Tag: Canadian

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A Symphony in Watercolour begins tomorrow!

International Artists Gather For Cultural Event in Richmond Hill

Tomorrow, watercolour artists from all over the globe will gather in Richmond Hill, Ontario, just north of Toronto, to celebrate the opening of ‘A Symphony in Watercolour’.

All art enthusiasts are invited to attend the opening event at 12 noon on Friday, September 28, at Boynton House and Richmond Green.  After a formal ribbon cutting ceremony, there will be part of the exhibition to view, master watercolour artists in attendance, and representatives from Winsor & Newton, QoR Watercolours, Daniel Smith, DeSerres Art Store, Da Vinci paints and RockWell Art Supplies demonstrating products.  Throughout the afternoon there will be opportunities for plein air painting. The official opening and awards ceremony will be at 3 pm. Later, at 6 pm, tea and scones will be available at Burr House, another heritage building which will serve as the remainder of the exhibit space.

The exhibition, jointly presented by the International Watercolour Society of Canada (IWS Canada) and the Canadian Society of Painters in Water Colour/La Société Canadienne De Peintres En Aquarelle (CSPWC/SCPA), will feature the work of 95 watercolour artists from Canada and around the world.  From a total of 320 entries from 32 countries who entered the competition earlier this year, 80 finalists were juried into “A Symphony in Watercolour” by Anne McCartney CSPWC, Peter Marsh CSPWC, and Rainbow Ze (youth juror). The other 15 artists are winners from last year’s IWS Canada online exhibition and attending jurors, as well as presidents and vice-presidents of the presenting societies.

The five day festival opening the exhibit will continue the next day with a presentation merging painting, video and photography by renowned artist David McEown, winner of IWS Canada’s 2017 online competition ‘150 Ways to Celebrate’, a Canada 150 event.  This presentation will take place at Richmond Hill Central Library as part of the Canada-wide Culture Days event. In addition, “Experiment with Watercolour” activities will be set up so the public can try it out.

Other activities for the five day festival include field trips to various places in the area for plein air painting, photography, and general tourist enjoyment, such as the Oak Ridges Moraine, Black Creek Pioneer Village, the David Dunlap Observatory, Toronto Island, and the CN Tower 360 restaurant. Some of these activities are free, others will have costs associated with them.  Of special note is a field trip to the McMichael Canadian Art Collection, which the gallery is providing to the IWS Canada and CSPWC/SCPA group as a sponsored event for this festival. Further information for all of these activities is available at IWSCanada.ca.

A very special part of this exhibition will be a live performance by the Richmond Hill Philharmonic Orchestra, called ‘Symphonic Watercolours’, which will take place to close the exhibit, on October 27, 2018, at 8 p.m.  A slide show of the beautiful watercolour art in the exhibit will accompany music specially selected to enhance its viewing. In addition, live interpretive painting will be performed by Andrew Sookrah and Bonnie Steinberg.  The theatre will also display a selection of actual paintings from the exhibit. It will truly be ‘A Symphony in Watercolour’.

Where:  Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada – various venues – mainly Boynton House and Burr House
Who:  The International Watercolour Society of Canada (IWS Canada) (A Branch of the International Watercolor Society (IWS Globe)) and the Canadian Society of Painters in Water Colour/La Société Canadienne De Peintres En Aquarelle (CSPWC/SCPA)
When:  September 28 to October 27, 2018
What:  ‘A Symphony in Watercolour’ – an international exhibit and festival of watercolour art
Why:  To celebrate the medium of watercolour, and how diverse cultures can be brought together through their enthusiasm for common interests, while appreciating their differences.

The painting in the featured graphic at the top, Colour of Music, is by one of our jurors, Anne McCartney CSPWC, AWS, TWSA

The painting in this graphic is ‘Inner Symphony’ by Ona Kingdon, CSPWC, NWS, TWSA, IWS Master – President of IWS Canada. (Subject is Jessica Kun, the artistic director of the Richmond Hill Philharmonic Orchestra.)

IWS Canada would like to once again sincerely thank our sponsors!

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McMichael Canadian Art Collection

Located on 100 acres of forested land along the Humber River, the McMichael is a major public gallery uniquely devoted to collecting The Art of Canada.

The McMichael’s permanent collection consists of over 6,500 artworks by Tom Thomson, the Group of Seven, their contemporaries, First Nations, Métis, Inuit and contemporary artists who have contributed to the development of Canadian art.

We will be visiting the gallery on Monday, October 1, 2018 as part of our Five Day Celebration Event to open our exhibit ‘A Symphony in Watercolour’ at Boynton House and Burr House in Richmond Hill, Ontario.  The gallery has generously sponsored this field trip for us – thank you McMichael Gallery!

For more information about our entire event please visit our home page.

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QoR Modern Watercolour Award!

Some very lucky artist is going to win the QoR Modern Watercolour Award at our ‘A Symphony in Watercolour’ Exhibition which opens on September 28th at Boynton House, on Richmond Green, Richmond Hill, Ontario.

