One day a young girl was strolling through a shopping mall with her parents when her attention was suddenly drawn to an old man painting a large fresco. The act of creation bewitched her. While she didn't particularly like the subject matter she was fascinated by the magic that was taking place before her eyes. It woke in her a desire to become an artist. While she was only seven at the time she was certain about what she wanted to do. Lise Lacaille has never doubted that the chance encounter in a shopping mall determined her future career.

The years passed and the young girl became a woman in love with painting. Lise Lacaille offered me all the pleasures of her passion on a silver platter in her peaceful home, in a peaceful neighbourhood in the peaceful town of St. Bruno.

The reason for all the peacefulness is that Lacaille needs a lot of calm because she is hyperactive. It's difficult to believe because she looks so serene and self-possessed. Her excess energy flows into her creative work.

Which can best be described as real little jewels, or marvels of fascinating stories. Bits of life that you can attach yourself to, moments that you want to live, evenings that you would have liked to have been part of. One envies her subjects because they really seem to know how to live. Thinking it over, she paints the kind of people that should be among us.

They are large in spirit, flamboyant and carry the scent of an inexplicable sweetness. These women deploy all of their sensuality knowing full well how to take their place in our zany society. They are certainly delicate but they are made strong by their hearts and spirit.

The artist's compass is movement. She knows well how a dancer moves, the soft blow of a bow on a cello's string or the way a ball hits a ball on the billiard table. And she knows how to make us laugh. Her paintings are adventures in pleasure. From young to old there is something for everyone.

It goes without saying that behind all this entertainment there is an incredible amount of diligent and determined work. Lacaille is up and at her easel early in the morning. When she steps down it is usually to nose around in a book researching something to do with what she is painting. At other times the self-taught Lacaille is happy to pursue her own path. A lot of work has gone into her present evolution. Above all else, the knowledge of when to let go. At the moment when she succeeds in letting go, her creative source becomes a river.

In her true moments of relaxation she likes to do stretching exercises. This helps keep her shape and at the same time she can lose herself and decompress. With her daughter and husband she likes to sail on Lake Champlain. Their sail boat is like a country house. It allows her to rest and forget her work.

Lacaille's technique is to join the agreeable and the usuful. She generaly works in large formats on masonite, which she first undercoats and then sands. Then she does her outlines in charcoal and shades them with diluted acrylic. She prepares her base coat with acrylic because it dries rapidly saving her time. She finishes with oil landscaped in a traditional manner. When she discovered `her` technique she started having fun with her subjects and this sparked a creative explosion.

Her source of inspiration is everything, her daughter, her husband. One day her daughter told her about seeing a mother pushing a baby carriage. It was a tender moment and in almost a blink of an eye Lacaille had painted it.

Lise Lacaille is happy and above all else, grateful. She knows how difficult it is to climb the art world ladder, and that many talented artists never make it. With confidence and without trying to rock the boat too much, our dreams can be realized. She dreams of evolving in her art while remaining unique in her genre. In any case, she is already unique in my book. Have you ever seen anything like her work? I haven't. I wouldn't be at all surprised to see her name linked to these large coloured figures.

Lacaille is not as zany as her subjects but she does have a certain joie de vie. Her paintings do make us smile and for that we can all thank her.

Amélie Ménard

MAGAZIN' ART