Clearcut Painting

Rob Elphinstone was born in 1958 and grew up in Calgary, Canada, and spent his youth travelling about the world. He went to Afghanistan during the Soviet occupation of the country acting as a photographer with "Doctors without Borders" (MSF). For months he wandered through the Hindu Kush mountains with the mujahedin experiencing first hand what it feels like to be under attack in a war.
He worked in space physics for many years, researching the Aurora Borealis (the Northern Lights) both from the ground and from satellites in space. He has authored more than 50 publications on the northern lights including review articles and has lectured extensively throughout the world.

Rob Elphinstone specializes in capturing the beauty of the Canadian west coast through his textured wild flowing landscapes. His art reflects the belief that our senses reveal only a shadow of what we truly experience. Rob feels that the beauty of a place is seldom captured by a photo or a video. Our senses take in a fraction of what we perceive about the world. This tiny fraction is the shadow of what is really there. Good art should not have to be about what the inner psyche experiences or displaying perfectly what is optically there but should be about the unseen reality that everyone feels. Every one of his art pieces reflects the premise that creative art stems from what is truly evident in nature rather than the shadow which can be photographed. The term "Actualism art" is used to distinguish this art form from the emotionally based "expressionism" trend.
The process of laying down textured brushstrokes helps capture the elusive nature so evident when we look outside. The textured brushstrokes give the paintings a unique look. This texture is laid down as a pastel underpainting which unifies my work and allows vibrant colour to be applied on top. This technique yields a complexity that mimics nature and that permeates every portion of the pieces he creates. From a distance, the painting comes together through form as a coherent whole, but each portion catches the eye in a manner that draws the viewer into it.