Thank you QoR Modern Watercolors by Golden from all of us at IWS Canada and CSPWC/SCPA.

Golden Artist Colors will also have a booth on our opening day with representative Bianka Guna demonstrating products.

For more details of our 5 day event please visit our Home page, the Exhibition page, or view the 5 day event PDF .

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Featured Member – Renee Lippa

Renee is a Canadian mixed media landscape artist painting out of her studio in Sherwood Park, Alberta. At a very early age, Renee began to take a strong interest in sketching and drawing often sitting with her mother while she painted in oils. She initially started with drawing but after proving to have a natural talent and a sharp eye for detail, quickly advanced to paintings in watercolor and acrylic. In a short time, Renee started entering in competitions receiving various top awards.

At the age of 17, Picture This Framing and Gallery sponsored her to take a class with renowned artist Sue-Ellen Ross. Almost immediately, Renee fell in love with Sue-Ellen’s mixed media style and decided to implement some of the same technique into her own work.

Since then, Renee has been recognized in various art competitions across North America receiving multiple awards for her work. In 2009, she was chosen by a unanimous panel of judges to commission a painting for the University of Alberta’s Graduate Engineering Department. The piece called “Unity” can be viewed in the ETLC building at the University of Alberta. After this point, Renee took a short break to pursue dancing competitively as a ballroom dancer winning a Canadian Championship and placing in the top 25 at the world championships in Belgium. She retired in 2015.

Currently, Renee is a full time artist creating original paintings and commissions. Being a self taught artist, she brings a unique style and technique to her work. Her love of vibrancy, texture and detail influences her paintings to have a living and breathing feel. Renee’s goal as an artist is to not only stimulate the mind with lucid imagery but to encourage the viewer to use their other senses. They say a picture can tell a thousand words but a painting can transport you to another place. Whether it is a memory of trees swaying in the wind on a warm summer day or a precious moment gazing over a field of flowers with a loved one, she aspires to draw the viewer in to create their own story.

Below is an example of Renee’s watercolour work.  For more about Renee, please visit her website.

Nothing But Blue Skies – Renee Lippa
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Featured Member – Jan Fraser

Our featured member this week is Jan Fraser, of Alberta.  Says Jan:

“Art has been part of my life since childhood, with lessons at the Edmonton Art Gallery and encouragement from my Grand-Uncle, Murray MacDonald who was a former member of the Edmonton Art Club and a well known watercolourist. When Murray retired from the University of Alberta, he began teaching me every Sunday afternoon and eventually we had a three generation show with Murray, my Aunt and myself. There have been many shows since. My first job in education was teaching and writing Art courses for the Alberta Correspondence School. From there I moved on to Edmonton Public Schools with a varied career in which Art was always involved. I recently retired as Assistant Principal of an elementary school with a Fine Arts Focus. I have always preferred the spontaneity and experimentation possible with watercolor but in the past year I have been playing with carving modeling paste for a textured foreground with acrylic and watercolour paint. This allows me to play with texture and rock formations in the foreground.”

“The weather, landforms and atmosphere of Alberta have always been my inspiration. One maxim that I have is that painting material is all around us. We do not have to travel far to see and feel. Another is to approach art with a sense of play and experimentation in order to continue learning. I enjoy my three grandchildren (one of whom is autistic), travel with my husband Jud, gardening and golf. I am an active member of the Edmonton Art Club.”

Below is an example of Jan’s work.  For more, please visit her website.

“Meditation”
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Featured Member – Gord Jones

Gord Jones has always been an artist. After experiencing many different mediums such as oils, pastels, acrylics, even egg tempera he returned to his greatest love, transparent watercolour.

Gord has sought direction throughout his artistic career from many of Canada’s most loved watercolourists. He has always found visual communication speaks clearest, even though his interpretations leave room for the viewer to explore and most importantly, participate in the conversation.

He focuses on taking familiar life as subject matter while commenting on the everyday aesthetic of nature and how light describes its many forms. Gord seeks to increase the dynamic between audience and author by objectifying emotional reaction and transferring that sense of space.

Gord is an elected member of the Canadian Society of Painters in Water Colour, The Society of Canadian Artists, the Niagara Frontier Watercolour Society, The Haliburton Arts Council, the Rails End Gallery, and is Ontario”s representative of the International Watercolour Society. He is represented by various galleries in Ontario and participates in selected exhibitions throughout the year.
After cottaging in the area for over 30 years, Gord and family have recently made Haliburton their home.

Below is an example of Gord’s work.  For more about Gord, please visit his website.

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Congratulations Anne McCartney!

We shall interrupt our series of featured members with this bit of breaking news:

Our IWS Canada Regional Director, Anne McCartney, has received news today that her painting ‘Art for Art’s Sake’ has been selected for the Gold Medal of Honor, i.e. the top award, at the American Watercolor Society’s 151st juried international exhibition this year.

Says Anne, “I am black and blue all over I can’t stop pinching myself”. This is the kind of excitement  all of us would feel in her position.  The award itself is worth, aside from the prestige, $4000 US.  The exhibition takes place at the well-known Salmagundi Club in New York City from April 9 to April 28, 2018.

