For
more than 25 years, Ed Roche has been creating stunning portraits of
island life in his home province of Newfoundland. A true Newfoundlander
at heart, born and raised in a small, pastoral town located about five
minutes from the capital city of St. John's, Ed was surrounded by wilderness
and rugged beauty for untouched miles. Growing up, he had a crystalline
view of the savage cliffs of famous Middle Cove beach from his mother's
kitchen window. It was the perfect inspiration for a budding student
of realism, and the catalyst for Ed developing into a matchless Canadian
artist.
After
studying at Memorial University of Newfoundland in St. John's, Ed began
work in recreational education. It was during this time that he had
the opportunity to travel around the province and was exposed to other
landscapes and communities. His curiosity about the island and its vast
history was piqued by this experience, and Ed finally took up his brush.
In
1978, Ed started honing his craft by painting full time. His career
began with studying and painting watercolor images of familiar scenes
deeply connected to his childhood home and community roots: his father's
rusted and abandoned Ford pickup in a nearby field, enveloped by grass
and wild brush; a fresh catch of cod on a weathered, wooden wharf; the
family's white salt box home captured forever in a crisp winter scene.
This period of Ed's vocation also came with a natural artist's resourcefulness
- his sisters recall having to be careful of leaving china plates laying
around the house, for Ed would steal them away immediately to use as
his palette.
Further mastering his innate talents in composition, color and texture,
Ed experimented in different mediums in order to define his own style
and form. While a few original oils exist in private collections, Ed
ultimately decided that the subtle yet vibrant quality of acrylics brought
his unique, realist vision of Newfoundland to its full potential. It
is this delicate blend of medium and subject that makes Ed's exquisite
work unmistakable at a mere glance.
Ed's
philosophy is simple: "You start with a blank canvas. And when
you finish painting, the goal is to be left with an image you can walk
into…you have to be able to recreate the energy of a community.
And without that heart and soul, well, it's just another painting."
The passion and fervor with which Ed approaches his work is evident
in every piece he produces. The smallest brush stroke of color, the
precise painted light that hits the subject at just the right angle,
the faithfulness of period in scenes of architecture and dress…all
these factors combine to create the perfect historical painted province.
