Drifting Clouds (AC-4-96), 1996

Art Placement, Saskatoon

Miriam Shiell Gallery, Toronto

Private Corporation, Canada

Private Collection, Ontario

Dorothy Knowles was raised on a farm in Saskatchewan with no intention of becoming an artist; rather, she enrolled in the biology program at the university in Saskatoon. Upon her graduation in 1948, a friend convinced her to enroll in a six-week summer art course given by the University of Saskatchewan at Emma Lake, led by Reta Cowley and James Frederick Finley. Knowles' interest in painting blossomed and she returned to the workshops in the following years. Knowles' participation in the Emma Lake Workshops in the 1950s and 1960s greatly influenced and encouraged her interest in landscape painting. She took Clement Greenberg's advice to continue painting from nature, and discovered the importance of working en plein air. Knowles found it difficult to find time to station herself outside for extended periods of time to paint while raising her three daughters. She produced some finished paintings outdoors, but she often made sketches and took photographs to use back in the studio. 

Drifting Clouds (AC-4-96), dating to 1996, would have been painted after her children had grown up, thus enabling her to spend more time outside. The landscape captures a season in transition. Slender, leafless birch trees stand in the foreground, their delicate branches lightly brushed against a pale sky, while a calm river winds through the composition. Knowles uses a restrained palette of muted greys, browns and blues, punctuated by warmer ochres and russet tones along the riverbank. The distant hills, rendered in cool blue, add depth and atmosphere, drawing the eye beyond the immediate scene.