Artist explores his connection to the prairies in colorful landscape paintings

While some artists travel far and wide for inspiration, the mixed media painter Jennifer L. Mohr just have to look at his surroundings. Raised and based in Alberta, Canada, Mohr focused her creative practice on her connection to the native prairie landscapes where she spent her childhood. The artist’s current series Belonging to the land focuses on its “place identity connection” through expressive depictions of sprawling plains and blooming wildflowers.

“I grew up on the prairie and everything about my creative practice goes back to those roots,” Mohr told My Modern Met. “As a child, growing up on a grain farm in the vast prairies of Saskatchewan, I spent much of my time wandering outside alone, calm, observant and introspective. These moments of training have fueled in me a deep identity connection with the landscape and all that it contains.

After graduating from the University of Saskatchewan with a bachelor’s degree in painting, the artist took an almost 15-year hiatus from the art world, only to return in 2016. Now, Mohr focuses on painting. capture nature in energetic pieces in acrylic, pastel, watercolor, and other media.

Belonging to the land includes a range of ‘sketchbook reflections’ where Mohr experiments with different color palettes and mediums as well as large mixed paintings on canvas. These landscapes often feature an explosive foreground of multi-colored grasses, layers of hills, and a distant sky composed of soft, muted tones. “My feelings of belonging and oneness with the prairie environment are reflected to me in the artistic process,” Mohr continues. “In my works, I translate my observations of the landscape into inventive colors, reactive marking and expressive energy with the aim of representing the magic of the reciprocity between my identity, the landscape and my art.”

You can buy original paintings and prints through Mohr’s website. Stay up to date with her latest creations by following her on Instagram.