FORT FRANCES -- Her paintings often appear more real than the real thing. As a self-taught hyperrealism artist, Cher Pruys paints from her intuition with extreme precision and detail. Her work has not gone unnoticed.
She has received 712 awards as of this January, seen her work juried into 461 international exhibits, and has been featured in over 350 international publications. Most recently, Pruys discovered that her work will be featured on the front cover of U.K.’s best selling art magazine, Artists & Illustrators. The issue will be published in March this year.
“I had no idea they were going to put one of [my] pieces on the cover. It was awesome and I’m really excited,” she says.
Last year in the fall, Pruys was contacted about a feature article that describes her painting process, but the deadlines the magazine had wanted did not match with her schedule. Around Christmas time, Artists & Illustrators reached out again to inquire about an article for the following March edition. Pruys agreed.
To her surprise, Pruys also received an email requesting approval for a mock-up of the front cover. The main image displayed Pruys’ painting completed in 2020 called Catching Snowflakes, a nostalgic portrait of her friend’s daughter catching a snowflake on her tongue.
Pruys didn’t see the email until 8 hours later. Thinking about the time difference between England and Canada, she hoped it wouldn’t be too late by the time the magazine received her email of approval. To her surprise, on January 17, Artists & Illustrators emailed a follow-up saying they went forward with Pruys’ painting on the front cover.
“I love to paint things that evoke childhood memories, especially in people and you can make a connection. But I remember specifically doing that for hours on end. So it was like painting a day in my childhood,” Pruys says, enamoured by feelings of inspiration. “And to find out that they are Britain's leading magazine in the U.K. was just the icing on the cake.”
Pruys was also excited to see which photos Artists & Illustrators decided to feature alongside her article. The selection included several close-up portraits of children that express emotions like awe, joy, or excitement. “Light evokes so many feelings and conveys emotion,” Pruys wrote in the article. Each of her portraits varies in the light she portrays, and in turn, the story is told.
Thumbs Up shows Quinn swimming bravely underwater, evoking memories of fear and suspense when we opened our eyes underwater for the first time. Sense of Wonder shows Jersey in awe of the world around her, evoking memories of when everything in the world was still new.
Unlike the other portraits featured in the magazine article, Flashback 1960 shows Pruys and her older sister in matching bathing suits their mother insisted they wear. “This continued until the teen years, when we spent a number of years, like most siblings – especially sisters – refusing to acknowledge our family connection!” read the caption.
The global recognition Pruys receives for her art is a nice motivation but not what she strives for.
Fascinated by the ability to portray things as they were, from age 3, Pruys was seldom found without a drawing tool in hand. She worked in pencil, charcoal and ink over the years, until she picked up a paintbrush at the age 35.
Although she ended up receiving a piano teaching degree and taught for 40 years, Pruys picked up a paintbrush for the first time later in life and has not put it down.
“I always knew I wanted to be an artist,” she says. “I really love to be able to capture what I’m looking at. You can put your own feelings and thoughts and colours into it. But the article itself is a subject matter. I've always been fascinated with being able to portray it as it is.”
Pruys guesses that it was around 1996 when she discovered how natural and easy it felt to paint. Trying it for the first time without expectations bolstered the start of her successful career as a hyperrealism painter.
Her love for aviation got her started when she began painting. She painted military aviation, commercial aviation, and general aviation. As someone who believes that if you can paint one thing, you can paint anything, Pruys started painting other subject matters to avoid specializing in one subject matter.
Her portfolio now includes florals, landscapes, machines, still life, portraits, aviation, animals, and black and white photos.
“Because I’m able to [paint] a wide range, I don’t get bored any given day. I can pick something I want to paint and just go with it,” she says.
Born to be an artist, Pruys learned to paint all her subjects based on the vision in her mind. “I’m really bad at following instructions,” she says. She does not follow gridlines that might’ve been taught in art classes. When painting a face, she can feel where the eyes and nose are supposed to go based on her intuition.
“It’s just there and you just do it,” Pruys said matter of factly. “The only time I’ll take time and do a grid is if I’m doing a city scene with buildings… but even then, it’s a lot of freedom.”
She often works on 5 paintings at the same time. “I never get bored. If one is not working I jump to the next,” Pruys said.
Currently, Pruys prefers to live a quiet and peaceful life in the countryside where her folks grew up. Her home for the past 20 years has been a hundred acres of farmland on the riverbank in Devlin, Ontario, where just across the river, her property overlooks the United States.
The landscape provides a nice place to capture new subjects to paint, and lots of space for her four Australian labradoodles to exercise. “It's an awesome place to live. I like going to cities . . . but I much prefer the quiet and beauty of living out here in the country,” Pruys says.
Her husband, skilled in woodwork and metalwork, helps Pruys decide on names and poses for her paintings.
Around 20 years ago, Pruys encountered a “block” that lasted 8 months and prevented her from painting. Several things “weren’t too cordial” at the time,” but once she got past it, her work came naturally again. Pruys says the cure to blocks is to step away until she feels refreshed. She likes to go on bike rides, take her dogs out, go kayaking or snowshoeing.
As a full-time painter with no plans to stop, as long as her hands can keep up, Pruys’ legacy is her absolute love for painting and the nostalgic memories her work captures. “A lot of people don’t get the chance to find what they really enjoy. If they do, they don’t get the chance to do it,” she says. Due to recent health issues, she won’t be able to attend international shows in-person. But missing the opportunity doesn't faze her.
“I don't need myself to be there to be appreciated. I'd rather have the art be appreciated for what it is . . . Just getting satisfaction for doing what I love. It wouldn’t even matter if I didn’t put on another piece for people to see. Even if I just did it for me, I seem to get enough fulfillment from that. It’s just a bonus to get it out there and get to see how happy it makes some people.”
Fort Frances Times
