Paintings by Sally Ferguson go on display in May at Royal LePage

Titled Infinite Purpose, the art exhibit opens in the Royal Lepage building on Howland Drive on May 9 and runs until May 22.

Ferguson expects to have  40 to 60 of her vividly-coloured, formed abstract works on display on the upper floor of the building. She uses acrylic and artist’s ink and her works vary in size, the largest being six feet by four.

“I prefer working on large areas. I’d do the size of a wall if someone would commission me,” she said.

The former writer-turned painter first met Huntsville artist Beverley Hawksley several years ago. “She   helped me to open up my creative process,” said Ferguson.

Ferguson was painting from her home in Huntsville, then seven years ago she and her family moved to a property just north of town on Fern Glen Road. Ferguson opened Shifting Earth gallery and studios in a magnificent, renovated horse barn.

It was there she met an art lover from California. “Someone I knew brought her here to see my work and she said, ‘What are you doing here? You need to come to California.’”

So Ferguson headed to the sunshine state, where she exhibited her work. “I sold a ton of paintings in California. The very first night at the reception I sold 18 huge paintings,” she said.

Knowing her heart lay in Huntsville, Ferguson decided after two winter seasons in California to stay and work from her studio here.

Two years ago she held an exhibition of her works to benefit the Chrysalis women’s shelter, to which half the proceeds of sales were donated. “I sold 11 paintings on opening night alone,” Ferguson recalled.

It was around the same time, as she was driving past the Royal Lepage building, that Ferguson noticed the sun shining through the windows of the second floor. “I just knew I had to exhibit there.”

Lacking the courage to ask if she might use the 7,500-square-foot space for an exhibit, Ferguson sat on that thought for almost two years. “Then one morning I said to myself, ‘I’m going to the Coffee Cabin and if John O’Rourke, who owns the building, comes in I shall ask him.’ It was a bit creepy, but when I got there he was  the only one in the place.”

Ferguson broached her idea  to O’Rourke and it was well received, she said. “He was very gracious.”

With permission granted to host an exhibition, Ferguson got to work. Her technique consists of first placing a canvas on a table and applying the paint in layers, allowing each layer to dry. This can  take days, she said.

“I kind of have a feeling for the colours and when the paints start flowing on the table I know where I am going. It just comes to me.”

When that stage of the work is completed, Ferguson moves the painting to an easel to add the final detail.  

“I knew what sort of paintings I would do (for this show). They are all connected to that space. I figure the universe meant me to be there, because it hasn’t been leased in those two years. Who knows, maybe it will be a gallery one day,” she said.

Accompanying each of her works, Ferguson pens some inspirational words which she places on cards and attaches to the painting. “It’s like a complement to the painting, to give a sense of where I was when I was painting it.”

Infinite Purpose opens on May 9 from 6 to 9 p.m. with a reception to which everyone is invited. The exhibit will remain open daily from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. through to May 22.

There is no charge for admission.