In what is seen as a delicate and very much unprecedented move, Cynthia Henry has used a very unconventional platform for her art. Cynthia, who hails from Greenwood, Nova Scotia is using feathers in replacement for canvas for her body of work and the first thought anyone would have would be ‘how is that even possible’?
Perhaps the best reference to this is the peacock feathers that come with images but those are naturally imprinted and not painted by anyone. This magical work of art is very delicately carried out which according to the artist is to find actual feathers and then painting an image on it.
The idea behind this is to find what she calls a ‘beautiful feather’ and uses those in different shapes and sizes. In fact, she has used every type of bird species she could find besides the eagle as it is regarded to be a sacred animal to the natives around her area. This includes using huge peacock wing feathers and the blue jay which has small feathers.
It all started from an instruction from her late mother who made her promise to paint has now become a passion. The therapeutic pass-time made Cynthia becoming more passionate with painting and in about a year, she has already completed more than 100 pieces of beautiful artwork. As she progresses, she has developed more complex methods and is very time consuming because it could be a few days or even weeks before she finishes a piece.