Summer Sizzle in August at Tay River Gallery

Tay River Gallery's summer group show, "Summer Sizzle" continues to August 30th with an abundance of memorable summer images in glorious colour by area artists.
Close to 200 paintings are on view in watercolour, oil and acrylics in a wide range of sizes. Figurative, landscape, still life and abstract paintings in vibrant colour tastefully and skilfully rendered portray compelling and memorable images of summer. Photography of local rural and Perth town scenes are also on display this month by Gary Webster and Larry Ostrom.

Guest artists featured in the summer show include watercolorist Ewa Mroz from Ottawa exhibiting two warm, sun-basked watercolour works,( Summer and Afternoon Sun )and Terry Rempel-Mroz from Ottawa with a large vibrant abstract in acrylic titled "Soleil".
From Rosemary Randell, you will see a number of still life of fruit, florals and local summer scenes in watercolour. Anne Barkley shows a number of striking new abstracts in oil on canvas. Stephen Rothwell's loose watercolours on canvas depict summer in various settings from local to coastal and european vistas. From Martha Markowsky, the gallery displays small paintings from the Garden Party series, ever delightful humourous figurative works. Landscapes in oil from Tricia Savoie,John Stevenson, Michel Pleau, John Day, Deborah Czernecky, Margaret Chwialkowska,Kathy Haycock, Debbie Milling and Allison Robichaud provide very different styles and perspectives of the local landscape - all exceptional eye candy. Realistic pastoral and figurative works by new gallery artist, Suzanne Goudreau are vibrant and fresh and bathed in light- compelling works.Paulette Sauve exhibits architectural interpretations of local settings Montreal harbour and Perth on the Tay in her characteristic style. Shirley Mancino works her magic with figurative works in mixed media. Watercolours by Alan Bain depict boreal forests, and rural scenes using supports of canvas as well as traditional watercolour paper. Acrylic paintings by Charles Spratt capture the beauty of remote wilderness and familiar pastoral settings. Bedazzling rich watercolours from Pierrette Dulude Bohay play with movement and colour... Funky whimsical and vibrant acrylic works from Karen Sloan, rich pastoral scene pastels and figurative acrylics from Sharon Fox Cranston. Funky and fun themed fibre art are created by Catharina Breedyk Law, and Karen Goetzinger. Figurative mixed media from Mary Nunn capture an intimate moment. Scenic Oils and pastels from Normand Baril, High colour village scenes from Mario Beaudoin and still life from Nathalie Chiasson, watercolours and mixed media from versatile artist,Karen Phillips Curran , dreamy acrylic coastal paintings by Leah Dockrill... the list goes on and on... just some of the many wonderful works featured I have mentioned ---- stop in this summer for this thrilling show! I am delighted daily by the work in this show.

Artist Spotlight: Plein Air Painter, Sharon Fox-Cranston, SCA

Tay River Gallery is pleased to welcome Sharon Fox Cranston to the gallery in the current show, "Summer Sizzle". Sharon is a Pakenham area pastel artist who relocated to Ontario from British Columbia in 2008 with her husband Guy, also a talented pastel artist. Both artists are active in local arts groups and divide their time between their Pakenham residence and Westport area summer home.
Sharon Fox- Cranston was recently elected to the Society of Canadian Artists in Spring of 2009. Congratulations Sharon ! Sharon is also an active members of the Federation of Canadian Artists. Her painting "Lane way near Gordes' received an Award of Excellence at the Federation’s “Works on Paper” show in 2007, and the same painting was featured on the July/August 2007 cover of “Art Avenue” magazine. Sharon is an area representative for the Pastel Artists of Canada in Eastern Ontario region. She is also a founding member of Plein Air Painters of Lanark County. The group will be participating in the 7th Annual International Plein AirWorldwide Paint Out on Saturday, September 12th, 2009 in the Pakenham area.
Sharon Fox-Cranston's pastel work is uniquely spirited, capturing the 'energy of place' in her plein air paintings with her adept painterly approach. Pictured below are a few examples of Sharon's pastel works featured at Tay River Gallery this month. Sharon also works in acrylics and enjoys portraiture and figurative work. A few of her acrylic works are also featured in the summer show. Summer Sizzle runs until August 30th, 2009.

Artist Spotlight: Karen Sloan with Whimsical Paintings

We are pleased to welcome Karen Sloan of Haliburton County to Tay River Gallery this summer. Karen's delightful paintings of interiors add marvelously to the sizzle of our summer-themed show, "Summer Sizzle", and feature strong colours, pure themes, and expressive form. Since her move from Toronto to the Minden area, Karen has been painting fulltime, her whimsical and somewhat surrealistic acrylic paintings. Interiors and jazz themes are her main attraction, but music and colours are her muses. Karen provides a theatrical and almost voyeuristic point of view in her interpretation. In her artist statement, Karen writes "most clients who have purchased these see them as optimistic paintings, and that’s true for the most part, however, others feel that they are metaphors with an edgy sense of apprehension. It’s as if something is about to happen, like the calm before the storm. This is a real juxtaposition that I quite enjoy.The bottom line is that my style has evolved through my aim to capture or translate visually, items and themes that I am personally fascinated with, in the way that they seem to vibrate and appear to jump off the canvas, with an almost a 3 dimensional quality.The paintings are somewhat intense, highly colourful, theatrical, and contain my own blend of humour. "
Internationally, her work is collected across the USA, the UK, Australia, Holland, Mexico, the Bahamas, Switzerland, and South Africa. The folk at Tay River Gallery are enjoying Karen's zany view. Lightheartedness is refreshing - methinks we take ourselves far too seriously as we go about our lives. Carefree summer days are here!

Summer Sizzle at Tay River Gallery

Summer Sizzle, group art show and sale at Tay River Gallery opened July 2nd with plenty of sizzle. The show features an outstanding lineup of accomplished area artists, and offers a perfect way to celebrate summer and bring in the season with pizzazz. Mounting this show, with its more than bountiful mix of breathtaking art by the many talented artists featured throughout the gallery ( five rooms on two levels) was a daunting task.. but well worth the effort. The show runs from July 2 - August 30th, 2009. Well worth a visit or two. You may find a painting you can't live without.

See new paintings with magical colour, dreamy, expressive, energetic and serene interpretations of summer from some of Canada's finest artists: Anne Barkley, Margaret Chwialkowska, Deborah Czernecky, Pierrette Dulude-Bohay, John Day, Sharon Fox-Cranston, Suzanne Goudreau, Kathy Haycock, Cathy Law, Shirley Mancino, Martha Markowsky, Debbie Milling, Ewa Mroz, Terry Rempel-Mroz, Rosemary Randell, Allison Robichaud, Stephen Rothwell, Tricia Savoie, Karen Sloan, John Stevenson, Charles Spratt, and Paulette Sauve.

Much more about the featured artists and the work in this show in an upcoming article later this week when this gallery director gets a free moment.
Painting pictured above is Sizzling Hot Oil on Canvas by Debbie Milling.