Details from a Larger Canvas
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Details from a Larger Canvas is about a woman with the expectations of her time and class heavy upon her shoulders; in short, she is supposed to be much the same woman as her Rosedale matron mother-in-law whose life was bound up in sets of rules and whose life had little expression except in the form of materialistic acquisition and censure. Instead, Helen creates her own life - and, while painting a portrait of Margaret Laurence, finds a woman with whom she has common ground.
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Helen McLean is best-known as a painter; she has shown in several cities and has painted portraits of authors Margaret Laurence, Michael Ondaatje, and Sarah Sheard. Previously, she published Sketching From Memory: A Portrait of My Mother (Oberon Books, 1994) and Of All Summers (Women's Press, 1998), and contributed to Wrestling With the Angel (Red Deer College Press, 2000). She lives with her husband in Toronto.
