Margaret Derry

Margaret uploads her own photos as starting points, then reimagines the backgrounds and layers on “paint” using programs that mimic everything from brush strokes to pigment density.

June 25, 2020 | | Artist in Residence

At first glance, painter Margaret Derry’s rustic Ontario landscapes, birds and farm animals read as colour-drenched realism. They are, but Margaret dirtied no actual paint brushes to create them. She makes them entirely on her computer. About a decade ago, the Caledon-based polymath – she’s an adjunct history professor at the University of Guelph, a successful cattle breeder and an author specializing in the history of agriculture and animal husbandry – followed her probing curiosity into the world of digital painting. She uploads her own photos as starting points, then reimagines the backgrounds and layers on “paint” using programs that mimic everything from brush strokes to pigment density. Printed on canvas, the images are tributes to the tension between photography and painting. Available in three sizes ranging up to 24″ x 30″. poplarlane.net

Lashes ~ by Margaret Derry

Lashes ~ by Margaret Derry

Bunny ~ by Margaret Derry 

Bunny ~ by Margaret Derry

Pileated (detail) ~ by Margaret Derry

Pileated (detail) ~ by Margaret Derry

Retired fishing boat ~ by Margaret Derry

Retired fishing boat ~ by Margaret Derry

About the Author More by Tralee Pearce

Tralee Pearce is the deputy editor of In The Hills Magazine.

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