A watercolor painting series focusing on animals found in the Canadian or Northern climates, like the wetlands, grasslands, boreal forests, and tundra.
Artist Statement
The Canadian landscape is a special climate overlooked because of its extreme or gloomy weather. The majority of Canadians live in a few small pockets of the country further towards the southern border to escape these weather extremes, yet the rest of our country is rich with wildlife and ancient forests hundreds of years old. From south to north, there are grasslands, marshes, temperate forests, boreal forests, and then tundra. We are lucky to have national parks, larger city parks, and nature reserves integrated into our urban lives.
I wanted to capture some of that wanderlust I get from hiking in Canada and the connection I feel to our local wildlife, which I feel is overlooked for not being as glamour as exotic lions, tigers, and birds of paradise. Also, I feel our landscape and a connection has an impact on our attitude towards life, how we handle conflict and stress, how we come together. I hope to capture this feeling of quiet resolve, endurance, wonder, and calm in these portraits of wild animals from our climate.
On an aesthetic level, this series explores combining watercolor painting with other mixed media techniques I learned over the years of trying many different mediums in hope of finding a happy middle ground and making a watercolor style distinctly my own.
The Watercolor Paintings
Red Fox in Marsh
15″x15″ mixed media watercolor painting – ink, watercolor, acrylic on Fabriano paper, 2020.
Todd is one of the foxes at Save a Fox rescue shelter. Save a Fox let me use their images for reference photos. This painting is in honour of those to work to save animals.
Three Red Robins
11″x12″ mixed media on Fabriano watercolor paper. