Advertisement

'I didn't want to give up painting': Island artist adapts work after injury

Inside her Montague, P.E.I., apartment, Nancy Perkins-Burck stands over a coffee table crowded with plastic cups of brightly coloured paint.

It's been two years since an injury forced her to make a choice about her art: Adapt or give up. She chose to change, swapping her paint brush for a plastic straw.

"It's so much fun," said Perkins-Burck.

"Because you never know what you are gonna end up with. This is so unexpected and it's a surprise."

Always drawn to the water, the nearly 88-year-old Islander is known for her building-sized ocean murals and detailed mermaid portraits.

Her work adorns wine labels and books, hangs in galleries around the Island and can be found in the P.E.I. Provincial Art Bank.

"The ocean changes all the time," said Perkins-Burck. "Just like this artwork does."

Stephanie vanKampen/CBC
Stephanie vanKampen/CBC

'Didn't want to give up'

In the spring of 2017, Perkins-Burck tore her rotator cuff while carrying a mattress, injuring her painting arm.

She had been painting in brushstrokes for nearly 70 years, and suddenly she wasn't able to move her arm to create her signature seascapes.

Stephanie vanKampen/CBC
Stephanie vanKampen/CBC

"I didn't want to give up painting," Perkins-Burck said. So she scoured the internet and watched dozens of YouTube videos about a new painting method that wouldn't require a brushstroke.

"The gallery was about to open, I didn't have any new paintings so I heard about this and I tried it."

Perkins-Burck mixes silicone and a number of other ingredients to paint to make it more fluid. She mixes colours by pouring paint onto a flat canvas and tilting it to move the paint over the surface. Then, with a plastic straw, she blows the paint which produces a lifelike wave complete with bubbles.

Stephanie vanKampen/CBC
Stephanie vanKampen/CBC

The "little puddle of paint all swirling around" makes the art look like it was painted with a brush, she said.

"Cheating I guess, but it's nice, it's affordable. I have them in a gallery and they do well."

The new style has given her a new audience in galleries.

Using the leftovers

She even uses the leftover paint that drips off the art as jewel-like pendants in necklaces.

"I'm a depression baby and learned to make do with things and use them up," she said.

Stephanie vanKampen/CBC
Stephanie vanKampen/CBC

In discovering her new-found art, Perkins-Burck said she found her way through the pain of her injury.

"Pain makes you want to forget it," said Perkins-Burck. "When you're experiencing pain and can divert your attention away from it by something … I completely forgot that it hurt."

It's so much fun, she said, she stuck with the new method even after her arm healed.

More P.E.I. news