John Alexander Day Featured on Regional Contact

John Alexander Day will be the very talented feature artist spotlighted on CTV Ottawa's Regional Contact Show airing this Saturday May 2nd at 6:30 p.m. Joel Haslam and Kathie Donovan produce and host this award-winning, television show that has aired for more than three decades.
This week's segment is the perfect opportunity to hear from and learn more about this extraordinary Canadian landscape painter living in Ottawa. John Alexander Day is a prolific and highly collected artist proudly represented by Tay River Gallery . View a selection of works by John Day on our website on his featured artist page

On another somewhat related note: A little birdie happened to tell me that the airing of this show happens to be on John's "Happy Birthday" day. I couldn't resist letting this out of the bag.
So please do join me everyone (who happens to see John in the next few days), in wishing him a "Happy Birthday" this Saturday! And tune in Regional Contact this Saturday at 6:30 p.m. on CTV to watch this fabulous show.
Happy B-Day John!

Painting Workshops with Shirley Mancino

Magical Watercolour - Endless Possibilities

May 21- 22, (Thursday- Friday), 2009, 9 – 4 pm

This exciting workshop will help developing artists break free and explore new directions in watercolour. You will loosen up and explore the interesting effects and textures created by combining watercolour with various mixed media, e.g. water-soluble crayons, soft or oil pastels. Discover ways to resurrect unsuccessful watercolour paintings with black ink, coloured pencil, gesso and gouache. Participants may choose their own subject matter. The workshop will include various ways to approach painting figures, landscapes and the figure in the landscape. You will be inspired to move beyond pure representation to personal expression and abstraction. Composition and design is a fundamental part of the session. Creativity, fun, and individual uniqueness will be emphasized. Shirley will demonstrate using watercolour.

Experimental Extravaganza: Fluid Acrylics

June 20 - 21, 2009, 9 – 4 pm

Learn to use fluid acrylics boldly and loosely as a vehicle for self-expression.

This exciting workshop will help developing artists break free and explore new directions in acrylics and mixed media. By pouring, dripping, splattering, texturizing and layering, you will create stunning abstractions that you can then reincarnate into gorgeous representational works. Composition and design is an integral part of the session. Relax, play, and reconnect with your joyful creative self. Shirley will demonstrate using fluid acrylics and other media. You may use watercolour if you prefer.

People-scapes/Landscapes With Panache

Aug 8- 9, 2009, 9 – 4 pm
This workshop will include the bold and free exploratory techniques, and will include on simplified approaches to painting figures and/or landscapes as well as figures in the landscape. Starting with textural and abstract underpaintings, participants will learn how to superimpose representational subjects on top while still maintaining the essential mystery. Participants have the choice to capture the illusion or build the image to further quasi-representational detail. Work in the medium of your choice.

Fluid Acrylics: Experimental Extravaganza

Sept 12-13, 2009, 9 – 4 pm
Learn to use wet and wild acrylics and/or watercolour as a vehicle for self-expression. By dripping, splattering, texturizing and incorporating other mixed media techniques, you will create stunning abstractions that you can then reincarnate into gorgeous representational works. Composition and design is an integral part of the session. Relax, play, and reconnect with your joyful creative self.

Experimental Extravaganza: Collage

Oct 17-18, 2009, 9 – 4 pm

This exciting workshop will help artists break free and explore new directions in mixed watermedia. You will loosen up and explore the interesting effects and textures created by combining watercolour or acrylic with various other media, e.g. water-soluble crayons, soft pastels, acrylics. Discover ways to resurrect your unsuccessful watermedia paintings using collage and/or black ink, coloured pencil, gesso or gouache. You will be inspired to move from nature towards abstraction. Composition and design is a fundamental part of the session. Creativity, fun, and individual uniqueness will be emphasized. Shirley will demonstrate using both watercolour and acrylics. You may use the media of your choice.

For more information on these workshops, which will be held in Westport Ontario at Shirley's lakeside studio, check out the website at www.shirleymancino.ca

Call for Submissions from Portrait Artists

Tay River Gallery is accepting submissions from professional portrait artists in Eastern Ontario, preferably Ottawa/Kingston region available to undertake through agency, commission requests we receive through our clients . Please provide a Resume, Biography and Artist's Statement with up to 10 digital images of recent work in medium resolution jpg format and reference to personal website to lbrown@tayrivergallery.com. "Portrait Artist Submission" in Subject line please.

