Blue Promise

About Blue Promise

This contemporary, floral still-life, oil painting was created by Jennifer Hornyak.


A symphony of blues—turquoise, sky blue and navy offer a rich backdrop for a vase of flowers in this oil painting by one of Canada’s finest contemporary artists. Jennifer Hornyak is known best for her penchant for Fauvist colours, and distinctive expressive brushwork. The flowers in blush, violet, teal and green in a white vase pop against the darker background. Hornyak’s use of many layers adds visual depth and texture. For Hornyak, each painting usually begins with a sketch. Then she often experiments with acrylics as a foundation for the oil painting that follows. In the past few years, much of her art has explored floral themes. But for Hornyak flowers are not ‘just flowers’—they are metaphors for life.

“I do many layers again…using collage to a great extent…using the abstract shapes that are dear to me in a smaller way.” Jennifer Hornyak

Jennifer Hornyak studied at the Grimsby School of Art in England. In 1961, she moved to Montreal where she attended McGill University, the Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal and the Centre Saidye Bronfman.
Hornyak has exhibited throughout North America and Europe including the Paris World Exhibition in 1987 where her work was shown alongside that of Modigliani, Picasso and van Dongen. Hornyak’s work is represented in many private and corporate collections including Bombardier Transport, Burroughs Wellcome, McCarthy Tétrault, Power Corporation and Hyatt Regency Hotel.