We are truly thrilled for Anne, and so lucky to have her on our team.  In addition, she will be a juror for our own IWS Canada/CSPWC international exhibition ‘A Symphony in Watercolour’, this fall in Richmond Hill, Ontario.  The deadline is March 20 – don’t forget to enter!

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Featured Member – Zan Barrage

Colors flow into each other creating shapes and volume. A burst of light here, a touch of deep shadows there. Zan Barrage paints not just what he sees, but also the mood and what he calls the taste of the moment. Zan’s artwork is an exploration of light on the Canadian Landscape. He explains it this way: “There is a certain temperature to the light up here, a crispness that is uniquely Canadian. It speaks to me in a harmony of colours. Delicate but savage. Rich but not overwhelming – elegant. I hope it comes through in my work”.

Zan’s journey in art began in war-torn Beirut where he grow up in the 1970’s. Music, poetry and painting were his escapes from the reality around him. He was seven when he got his first watercolour box. A tin box with tons of chalky colours and a horrible brush to go with it. He would sit for hours blending colours, attempting to paint the world around him as it fell apart. Today his box is filled with artist quality paints and his brushes are sable and squirrel. “My tools have changed” He explains, “but the journey is still the same: A love for colours and light, and an epic struggles to put these faithfully on paper.”

Classically trained in his youth at the Académie Libanaise des Beaux-Arts 1969-1975, Zan is the recipient of several art awards. He is also the founder and past president of Ontario Plein Air Society, a group of Ontario painters dedicated to painting the Canadian landscape from life. Zan is also a Master Artist member of the International Watercolor Society. When asked which artists influence his work he is quick to name them: “Homer, Whistler and of course Sargent”.

Zan Teaches watercolours at three visual art schools in Ontario Canada. He also leads travel workshops to Europe and the Caribbean Islands.

Below is an example of Zan’s work.  For more, please visit his website.

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Featured Member – Tiina Price

Our third featured member is Tiina Price, an award-winning watercolour and ink artist in Cambridge, Ontario, Canada.

Her work has featured in

Tiina is the secretary of  IWS Canada. She is an active member of many art organizations including the Canadian Society of Painters in Water Colour (associate member), Central Ontario Art Association, Kitchener-Waterloo Society of Artists, Cambridge Centre for the Arts, Diversity Artists, and Studio 30.

Tiina attends and hosts workshops given by noted artists such as David McEown, Karlyn Holman, Linda Kemp, Doug Mays, Gordon MacKenzie, Ken McFarlane, and the late Jack Reid, to refine her skills and challenge her perceptions.

Travels to northern Ontario and Europe inspire her work, which is characterized by use of colour, mood creation and representational style.

“Painting watercolours allows the nuances of nature to unfold. I am continually intrigued by the play of light on water, the shadows in foliage, the changeability of skies and the vibrancy or subtlety of colour. As a medium, watercolour permits me to experiment capturing transparency and form. My paintings celebrate not only the energy and vitality of life, but its serenity and harmony.”

Educated at Queen’s University, the University of Waterloo and the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, Tiina is a former educator.

More of Tiina’s work can be found at her website.

Ice Goblets by Tiina Price
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Featured Member – Roy Tibbits

In the coming months we will be featuring the new full members of IWS Canada.  The order in which they will be featured is a simple reflection of their promptness in responding to our suggestion that they allow us to do so.

Our first featured member is Roy Tibbits.

Self-taught watercolour artist Roy Tibbits began painting in 1990 and is an active Member of the “Federation of Canadian Artists”.  Roy’s art has been selected in a number of juried shows at their gallery in Vancouver B.C.

Roy’s paintings were featured in the March/April 2004 and March /April 2007 Issues of “Art Avenue” a Federation Of Canadian Artists publication.

Roy has had his work selected into the Thompson Nicola Shuswap juried show for 2014, 2015, 2016, & 2017.

Roy’s work has been frequently selected  as a finalist in the “Art of the Automobile ” competition, sponsored by the “Automobile Journalists Association of Canada, with works traveling to various cities.

Roy is an associate member of the “Canadian Society of Painters in Watercolour.  In 2006, three of his paintings were submitted to the “Canadian Society of Painters in Watercolour Atlantic associates” juried show where one received “Best Building Category” and the other two received “Honourable Mention”.  In 2015 Roy’s work was selected to the 90th “Open Water” international juried show.  In 2016 Roy’s work was selected to the 91st “Open Water” international juried show, with “Old Comrades” winning the S J Sloan Award .

In 2015 two of Roy’s works were accepted into the “Society of Canadian Artists” 47th national juried show at the “Gainesborough Gallery” in Calgary Alberta.

In 2016 Roy was elected in to the “Society Of Canadian Artists “.

In 2017 one of Roy’s paintings was accepted in the “Society of Canadian Artists”  juried show “Oh Canada-Our Home and Native Land” at “Gallery 78” in Frederiction New Brunswick.

Here is an example of his work.  More can be found at his website.

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