Accepting submissions until May 30th, 2009.

Daily Paintings by Mario Beaudoin

A Year in the Life of established Quebec artist Mario Beaudoin chronicled in ‘Daily Paintings’
Beginning the first of March 2009,established Quebec artist Mario Beaudoin has been creating a unique work of art daily. He plans to create a year's worth of paintings in this visual diary using his palette and brushes recording the life of the artist, his many travels and the beautiful landscapes, villages and people of Eastern Canada and the United States.

The paintings will be available to see each day along with the artists’ thoughts on his website mariobeaudoin.com. “I encourage people to come frequently to see what is new on the site and share with me their special days," explained Mario Beaudoin. “I think the sources of painting, and of art generally, are in all of us. They flow from some reservoir which is mysterious and universal."

Each painting will be available for purchase. For new collectors, art enthusiasts, and patrons this is a unique opportunity to own part of this one of-a-kind collection. Each buyer will also receive a companion book at the end of the year, with pictures of all 365 paintings. This book will also include a signed certificate of authenticity.

About Mario Beaudoin.
Mario Beaudoin is a painter whose reputation has grown tremendously with works showing across the country and internationally. Drawing from his Quebecois heritage
and his joie de vivre, Mario’s paintings express his passion for color and form. His
paintings engage us with the abstraction of physical and personal landmarks while
flattening form into shape, and in his daring and balanced use of color. Mario writes of art making, “I am energized by cold winter nights, snow covered pine trees and the last warm days of autumn, all of which exhibit different variations of lights and shadows. I can't resist the drama as well as the serenity of an old church steeple and the Quebecois architecture rising out of a quiet village to inspire me to create painting that reflects scenes I have enjoyed all of my life.”

Mario Beaudoin exhibits works in galleries across Canada, and is represented by Tay River Gallery, contemporary fine art gallery in Perth Ontario. See a selection of his works available at the gallery on his artist page on the Tay River Gallery website.

"Urban Landscapes" Art Show Opens at Tay River Gallery

"Urban Landscapes" opens Wednesday April 8th at Tay River Gallery featuring paintings that portray architectural masterpieces, historical sites, and everyday settings. These paintings capture the charm, character, and beauty of the manmade environment in locales near and far.

Paintings of buildings document powerful symbols of our time and culture and reveal as much about the artist's inner vision as they record visually a place in time and memory. Buildings portrayed reveal much about our heritage, aspirations and dreams, and tell wonderful stories about the inhabitants of these structures, both past and present. Old storefronts, dwellings and landmarks largely go unnoticed as we go about our busy lives, but our urban environment is changing daily. These urban paintings freeze a moment in time for our reflection and enjoyment. The show provides artistic interpretations using very personal imagery and techniques from feature artists Keith Burnett, Paulette Sauve, Stuart Davison, Carla Miedema, Karen Phillips Curran, and Roberta Smith. The varied selection provides intriguing viewing. The settings portrayed include compositions of ordinary, everyday places, as well as very memorable places created with a perspective that encourages the viewer's interest and sparks the imagination. See views of Perth, Carleton Place and Killaloe, old Montreal, Quebec, Vancouver, Toronto, and destinations as far as Britain,Holland, France Italy, Greece. Some of the buildings depicted are constructs of the artist's mind and exist only in the artist's imagination.

Gallery artists John Alexander Day, Martha Markowsky, Mario Beaudoin, Rosemary Randell, Shirley Mancino, Stephen Rothwell, Deborah Czernecky, Antal Serences, Ernie Labelle and John Shea add a selection of paintings on the urban theme to the mix. All in all, there is a wide variety for many tastes in styles and subject matter during this two month show.

The public is invited to meet the artists at the opening reception on Saturday April 11 between 2 and 4 p.m. The "Urban Landscapes" show will run from April 8 until May 30^th.

Tay River Gallery is a fine art gallery located in Perth at 28 Wilson St. The gallery represents many accomplished Canadian artists from Eastern Ontario and Quebec with over 200 works on exhibit. The Gallery is open Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday from 10a.m.-5 p.m. For more information contact Lisa Brown at (613) 264-5448 or visit the website at www.tayrivergallery.com