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12 - PORT PERRY STAR - Tuesday, October 8, 1991 Wildlife artist By Gillian Barfoot The Grade 7 and 8 students at Cartwright Public School had the chance to see a real live artist last Tuesday. Eddie LePage, who lives in Peterborough, visited the stu- dents to talk about painting and donated one of his popular wildlife prints to the school, "I started painting because everybody told me I could pain, 80 I thought they must right," he told the students. "It's not as hard as it ap- pears. All you have to do is use your eyes." Mr. LePage is a self-taught painter. He started painting when he was 13 but didn't have any formal art education. After working for the post office de- livering mail for 11 years, he decided to become a full-time painter. At first he painted mostly _portraits, specializing in native portraits, but now he paints mostly wildlife compositions. "Painting is like any other job. Sometimes it's boring," he said, "and a lot of the time you're poor." Mr. LePage described to the students the lengthy process of 'research he goes through be- fore painting wildlife. He recently completed a painting of 18 endangered spe- cies which has been made into a poster for national parks in the U.S. and Canada, and told the students how difficult it was to find detailed descrip- tions and photographs of some of the close-to-extinct animals. "It's not good enough to just paint a nice looking cougar and a nice looking deer. You have to do a lot of research to make every detail exact." 'He visits a lot of zoos and li- ' ( AA braries, and Lage a i of his aintings on photographs, P "I Sd in my head what I want the painting to look like, so I'll position the animal that way in the photograph," he ex- plained. "If you take good photo- graphs, it makes it twice as easy to paint something." He explained the importance of creating a rough sketch be- fore starting the painting and gave the students advice on painting techniques. Artists must be patient and constantly practice and improve their skills, he said, . "Once you're satisfied with your painting, you'll never im- prove." He also discussed the busi- ness end of painting. "No matter how you look at it, part of it is a business, and you have to look at it as a busi- ness. Art has become a real in- dustry." The students were surprised when he listed the prices of original paintings, limited edi- tion prints, and other products that artists use to make a liv- ing. But he also warned them art can be competitive. "It doesn't always matter how good you are. There's a lot of politics involved," he told them. "In some cases, it's who you know." "But once people get to know your name, theyll pay extra money for your name at the bottom." But in spite of the condition of feast or famine common to most artist's lives, Mr. LePa, admitted there are some ad- vantages. "The best part about being an artist," he said,"is you can dress the way you want." A WIDE ASSORTMENT OF CATTAIL RIDGE CASUAL CLOTHING FOR THE ENTIRE FAMILY Mon. to Thurs. 9-6pm. Fri. 9-9pm. Saturday 9-6pm Renowned wildlife artist Eddie LePage visited Cart- wright Public School last week to talk to the Grade 7 and 8 students about paint- ing. Above: Rebecca Picker- ing, the school's art teacher, accepts an endangered spe- cles print from Mr. LePage on behalf of the school. Be- low: Mr. LePage points out the detail involved In paint- ing wildlife to the students. -- TY) Community News Ideas? Call The Port Perry Star 985-7383 1 5740 ihe § SAAN I 4 { ' Arteria res rats en aee'es i . Na Potedma AT 444 SFA TL LART EE ELE AA SA AAAI AR ARR R RAL . : » fh alla a ates matinee wince wiv a 7 HE, i, A All at Guaranteed Lowest Prices UNITED CARPET. Largest Carpet Selection In Scugog Township and a member of the largest carpet buying group in Canada. FAMOUS Levolore 4 BLINDS VERTICALS * VENETIANS PLEATED SHADES HOMESTEAD by Ballard & Carnegie » HWY. 7A EAST - PORT PERRY 985-2451 or 985-2157 ir a ---- DURHAM MOBILE AGRI SERVICE R.R.43 Port Perry, Ontario Sedo Multi Fuel Stove UP TO 24 HOURS - CLEAN BURN Firewood - Corn - Wood Pellets Recycled Wood - Paper Cubes - Logs etc. m Simple Tech | m Non Electrical m Gravity Feed m Easy Heat Control Patented design far surpassing conventional airtight stoves SISISTAS IS 1228S) TH --___