New work by Canadian artist and painter Elizabeth Lennie

“We were all so young. We were still our best selves.” Ann Patchett, The Dutch House

I noted this many years ago as I was working on an early collection of lake paintings.

When my daughters were young they spent many summers at Camp Wabikon on Lake Temagami in the heart of Ontario’s wilderness. They would come home refreshed and recovered from the stress of the school year, full of stories and adventures and a slew of new friends after their time in the forest and on the lake. I call it The Nature Cure.

I believe they grew into a renewed understanding of themselves and their place amongst the interconnectedness of all living things while they were living in a cabin, swimming in the early morning water and canoe-tripping the lake.

Those images and the feelings of that time have been the engine of my practice as a way to keep the idea of the summer alive in my imagination