acadian homes at the outbreak of the French and Indian War between Britain and France, accusing Acadians of disloyalty (for not having taken the oath) and guerrilla action. Those who still refused to swear loyalty to the British crown then suffered what is referred to as the Great Upheaval (la déportation) when, over the next three years, some 6,000–7,000 Acadians were expelled from N.S.and N.B. to Europe or the lower British American colonies. Others fled deeper into Nova Scotia or into French-controlled Canada.

After 1764, many exiled Acadians finally settled in Louisiana and became known as Cajun, which was first used as a pejorative term until its later mainstream acceptance. Britain allowed some Acadians to return to Nova Scotia, but these were forced to settle in small groups and were permitted to reside in their former settlements such as Grand-Pré, Port Royal, and Beaubassin.

Other literary offerings on the plight of the Great Upheaval such as Evangeline, A Tale of Acadie, was published in 1847 by the American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. The poem follows an Acadian girl named Evangeline and her search for her lost love Gabriel, set during the aftermath of the deportation. We had the opportunity to visit the house where Lonfellow grew up in Portland Maine, this past October during a weekend getaway. I also did a book report during my senior year in High School of Pélagie-la-Charette (1979), by Antonine Maillet (who happens to be the aunt of one of a longtime family friend). Narrating the epic journey of the widow Pélagie LeBlanc, who in the late 1770s leads her people back to Grand Pré from the American South. The novel was the first foreign work to receive France's Prix Goncourt . The English translated "Pélagie-the-Cart"  appeared in print in 1982.

The image on the cover is a from one of the most documented paintings by Alex Colville. The French Cross was painted in 1988. The National film board of Canada produced a documentary on the artist, The Splendour of Order back in 1984. During one sequence we follow Mr. Colville walking on a train track leading to the cross. Here, he takes precise measurements and does sketches of the monument. He revisits the cross in another documentary produced in 2002 by CBC, The Life and Times of Alex Colville. It also appears in several of his art books and I've had the opportunity to view it twice during retrospectives of his art held at le musée des Beaux-Arts de Montréal (1994) and the National Gallery in Ottawa (2002). The cross was erected in 1924 in Grand-Pré, N.S., only a few kilometers from the artist's residence in Wolfville. It is a memorial monument to the Acadian people who were expropriated from their land. The model is of Chinese descent on her father's side (a professor at Acadia University in Wolfville) and a descendant of the Acadians on her Caucasian mother's side. The unconcerned horse is following the path in front of him. The girl, also moving forward looks back towards the cross and creates a link between the present and the past. Please refer to my posting of August 31 for bio notes on Mr. Colville.

For this composition, I chose to use a Chinese Ball as a prop to a link to the Chinese girl. Also known as Baoding balls, they are used to improve manual dexterity, strenght and for meditation. A particular aspect with these reflective spheres, the closer you bring them to a bright light source, the darker that immediate surface becomes. Using my camera flash not only removed me physically from the image, it created the contrast I needed for the image to work. The ball kind of became a small planet, with a night and a day side. Also forming a type of balance found in a Ying-Yang, a circle of opposing forces. The night side is representative of my studio, where I paint mostly after 10 pm. Pot lights appears as stars around a full moon and there is even a comet-like formation. The bottom side is day and is a flipped-reverse reflection of the cover. The image also becomes a narrative of what the Acadians went through when there own reality was turned upside down as they were being boarded on to ships, families were broken up, husbands from wives, parents from children, deported and dispersed to the Southern United States, England, back to there origins in France and as far as the Falkland Islands. A linear line of lights starts from the top of the ball and continues downwards on the cover of the book. How appropriate that a shimmering light spot appears at the level of the girl's heart, noting a moment of inner enlightenment and creating a blinding spot for the horse as his face disappears underneath. It is one of the very few paintings that I have done that red is not utilized as a feature colour, it does however hides in the darker shades of brown.

I usually don't go deeply on my blog to try to explain what imagery means to me. In this case I chose to do an exception in a very thorough manner of what I felt when I painted it. A moment of introspection of my own experience on being an Acadian, but more importantly to have the insight to move forward and view the larger picture of how fortunate I am to still be living in Acadia, a land without borders.

-SOLD

La Balançoire

Acrylic polymer emulsion on gessoed hardboard, 11 x 15"
Created- August 8-15, 2004, #75.

Private collection- Toronto, Ontario.

I've always found it difficult to paint during the month of January, and this year is no exception. I'm a bit slow getting out of the starters block. Each New Year is like a renewal for life itself; I'm wiping the slate clean and getting another shot at it. I'm not the all-consuming painter and wouldn't pretend to be. Life itself is a window of opportunity, and as much as I like to paint, I also want to expand my horizons in the grander scheme of things. I took a month off from my brushes to spend more time my family, to see a lot of the critically acclaim films that always comes out pre-Oscar time, to do some skiing, to renew my passport, to start planning our family trip to California this spring and to tie loose ends. It's not the easiest thing to juggle a full-time job and a painting career on the side.... your always chasing deadlines.

I've just started my first painting of the new year, and it will be a while before I post it. It's my first figure study since 2004, and a complex one at that. When it takes a few days just to do the drawing, it usually translate in many more days than usual to paint.

I won't be having a solo show in 2008, but I do have several projects planned. I'll be submitting works in juried exhibitions, I have several commissions lined up and will do my best to provide new paintings to the galleries that represents me.

In the meanwhile, I'm posting an older piece of my last figure painting. The model is our niece Gabrielle. I took the photo study on her backyard swing in Québec, and transported her to this farming field on Prince Edward Island. The image was used on the cover of a CD released last year by the Montréal musical duo Christel. We have two other nieces on my wife side of the family who will be featured with our son Jean-Luc in my upcoming painting.