Papergirl met with painter April Lacheur at her home/studio in White Rock. Taking inspiration from our natural surroundings and travel April creates bold and colorful acrylic paintings of twisting trees, long legged birds and other quirky animals. A nurse by trade, April is a self-taught artist and has developed her unique style since childhood through experimenting in her studio. April's whimsical work can be found at art fairs, galleries, cafes and retail locations around B.C., (including Bird on a Wire, our community partner!) and her original paintings are part of private collections in Canada, the US, Australia, Asia and the UK.
You can find more of April's work at Yapes Paints and follow her on Twitter here and on Facebook here.
Our Q&A with April:
AL: When creating art I want to be able to create something that anyone can find their own meaning in and trees have really been the base of what I paint – I kind of have an obsession with trees! My trees have twisting, exposed roots and are influenced by the idea of taking the the time to think about what lies within our own roots and where you came from as well as where you are going. The roots represent where you came from, the trunk where you are right now and the branches are where you are going. For me creating art is something that has been really positive in my life and I think that is reflected in my artwork. I think that people are able to find positive meaning in my work, even on just a basic level of it being bright colorful work – people often come into my booth at markets and say 'oh it's happy art!'. One of my purposes in creating art is to spread positivity and have people look at it and feel happy in a simple way.
PG: Do you remember the first time you created something?
AL: I've always been creative, growing up my strength was never gym class! One of the first things that stands out to me as a kid is those coloring contests. I often won a prize because I would go all out with sparkles, stickers and pompoms! I've also always been into painting and I was allowed to take extra art classes in high school. Art was always something I wanted to do but I didn't know how to go about it. When I got to Grade 12 and started facing the reality of “what do I want to do when I grow up?” I thought about getting into graphic design because I thought it was a “real” job you can do with art. But my mom is a nurse so I had a lot of influence from my parents to go into nursing school, and I wanted to help people so it felt like the right way to go. I kept painting throughout school but it wasn't until after I worked as a nurse for a couple of years that I started selling. It wasn't something I necessarily set out to do, it kind of fell into my lap in a way. The owner of the restaurant my husband was working at visited our home, saw some of my work and asked me to paint thirteen large paintings to display in her restaurant. She priced them for me and they actually sold, which helped to build confidence in me. From there I displayed my work in a couple more restaurants and started doing art markets, and developed a line of prints and cards. I jumped in fairly quickly and looking back I had no idea what I was doing! It was a dive head first kind of thing and it has worked in my favor now.
PG: What is your creative process?
AL: I'm always collecting ideas. If I'm out and inspired by something I'll try and write it down in my phone to remember, and I have a sketchbook as well. But to be honest I don't sketch out my ideas in full detail and often I don't sketch anything out at all. A lot of times there is a theme I'm going with but the idea itself develops as I'm painting. My work is all done in acrylic and acrylic ink, and I start with the background then sketch out what I want to do in ink and fill it in. It's a back and forth process of drawing with the ink and filling in with the acrylic. I then go back over the lines at least 3-4 times to make sure they're really crisp and flowing. From there I may add in some different mediums, like paper or fabric, or my husband Ren will add in bits of metal. My husband used to make jewelry as a hobby and one time he was making me earrings shaped like leaves and I was working on a painting and held up one of the earrings to it and it just fit perfectly so we now collaborate on pieces.
PG: Do you think about the relationship between artist and viewer when creating?
AL: I do. As much as I'm creating art for myself, I am running a business that I am trying really hard to sustain myself off so I want my work to sell. That said I would never paint anything that I hate painting or don't want to paint. I try to keep in mind things like colors and color trends, and keep size in mind in terms of where people are likely to hang art in their home. I like to paint bigger pieces, I prefer not to paint anything below 16x20. I also do a lot of commissioned work now, probably 60-70% of my original paintings are commissioned. It's a lot of fun to sit down with someone who truly loves your work to find out what elements they want to involve. I've done a lot of really special pieces for people, like an engagement or anniversary present, or in memory of someone who has passed away. I've also done some family trees where we hide peoples names and birth dates in the tree roots. It makes my art personal for people.
PG: What does community mean to you as an artist?
AL: I've been selling my work at art markets for the last five years and there is group of us who do a lot of the same shows so a really supportive and positive community has developed. For example the Make It show is so positive and there's not this sense of competition like you think there might be between the artists. These kind of events really bring together people who do want to support local artists and it's really inspiring. In White Rock we have a really nice community, people help each other out and I think it's something that can be easier to find in smaller communities.
PG: How are you supported as an artist in White Rock? Are there changes or improvements you would like to see?
AL: There isn't really a lot of opportunity or places for artists to show their work in White Rock. My cards and prints are sold in stores around Vancouver so when I first moved here I looked for a shop selling local artists and there just isn't one. There is the White Rock museum shop down on the waterfront that does sell some local work but it's very small. As far as artisan markets there are also a ton in Vancouver but there's not really anything out here so I have a vision of starting an artisan pop-up shop on the beach. One of the challenges is finding a venue, but the White Rock/South Surrey area is one where a lot of people from Vancouver are moving to so there is starting to be a lot of younger people and families that a market might appeal to.
PG: What interests you about Papergirl?
AL: I heard about it and participated for the first time last year, and the first thing I thought was that it's another way for me to get my work out into the world. With my business I've always had the attitude that the most important thing is to get my work out there because no one will know me if it's just sitting in my closet. I think that the way that people are viewing and buying art has really changed and Papergirl is part of that. The other thing that interests me is that I think that giving art is a really positive thing and has the potential to really make someones day or week. When I was when nursing school I was painting a lot and gave my friends gifts of my artwork. I did get emails from people who received my work last year and it was so lovely, and one of those people has bought other work from me and has become a loyal customer.
PG: At Papergirl, we are all about the art of giving art. What is the greatest gift you have ever received?
AL: I feel like this is a cheesy answer, but my wedding ring from my husband. It's not the actual physical ring itself but the idea behind it.
PG: To finish, a fun question: what kind of bike would you be?
AL: I'd be a green cruiser with a big banana seat with rainbow streamers!