Ronda Waiksnis

For the Blushing Bride, Oil Painting

2023

Still Life Pink Flowers In A Vase Artist signed lower right corner and verso, canvas size 30x24, framed. Charlotte Igoe (Amar) was a self thought artist. Charlotte lived in London, England and had her apartment near Marble Arch and Park Lane, she was the first model in London to introduce photographic modeling, which was just starting in New York for magazines such as Vogue, Vanity Fair, Town and Country, Mayfair, etc. Charlotte was President and owner of the Fort William Times Journal and also President and owner of the James Murphy Coal and Oil Company. Charlotte financed and renovated the entire building of the Thunder Bay Historical Museum, she also financed and renovated the new library of the museum in honor of James Murphy her father-in-law, a well know pioneer at the Lakehead. Charlotte was well known at the Lakehead for her many charitable works, among them: Saint Joseph’s Orphanage, The Thunder Bay Historical Museum, McKellar Hospital, Port Arthur General Hospital, Saint Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, and the Frank Murphy Recreational Centre….St. Patrick’s Cathedral has a beautiful, large stained glass window dedicated in loving memory of Frank X. Murphy and his family. In the early 1950’s, Charlotte was instrumental in having cerebral palsy children recognized and started a school for them which was in the Baptist Church at Brodie and Donald Streets...

In crafting this floral scene, I merged the raw expressiveness of acrylic with the nuanced subtlety of oil to breathe life into each stroke. My approach mixes expressionism's passion...