GORE BAY—Not only is her work excellent, drawing is something that Melissa Laporte-Alexander feels a need to do, on pretty much a daily basis.
“I find drawing relaxing, and I have an inner need to draw…everything around me stops and I have to draw,” Ms. Laporte-Alexander told the Recorder at the opening of her show #Must Draw at Fish Point Studio in Gore Bay. “I like to draw daily, especially in the morning or at night.”
“I really have no rhyme or reason for the subjects I draw. I see something or think up something and have to draw it,” said Ms. Laporte-Alexander.
Ms. Laporte-Alexander, who is a mother of two, only started drawing a few months ago.
“When I first saw Melissa’s drawings, I knew I was looking at something special and unique,” said Helen Siksek, who operates Fish Point Studio. “She only started drawing a few months ago and despite that the fact that she has had no formal training in art, her compositions have an alluring mix of qualities that merit recognition and are both serious and fun. In other words, a mix of professional illustration and whimsy.”
“Her earlier drawings look a bit like doodles but they are becoming more complex and sophisticated and illustration seems to come naturally to her. This is her first exhibition and although she did not consider herself a ‘real’ artist, I think she will need to rethink that now. I love how vibrant and creative her drawings are, they have a happy energy about them.”
Ms. Laporte-Alexander told the Recorder, “I am from Sudbury but I spend a lot of time here on the Island; my family has a place on Tobacco Lake and I’ve been coming here since I was a child.”
She enjoys wandering along the Gore Bay boardwalk where she feels at peace. She has always wanted to be an artist and recently started sketching on a regular basis. Sketching helps her to unwind and she refers to her drawing activity as ‘Zen.’
Having a sketchbook handy is important because she gets ideas from everywhere and there is no one special topic or subject. She calls it random inspiration. “I feel like I have to draw, I can’t explain it, it’s like there is something inside me and I can’t stop it. I started posting photos of my artwork on Instagram, using the hashtags #MUSTDRAW. It’s like an artistic pull that I can’t ignore! I must draw!”
The swirlies or linear patterns that appear in the decorative backgrounds of her drawings are a reflection of her life. Being an entrepreneur and the mother of two young boys she usually maintains a fast pace but her drawing slows her down and helps her unwind.
“I first started to drawing to relax, but now I do it to create art,” said Ms. Laporte-Alexander. She had 24 pieces on display at the Fish Point Studio this past month.
