Tracey Britton, an artist based in Saint Victor, said she was blessed to have been raised in a family inundated with creativity. “The earliest memories that I have of myself are always with a crayon, pencil, or a paintbrush in my hands. All through my school years, I was forever doodling, drawing, painting or sketching something, somewhere.”
She spent much of her childhood on a farm in Alberta in the southwest Foothills region north of Cochrane. Here, she was inspired at a young age to respect animals and cherish them. Her artwork is self-described as a manifestation of the love, beauty and language of animals. The artist maintained she sensed a clearer link with animals than people.
Britton’s family moved to Holland when she was 14. Despite enduring culture shock, Britton was thrilled to view many works created by several renowned artists firsthand in European museums throughout Holland, Germany and Belgium.
When Britton returned to Canada, she attended the Alberta College of Art. Unable to pursue commercial art – her first choice of studies, she enrolled into drawing, her second choice. She learned a lot about the technical side of art at the college, including colour theory, composition and perspective. However, she struggled with the institution’s inner politics and structural demands from instructors. After three years of college, she decided to leave and find her own direction as an artist.
She eventually moved to Saint Victor, where she established her studio – Missouri Breaks. Here, she became surrounded by natural inspirations.
She paints in an effort to interpret the surrounding world and enjoys using intense and often daring colours in her works.
The artist’s deep connection with animals is expressed through Britton’s renderings of horses, cows and other creatures which exemplify strength, finesse and unrefined emotions with fluid, but definite strokes and forms. Although Britton’s lines and shapes are configured into realistic patterns, her subjects are communicated through surrealistic colours with surprizing animation. The limbs and skeletal muscles of her subjects convey the sensations of unrestrained movements – the central figures literally appear to lift off the canvas with kicking hooves and snorts.
“Colour is amazing, but we tend to overlook its importance as it is all around us, influencing our decisions, evoking feelings and adding vibrancy to our daily lives,” Britton explained. “I take all this inspiration and allow it flow through my eyes, through my paintbrush and onto the surface of my canvas, disrupting the viewers idea of what that image is supposed to look like and forcing them to think and see outside the box. I don't just show them a brown horse, I show them a horse with many layers of colours, browns, reds, oranges, blues and purples.”
Britton defines herself as a contemporary western painter – she’s inspired by the imagery of the Canadian and American prairies.
“In my more recent works, the focus has been the wild horses of Canada and the United States. They are survivors, living as nature intended, reflections of the pioneer spirit and living symbols of the west. To survive in the wild requires strength and fortitude,” she further clarified.
To view more of her pieces, patrons can visit Britton’s website at missouribreaks.ca. If anyone is interested in purchasing an artwork, they can contact the artist at [email protected].
