Unique Muskoka August

T
io be an artist, you
need a few key
attributes and the
understanding that
you’re in for a solo
trip, says Port
Carling artist Peter
Fromme-Douglas.
“You have to have the gift, you have to
have the passion, and it’s a lonely walk,” he
says, explaining that creating art is an
individual journey. “Getting into it is a big
black hole that only you and your Maker and
your abilities can live in. You have to go
through all that first to come out the other
side. Artists are not alone in their insecurities.”
Fromme-Douglas has been an artist since
he was five years old. He grew up in northern
Ontario and Toronto, took off for California
at the age of 15, and spent some time in
Vancouver before heading back to Toronto
to work in his father’s photography shop on
Yonge Street.
He retreated to Muskoka in the 1990s,
away from the big cities and the travelling
that were constant parts of his art career. “I
had riches and fame and I walked away from
it,” he says. “I didn’t like what it did to me or
what it did to my work.”
Article by Dianne Park Thach / Photography by Scott Turnbull
The 66-year-old began his career painting
women. People told him his work wouldn’t
sell and that it was too personal. But he
wanted to make it work and did it anyway,
painting women who lived in the 1930s and
‘40s. He later went to New York City to
show his art. The rest, as they say, is history.
“It was just around the time when
women’s lib(eration) was getting powerful
and these women were stunningly beautiful.
When you looked into their eyes, there was
an unbelievable strength and you knew that
no matter how beautiful and delicate and
fragile they looked, you weren’t going to
mess with them; they were solid,” he says.
At one of his shows in Boston, a woman
approached him and asked, “You realize
what you’re doing here, right? There’s
strength in every single one of these women
and I can see that.”
Fromme-Douglas smiles as he describes
how happy and excited he was to hear that,
remembering the feeling. His career took off
with that series and it all began with
something others told him he couldn’t do.
Being an artist is the path Fromme-
Douglas believes he was meant to follow.
“When we are born, we are given certain
abilities, certain gifts that we follow as we go
Above: Peter
Fromme-Douglas with
one of the many
vintage cameras from
a collection passed
down by his father.
His wife, Leda, reads
in the background of
his gallery in Port
Carling. Opposite
page: Fromme-
Douglas is working on
a series of new
encaustic paintings,
also known as hot
wax painting. Colour
is added to heated
beeswax and then
applied to a type of
canvas surface. Heat
and different tools
are used to mould it
and push it around.
August 2016 UNIQUE MUSKOKA 25