Winter Painting Afar: Karen Phillips Curran comments

Cobalt, a colour, a place, a dream, a tradition.
A 7 hour drive from Burnstown, a path I've not taken before, led me to Cobalt Studios, nestled on the edge of the Catskills, wonder and experience anew awaits me there, tantalizing me, teasing me, almost scaring me, until I settle in. Once I arrived at Cobalt Studios, a short walk through the wintry woods of New York State brings me to their 4 thousand square foot workshop. I am here for a month, time enough to learn and rehearse, then embed most of the tricks of my trade, theatrical set painting. I am an artist, who, when called upon, paints scenically, for the theatre that is. My hope is that after my time here, I will feel comfortable calling myself a scenic artist. Turning hopes and dreams into reality is the stock and trade of the artist is it not?

Collaboration, risk taking, geometry, absolute rendering capabilities, strength of character and physical strength, flexibility, ingenuity, persistence, diplomacy, intuition...are just a few of the required traits to be a scenic artist. The best tool a scenic artist has is ingenuity. Process is as important as inventiveness. What to do first; then what, these are the important questions, ‘think ahead’ is the absolute reigning motto. To have to go backwards is a nightmare, a waste of time and resources, not to mention spirit. A beautifully finished foreground usually comes after a fast and easy application of background. The question of tools comes into play, which tool is best for the job, most efficient. Often scenic artists use common tools in unique ways, as well as a raft of unique tools of their own. Bow lines, scenic foot, hand chalked snap lines, long handled brushes, bamboo poles, sprayers...etc

Then there is motivation. What is artistic motivation? Usually the designer creates the artistic motive. At the end of my stay there, it is a project, a challenge. I designed and painted a “small” muslin canvas, (by scenic standards) ~ only 9x12 feet. I planned it to include as many different paint surfaces as possible within its borders. It is a piece of hung drapery, crumpled folded, trussed, above an arched doorway, also curtained with sheer lace, and a heavy satin curtain with gold tassels. All is encased by a marble doorway, with a stone wall and a marble floor. Surely, this was a gleeful test of my capabilities, with lovely results! The Drapery is now hung up in the back music room at the Neat Coffee shop in Burnstown. (looks fabulous there)


The rhythm at Cobalt is comfortable even though the learning curve is steep, as I discover new ways to tackle old challenges. A sense of collaboration and a common goal permeates each day. At Cobalt we worked together, ate together and lived together, surely a test of character, diplomacy, compassion and a healthy dose of a recognition that we are in fact all in this together. Only working together will get the job done. It is not for the faint of heart. Shoot for the stars I say, I always do, guess I am an idealist.

My time away at Cobalt Studios near White Lake New York taught me many things, new ways to look at the paint surface, new ideas about things to do!
Creative energy abounds right now. I am in love with it all.
Off we go~
Karen Phillips Curran
February 2009


Karen Phillips Curran is an accomplished watermedia artist who works out of her studio gallery, Riverstones Gallery in Burnstown Ontario. She is also the scenic painter for National Arts Centre productions in Ottawa. A selection of works by Karen Phillips Curran is available at Tay River Gallery in Perth.

Winter Painting : Alan Bain comments

I love painting in winter, but it does present a few complications! The obvious ones; temperature, depth of snow, snow blocking the roads usually travelled, open water mostly gone, trees overwhelmed with snow, are really what winter painting is all about. When everything else fails I paint in my truck. I’m left-handed so I sit in the right hand seat, and my palette is set up between the seats. (The others have removed seats from their vans, and they can sit in the back with a sliding door open.) Brandy, my Beagle, understands the changeover. When I get out my driver side, she grumbles, then walks over my palette and settles down in the left-hand seat. She drinks from my painting water, and once spread freshly squeezed out Indian Yellow all over both seats.

And on the other hand, there is a brand new quality of light, a whole range of crisper shadows, and gorgeous contrasts, and everywhere longer views that just don’t exist in a leafy world.
There is either absolute silence, or sounds are transmitted muted and mysterious. The whole bush takes on a dark/light attraction; branches etched with snow, pines drooping under snow loads, Shadows helping round the snow shapes. And every view always has depth, we don’t have to search for the stream or road or street to provide us with perspective, the bush is open in every direction.











Every January, and again towards spring, I paint in and around Algonquin Park. Charlie Spratt, Paul Thrane and I usually camp in a motel at one end or the other of the park and venture days into the park to paint. This past year, in January 2008, fifty yard fog, horizontal rain, and winds bringing down trees and power lines. 2007 Minus 26 (-26C.) was the warmest! 2006 my Suburban went off the road down a 60 ft. embankment, buried in 4 ft. of snow. $3600.00 damage! 2004 really heavy snow on the way up, melting the next day, beautiful misty landscapes perfect for watercolour! But slippery, slimy roads that called up real driver skill. 2003 Used my new GPS unit to venture on logging roads way back inside the park. Not supposed to be there, GPS said I was about three miles away from Hummingbird Lake! No hummingbirds though!
But we keep going back! The challenges are far outweighed by the attractions of winter bush.

Alan Bain
January 2009

Alan J.T. Bain is a plein air painter who paints the vast silent lands of the Canadian boreal forest and has travelled extensively both as a geologist and as a artist across the Pre-Cambrians of Ontario, Quebec, Newfoundland and Labrador. Bain is an elected member of the Canadian Society of Painters in Watercolour (CSPWC) and elected member of the Society of Canadian Artists(SCA).