East Coast Scenes: New work by Debbie Milling

Spring is in the air! This mild weather is so inspiring. Usually it is this time of the year, when I have grown sufficiently impatient and annoyed with winter that my thoughts turn to the sea... Dreaming of summer days spent in the Maritimes or Maine by the seaside - the ocean beckons. Our artist spotlight this month or focus wall features five exciting new oil paintings by Debbie Milling - providing you with a journey to the sea with Milling's unique interpretation of the Cabot Trail, and Newfoundland coastal scenes. You can almost smell the salty air!


Debbie Milling's latest paintings capture the east coast region. Milling paints views of remote Canadian landscapes captured in her travels on horseback and by boat. Her studio overlooks the Rideau River near Ottawa. Milling has participated in several group and solo shows in Ontario and her works have been gaining recognition and can be found in public and private collections across Canada.

Plein-air Painting in Winter: John Alexander Day comments

What can I say about winter, but I look forward to it coming, particularly because being an artist I get excited by the first snowfall and I think of the painting opportunities it brings with it. Although the fall has its leaves and bright colours, this season is also brings out the artist to paint. Scenes I might pass by in the warmer months I might not give a second look may well have been transformed into something extraordinary by its winter blanket. Winter truly transforms the ordinary and makes it spectacular.

Being an artist who works plein air can be at this time of year uncomfortable with the colder temperatures, but if you dress for the occasion then the results are well worth it. A few people might they say snow has no colour, but if you paint outside like me you will find it has very reflective qualities and colour bounces off it in the most incredible ways. From the sky, the trees, buildings, the sun, and even bright colored clothing from people can all add to a scene. These subtleties would be totally lost if you take a photo of the same scene.

Winter can offer the same opportunities as in the fall but in a different way, you just have to look for it. Depending on the weather and how cold it is might determine the size I would paint. So in other words I work smaller when it is really cold as I need to warm up, a large flask of hot coffee certainly helps here.

There are certain things you have to be careful of when painting outdoors in winter, such as the spot you are standing will soon get packed down and icy surprisingly quickly. On more than one occasion upon standing back to view my progress, I slipped backwards and hit ground with a thud and my brushes were sent flying into to air! Good thing is there no one around usually to see you "flat out" on the snow, so your dignity still remains intact!

Once I am out painting in winter it never seems as cold as I first imagined and I always come home feeling I have experienced something.

John Alexander Day
January 2009


John Alexander Day is an accomplished painter with over twenty years painting experience who prefers to paint outdoors to capture the qualities of light and atmosphere in his paintings. Day captures the character of his settings using his characteristic strong brushwork. John Day is an elected member of the Society of Canadian Artists (SCA) and is a highly collected artist.

Winter Painting: Deborah Czernecky comments

AH … Our great Canadian Winters! Something that we love to hate at various stages of the season. Since moving to Victoria, BC - a part of Canada this is truly "GREEN" year round (okay, the weather Gods out here were a little confused this season, but we're back to normal temperature from +6 to +11c). I must admit I do miss the white stuff for plein air painting. However, if I'm that desperate for a taste of white cold, I glance across the water to the east and admire the snow capped mountains or I drive 45 minutes up island to touch it!

From the art side of the equation, I find wintertime a chance to let me complete my half-finished paintings that have been hanging around the studio collecting dust for the past six months. But ... if the sun is shining and beckoning me to come out and paint, off I go. After painting a decade in the Ottawa Valley, Winter Plein Air painting on the West Coast is different and challenging in it's own unique way. The biggest challenge, is the "WIND"! I'm now very educated in the four types of winds out here from gales to hurricanes, plus their speed values (the weather channel is very educational with this information)!
Not only has my easel been air borne but I've almost join it on several occasions! Another uniqueness in painting out here, is the "GRAY BLANKET" that moves in at the end of November and stays till the beginning of January. One definitely learns how to paint gray values, warm to cold, out here. After awhile this type of painting for me becomes dreary and boring even though other painters are ecstatic over this. In closing I must admit I'm looking forward to the Spring painting trip I'll be participating in the Laurentians this April. Let it Snow!

Deborah Czernecky
January 2009

New Works in progress.










Deborah Czernecky is a plein air landscape painter living in Victoria BC. The diverse scenery she encounters in her travels is interpreted with her characteristic bright,vibrant colour and attention to structural forms, landscape formations and patterns. Czernecky's delightful portrayals of the Canadian landscape have made her a favourite with art buyers in the National Capital Region.

