Martin Brouillette Canadian, b. 1971
When the Color Took Over, 2025
pencil, acrylic, and oil on canvas
48 x 72 in
121.9 x 182.9 cm
121.9 x 182.9 cm
This painting began in frustration. I was scared to start — unsure, restless — and out of that feeling, I pressed hard into the surface with the pencil. The marks...
This painting began in frustration. I was scared to start — unsure, restless —
and out of that feeling, I pressed hard into the surface with the pencil. The
marks were aggressive, anxious, almost chaotic. They created a kind of dark,
disturbed ground — something raw and unresolved.
But then color arrived. Bold, unapologetic, playful. And with it, the mood of
the painting shifted. It surprised me. What began in despair moved toward
something joyful, even youthful — like the painting was teaching me to let go.
That’s what this title reflects: the moment when color took over — not as
decoration, but as emotion, as movement, as possibility.
and out of that feeling, I pressed hard into the surface with the pencil. The
marks were aggressive, anxious, almost chaotic. They created a kind of dark,
disturbed ground — something raw and unresolved.
But then color arrived. Bold, unapologetic, playful. And with it, the mood of
the painting shifted. It surprised me. What began in despair moved toward
something joyful, even youthful — like the painting was teaching me to let go.
That’s what this title reflects: the moment when color took over — not as
decoration, but as emotion, as movement, as possibility.