Renowned local artist Alfred Muma has been included in a book featuring BC artists and is working on putting together his own book entirely devoted to his night paintings.
Artists of British Columbia is a book put out by Leighdon Studio Gallery to highlight some of the best in BC art. Artists have to apply to be included and there is a fee involved, but there is still a selection process to ensure the quality of entries. This is the third book in the series and features three paintings by Muma along with an artist statement.
Muma chose the paintings for the book from hundreds of paintings that he has done over the year. Both he and the editor of the book wanted to focus on Muma’s watercolour night paintings.
At 17 years old Muma painted his first nighttime watercolour. Inspired by the paintings of Tom Thomson, Muma headed out in a canoe in the dead of night to figure out how Thomson did it. Using a lantern Muma paddled out on Rock Lake in Algonquin Provincial Park in Ontario to paint with the northern lights in the background. He couldn’t figure out how to do it until he turned the lantern out and realized that the natural light is enough to paint from.
Since then Muma has refined his technique and learned some tricks. For instance, he makes sure to always have the same colours in the same place on his palette because he cannot see them well enough in the night to distinguish shades. And he said he never knows what it really looks like until the next morning.
“You think of night as black, or night as the absence of light, but because you’re using available light there has to be colour,” said Muma. “It’s the reflective light and the patterns, that’s what excites me.”
One of the pieces featured in the book is of Vancouver International Airport, looking out on the runway from a window with light from the runway and the reflection off the window. Another is titled Winter Morning, Haida Gwaii and is a night seascape painted from a deck. It is a frozen watercolour, which is a process that can only be done in just the right conditions that actually freeze the watercolours as the artist paints, creating unique layers of pigment and sharp edges.
It’s these types of paintings that Muma will focus on in a book that he is developing. To get the book off the ground, Muma, who did not want to self-publish, contacted a publisher he respects to see if it would be interested in putting out a book of this work. Not expecting to hear anything, Muma was delighted to hear back from the publisher who was excited about the project.
Originally, Muma planned to have the book exclusively feature paintings of BC but his publisher convinced him to broaden the scope. Muma has done paintings in Ontario as well as Australia. The publisher also suggested he include other mediums so the book will now feature watercolours along with oils and some acrylic works.
Muma believes people respond well to his night paintings because they are unique in that not many landscapes are set at night. The colour is another reason, which evokes the often unnoticed natural light of night. A mysterious quality may also contribute to the appeal of the works.
Muma said he hopes to have the book out sometime this summer, but that is tentative. Artists of British Columbia, Volume 3 is available in bookstores now.
