About
Naturally Inspired
Isabelle Truchon is an Oregon based artist, with French-Canadian roots who migrated to the United states over 30 years ago. She currently makes her home in McMinnville with a pied-a-terre in San Francisco, California. Truchon's work has been published nationally, and is held in private and public collections internationally. Her work centers on mixed media, and oil paintings of nature-scapes with a focus on equestrian subjects. Her sculptures focus on natural and organic structures made of materials the artist collects including bones, feathers, animal hair, and fallen tree branches.
As an artist, Isabelle explores her themes through the lens of the natural world and cave paintings which she sees as her greatest inspirations. Using texture, form, light, and line, the subjects and their surroundings take on a life of their own, and she embraces the organic qualities that fluidly transpire.
Her work is in harmony with the everyday, and universal aspects of life, with her most impressive works tending to be larger in scale and offer visions of energized horse or bull herds charging towards the viewer. All the while, other works are delicately executed taking the viewer on a soothing journey. In both these instances, Isabelle renders cohesive, subtle, yet powerful and inviting works.
Isabelle Truchon has been painting professionally for nearly 25 years. She received her BFA from Shepherd University’s Department of Contemporary Art, West Virginia in 2012. She was born and raised in Montreal, and has lived and worked in New York, San Francisco, Sacramento and Harpers Ferry. She works from her serene studio in McMinnville, Oregon, and Petaluma California. Truchon continually exhibits her work and holds representation in galleries in Northern Virginia, Northern California, and the Pacific Northwest.
In my own words...
My life is a web of experiences interwoven through personal relationships with fellow humans, and animals. I care about the environment, wildlife, people, and the treatment of all animals including those that provide for our food supply. I believe in truth, beauty, in big and small things, and love of all life forms. These are my values and these fundamental factors are the driving force in my artistic journey.
While my paintings and drawings are based from my personal experiences, and the emotions and feelings I exchange with my subjects, their outcome varies from gestural and expressive monochromatic representations of nature, abstract realism, horses, figures, expressive portraiture, linear expression, oil, charcoal, and layered mixed media.
In nature, I am most fascinated in how the various pieces of flora grow effortlessly together to create patterns of absolute perfection. Animals, with all their equity and interconnection to their natural surroundings are good guides and provide much to draw and learn from. My work touches on simplicity with an emotional charge that comes from what nature teaches. Horses and animals in their natural surroundings, provide a wonderful framework for such exploration.
Being a witness through the observations of animals in their natural habitats inspires my themes around resurrection, death, rebirth, attachment, detachment, humility, respect, suffering, and empathy. Truth exists within the vulnerable and exquisite nest of nature, and that is where I feel most grounded.
To learn more about my process and my work, and view my vlogs, please visit www.IsabelleTruchonArt.com
Thank you for your interest in my work. Enjoy!
Isabelle Truchon, 2021