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).

Artwork in Winter : Heather Assaf comments

As I am not much of an outdoor sports type, preferring walks with my dog on pleasant days, I look forward to January, February and March as a time to learn new techniques and experiment on different surfaces etc. I have a new DVD and two new books that I am anxious to get into as soon as the holiday season is over. If I find a workshop that interests me I will take one during that time or in the early spring.

I find it easier to stick to a schedule in winter as I have a fairly large property with many gardens to tend to and I love to be outside in the warm weather months. My productivity level drops in the summer because I am a studio artist and as long as the weather is good I want to be out there enjoying it.

My artwork these days is intuitive so the weather conditions have no effect on me, other than (possibly) colour choices. I tend to draw on images and information from my subconscious for inspiration when I start a painting and never know what the subject matter (if any) will be until I am finished.

Heather Assaf
January 2009

Heather Assaf is a mixed-media artist and an intaglio printmaker. Heather is interested in abstract qualities working with collagraphs and etchings. Her love of vibrant colour and design is evident in her work. Heather studied at the Handprint Studio, Harrogate, U.K. under English printmaker Peter Wray in various methods of non-toxic etching and collagraph printmaking.

Snowbound:Winter Art Show at Tay River Gallery opens today

"Snowbound" opens today at Tay River Gallery featuring new winter works this month from Margaret Chwialkowska, John Alexander Day, Leah Dockrill, Catharina Breedyk Law, J. Allison Robichaud, Tricia Savoie, Paulette Marie Sauvé, Charles Spratt, John Stevenson, John Shea and Bill Veale and plenty of works by other gallery artists that remain here snowbound.


"Snowbound" features snowy, wintery scenes, as well as not so snowy scenes painted in artist studios while snowbound. This past week it is the frigid temperatures with record lows, rather than snowstorms that is keeping the population housebound. The show runs from Jan 17 to February 28th so if you are looking for a welcome reprieve from developing 'cabin fever' after this cold spell, do drop in and see the show once the temperatures rise.

On the snowbound theme, we have queried gallery artists about their creative life in winter. Over the next few weeks on this blog, you will hear from 25 gallery artists with their "snowbound thoughts" or comments on painting in winter. A bound copy as well as wall display of comments is available to be perused in the gallery while you enjoy the show.

Call for Artist Submissions at Tay River Gallery

Call for Artist Submissions for "Urban Landscapes" April/May 2009 group show at Tay River Gallery

Urban spaces or cityscapes of any locale - high realism, expressionism or abstraction in oils, acrylics, pastels or watercolours.

Accepting submissions for upcoming Small Group Show "Urban Landscapes" with show dates April/ May 2009. Pls. submit up to 6 images (low resolution jpg format) together with biography, artist statement and website url. Email your submission to lbrown@tayrivergallery.com. Selection by review of electronic submissions by curating committee.

Deadline: February 15, 2009

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.

John Alexander Day Plein Air Painting in France

In August 2008 I took my painting equipment to France. This was supposed to be a vacation for my wife Shirley and me. I was cautious about tying up each day painting, so I had decided earlier to keep the painting time to a minimum.





I also try to keep the weight down and travel light, so I packed only a few 8x10 and 6x8 oil primed linen boards. I thought it might be a challenge as I am accustomed to painting much larger on site. I took 14 boards with me so when we arrived in Paris I decided to only do a couple of paintings. I had already painted here a few years ago, and I decided to save most of the boards for the rest of the journey, as our trip would eventually take us to the south of the country. The first two I painted were in the Luxembourg Gardens on a hot day with everyone in the city, or so it seemed, walking around. I suppose the scene would not be much different to the what the impressionists of the day experienced, except for the modern clothing.

The next stop was in Lyon, and more of a stop over for the day as we were heading off towards Provence the next morning. We stopped in Lyon on route it has an excellent Art Gallery with some great artwork well worth a visit.











In Provence we stayed in the town of Vaison-la-Romaine, an old Roman town with interesting architecture. Most of my painting was done in the town, although we took some trips out to places like Roussillon with its bright coloured buildings of deep oranges, reds and ochres mined from the local stone. Typically, the Provençal weather was hot and I was happy that I had my umbrella attachment that fits on my pochade type easel to keep the glare off my painting and palette. Having my work shaded from the sun helps me judge the colours properly. Having plenty of water to drink and a hat helps the artist. It does not take very long after you set up before you attract the curious onlooker, and also the tourists who wish to engage you in conversation. Luckily for me, I have become used to it and I usually can carry on painting without upsetting the flow.




Our next stop was along the Mediterranean Coast in the town of Cassis. Many famous painters painted here including Monet and Mattisse, to name but a few. The town is not too touristy and has marvelous views of the rocky coast plunging into the deep blue green colour of the sea. I like painting rock and water, but I sometimes have to watch the rock I am standing on to paint from as it can get a bit wet with the spray from the waves coming in.



Our last place to visit was the little town of Villefranche-sue-mer with a lively little town centre and lots of restaurants offering seafood along the harbour. My last panels were painted from the harbour wall and of the narrow streets so typical of the area.


Even though it was more a vacation than a working trip, it was still possible to find an hour or two in the day to paint and capture something of the local area.

I encourage every artist to travel with paints. You will be amazed just how much information you can get on to a small panel. The main thing to remember is “travel light”.
John Alexander Day

John Alexander Day is represented by Tay River Gallery in Perth Ontario. An accomplished and prolific painter with over twenty years experience, Day paints primarily outdoors to capture the qualities of light and atmosphere in his paintings. John Day is an elected member of the Society of Canadian Artists (SCA).