Painting Winter Scenes: Normand Baril comments

Winter and water are my two preferred subject to paint. Winter for me represents a superb challenge as the colours of nature have changed immensely and change everyday to a point that it is difficult to go back to complete a painting on location. It is for these reasons that I take so many photographs and use them as references. There is no way that I can reproduce a photograph and that is not what I want to do. I want to reproduce my feelings when I saw the scene and do an interpretation of the subject seen through my camera lens. A photograph is a moment of the day with all the colours that I can reproduce on a digital photo; not all colours are reproduced on a photograph as you are well aware. Winter is the subject that I enjoy to work. New paintings are in the works, unfortunately not completed.

Normand Baril
January 2009

Normand Baril has painted with Pastels since 1979. His compositions include landscape, still life, portrait and figure. Baril’s admiration of natural settings and the untamed beauty of this country is a constant inspiration to him. Baril is a signature member of Pastel Artists Canada, Pastel Society of Eastern Canada and Pastel Society of Canada.

Shirley Mancino's Travel in India

"Gujurat Fish Vendor" new painting by Shirley Mancino

Excerpt from Shirley's travel notes in India
Mandrem and Panaji Goa, Jan 06-09
Flying Dolphins, cobras, pigs, and falling coconuts
We sit on the beach and watch the dolphins leap right out of the water. Foreigners were invited to view a cobra which had fallen into an open holding tank and couldn't get out.We didn't see any and haven't encountered any since. We do have pigs that snuffle around our house and sometimes wake us up in the night.They do eat pork here but so far we have not been able to order any.

Death by coconut
We are staying in a cement and brick house but we regularly hear coconuts and big coconut branches falling from the sky and exploding on our roof. Apparently, on other beaches, young foreigners get drunk or high on other substances and go sleep it off under the coconut palms...some never wake up. Getting hit is a regular occurrence.

Flying Security
There was apparently a threat against Goa at Xmas and New Year (we never experienced anything untoward) but we did have navy helicopters, coast guard aircraft and rapid deployment army units patrolling the area. We also saw a sandbag bunker on the beach at Arampol and apparently at other major beaches and road junctions. Beach parties and night markets were cancelled. The Taj hotels and other major hotels were double checking luggage and hand bags of every customer who came thru their doors. Needless to say, this scared away many visitors, tourism is down 50 % so everything is nice and quiet for us and people are hungry to rent out at cheap rates. We have been very well treated by all the locals in this little place.

Christmas eve, we attended a blow out dinner with a bunch of Swedes, Danes and Brits.We had 6 kinds of fish and tandori chicken plus appetizers and 5 different desserts.We stuffed ourselves,then discovered that the bill was $55 USD. Were we surprised! We have also found some local wine and cheese and have been imbibing a little....their rum/whiskey is much better. We had our house cleaned for 150 R...about $3.00 and beach towels are laundered for about 20 cents.
I have completed about 14 paintings and am happy with most of them.
Shirley Mancino.
Images of new paintings by Shirley Mancino below "Ganga Mendicant" and "Rajkot Pipe Smoker". Shirley is a professional artist from Westport Ontario represented by Tay River Gallery in Perth.

Sneak Peak at Figures Fabulous!

Are you curious? The Figurative Art Show running this month and July at Tay River Gallery offers a blend of drama, humour,introspection, mystery and visual beauty in art you will want to take home.

See 12 dynamic area artists explore the single most riveting subject of artists throughout the history of art. From ancient times, artists have used the human form to express their thoughts and ideals. Historically, artists devoted years of training to master the nuances and complexities of the human body. This show brings together contemporary variations on the figure as central motif that demonstrate strong individual style and technical fluency in innovative expressions.
View snapshots of the featured artists and their works taken at the reception earlier this month and tell me you are not enticed to visit.

Pictured below from reception photos in the order listed: Martha Markowsky, Shirley Mancino,Reid McLachlan, Maria Lezon, Csaba Kertesz, Esther Schvan,Karen Phillips Curran, Debbie Ottman-Smith, Isidora Spielmann, Catharina Breedyk Law, and James Zaluski. Missing from photos, Jennifer Gibbs.

For a more detailed view of paintings featured in the show you can also visit www.tayrivergallery.com. or better yet, visit the gallery to experience the art for yourself.