Group shot taken during Paint Night at the Chéticamp Visitor Centre featuring artist Mathieu LeBrun.
October 2, 2024
-by Rosie Aucoin-Grace
How many of you have always felt that you are quite limited when it comes to creativity and have been reluctant to even try. Well, there’s an old saying, “You never know until you try!” For some of us, participating in the recent “Paint Nights” was just that, coming out of our comfort zone and giving it a chance. These evenings featuring local artist Mathieu LeBrun took place at the Chéticamp Visitor Centre – Cape Breton Highlands National Park. These sessions are so inspirational, educational, and foremost fun! To see a blank canvas come to life by your own hands can be quite exciting and rewarding. Of course, we had a great teacher!
Born and raised in Chéticamp, Mathieu is the son of Marcel and Angela LeBrun. His grandfather, Gilles Deveau, is also a very fine self-taught artist, and it is impressive to see this talent being passed on.
Mathieu shared how it all started for him, “My history with painting is a simple one, I started out with drawings in school during classes to occupy my mind as the teachers talked about things I never had any interest with. At the age of 12-years-old, I started drawing more detail drawings but still lacking depth and colour in them that I always imagined, so at age 14, I asked the one person in my life that I knew understood colour more than anyone else, my grandfather. For years, I always noticed my grandfathers’ paintings all over his house and others alike. He was known to be an amazing painter, and the details were always so amazing!”
LeBrun continued, “My grandfather, who I looked up to as a great artist, used oil paints. I had never heard of it at the time, only being acquainted with acrylic, but both have a vastly different painting style. You see, with oil, you get so much more colour and details that acrylic can never accomplish. Oil paint is so much less forgiving, if you make a mistake, you must wait multiple days before you can attempt to fix it, which can be very frustrating to beginners and expert alike. After learning this fact, I admired him even more and for the first time, I wanted to learn oil painting despite it being so hard. For the next three years, my grandfather slowly showed me week after week, the techniques and shared how he became a painter. We went through the different steps you need to take: the difference between light and dark colours, the interaction of brush techniques, and so much more.”
“I loved it! My work never matched up to his but why would it? It was the first time I ever painted in my life. Slowly, something grew inside of me when I painted, something was missing, something unexplainable would wash over me and I did not like it. I did not know at the time, but now understand why I felt gray painting despite putting colour on my canvas. At the time, I was 17 and I did not grab my paintbrush as much, despite having a whole desk dedicated to it. I could not understand the reason why I just could not bring out the colours into a painting to my liking. But one day, it dawned on me, I had been doing landscape and realism for so long and thought why not branch out and do a fantasy landscape, something you would find in a video game or a book but not in real life. I tried and instantly it brought new life in my paintings. It brought colour where colour had never been before. I loved it so much, more than any other work I had ever accomplished. Finally, my two inspirations – my love of fantasy video games/ movies and the style techniques that my grandfather showed me together as one. From there on, after this awakening, I developed my own unique style, and I knew I would never turn back. Of course, I will never forget my origins and how I started because without those I would not be able to paint the material that I do today. I am glad that I was able to find my own creativity and the courage to try it. My styles now our fantasy landscape, abstract silhouettes, the occasional animal sprinkle around and still some realism. I would not say that I have a specific style more like a hybrid of multiple, as that is where I find where my best works shine. In recent years, I have dabbled in acrylic for one reason alone, I wanted to do what my grandfather could do for me, help others discover a new hobby. I did not want to limit myself with just oil paints. I wanted to bring multiple options to someone that may be scared to take that first step. For the past year, I have practised and to be fair I am not that great with acrylic compared to my skills with oil, but I feel I can still share techniques and give lessons to people that want to learn,” says LeBrun.
We spoke of art means for Mathieu, “Art is so important to me and for many others. It is a way to express oneself, an outlet of expression no matter the situation. When I pick up my paintbrush, my thoughts and feelings just melt away and I am living in the moment. It simply clears my mind of all negativities. If I have dark thoughts, I just need to see in person a beautiful mix of colours exploding in front of me and the creation juices start to flow. I just want to be able to share this with others,” expressed LeBrun.
“I feel very excited about Paint Nights. I feel it gives a new opportunity to people from the area who might want to try their hand at painting and even those who already enjoy creating art. It is a nice social. The format I do now is the group work on a canvas/painting and it is completed by the end of the session and ready to take home. I am still very new at teaching but willing to learn and share my techniques. I hope to make Paint Nights, a warm and inviting experience to people of all walks of life, of all ages. I look forward to many more creative evenings in the future. The Chéticamp Visitor Centre is a great venue for this type of activity, and I am very grateful to Parks Canada for this opportunity,” concluded LeBrun.
The painter has the universe in this mind and hands. – Leonardo da Vinci
How many of you have always felt that you are quite limited when it comes to creativity and have been reluctant to even try. Well, there’s an old saying, “You never know until you try!” For some of us, participating in the recent “Paint Nights” was just that, coming out of our comfort zone and giving it a chance. These evenings featuring local artist Mathieu LeBrun took place at the Chéticamp Visitor Centre – Cape Breton Highlands National Park. These sessions are so inspirational, educational, and foremost fun! To see a blank canvas come to life by your own hands can be quite exciting and rewarding. Of course, we had a great teacher!
Born and raised in Chéticamp, Mathieu is the son of Marcel and Angela LeBrun. His grandfather, Gilles Deveau, is also a very fine self-taught artist, and it is impressive to see this talent being passed on.
Mathieu shared how it all started for him, “My history with painting is a simple one, I started out with drawings in school during classes to occupy my mind as the teachers talked about things I never had any interest with. At the age of 12-years-old, I started drawing more detail drawings but still lacking depth and colour in them that I always imagined, so at age 14, I asked the one person in my life that I knew understood colour more than anyone else, my grandfather. For years, I always noticed my grandfathers’ paintings all over his house and others alike. He was known to be an amazing painter, and the details were always so amazing!”
LeBrun continued, “My grandfather, who I looked up to as a great artist, used oil paints. I had never heard of it at the time, only being acquainted with acrylic, but both have a vastly different painting style. You see, with oil, you get so much more colour and details that acrylic can never accomplish. Oil paint is so much less forgiving, if you make a mistake, you must wait multiple days before you can attempt to fix it, which can be very frustrating to beginners and expert alike. After learning this fact, I admired him even more and for the first time, I wanted to learn oil painting despite it being so hard. For the next three years, my grandfather slowly showed me week after week, the techniques and shared how he became a painter. We went through the different steps you need to take: the difference between light and dark colours, the interaction of brush techniques, and so much more.”
“I loved it! My work never matched up to his but why would it? It was the first time I ever painted in my life. Slowly, something grew inside of me when I painted, something was missing, something unexplainable would wash over me and I did not like it. I did not know at the time, but now understand why I felt gray painting despite putting colour on my canvas. At the time, I was 17 and I did not grab my paintbrush as much, despite having a whole desk dedicated to it. I could not understand the reason why I just could not bring out the colours into a painting to my liking. But one day, it dawned on me, I had been doing landscape and realism for so long and thought why not branch out and do a fantasy landscape, something you would find in a video game or a book but not in real life. I tried and instantly it brought new life in my paintings. It brought colour where colour had never been before. I loved it so much, more than any other work I had ever accomplished. Finally, my two inspirations – my love of fantasy video games/ movies and the style techniques that my grandfather showed me together as one. From there on, after this awakening, I developed my own unique style, and I knew I would never turn back. Of course, I will never forget my origins and how I started because without those I would not be able to paint the material that I do today. I am glad that I was able to find my own creativity and the courage to try it. My styles now our fantasy landscape, abstract silhouettes, the occasional animal sprinkle around and still some realism. I would not say that I have a specific style more like a hybrid of multiple, as that is where I find where my best works shine. In recent years, I have dabbled in acrylic for one reason alone, I wanted to do what my grandfather could do for me, help others discover a new hobby. I did not want to limit myself with just oil paints. I wanted to bring multiple options to someone that may be scared to take that first step. For the past year, I have practised and to be fair I am not that great with acrylic compared to my skills with oil, but I feel I can still share techniques and give lessons to people that want to learn,” says LeBrun.
We spoke of art means for Mathieu, “Art is so important to me and for many others. It is a way to express oneself, an outlet of expression no matter the situation. When I pick up my paintbrush, my thoughts and feelings just melt away and I am living in the moment. It simply clears my mind of all negativities. If I have dark thoughts, I just need to see in person a beautiful mix of colours exploding in front of me and the creation juices start to flow. I just want to be able to share this with others,” expressed LeBrun.
“I feel very excited about Paint Nights. I feel it gives a new opportunity to people from the area who might want to try their hand at painting and even those who already enjoy creating art. It is a nice social. The format I do now is the group work on a canvas/painting and it is completed by the end of the session and ready to take home. I am still very new at teaching but willing to learn and share my techniques. I hope to make Paint Nights, a warm and inviting experience to people of all walks of life, of all ages. I look forward to many more creative evenings in the future. The Chéticamp Visitor Centre is a great venue for this type of activity, and I am very grateful to Parks Canada for this opportunity,” concluded LeBrun.
The painter has the universe in this mind and hands. – Leonardo da Vinci
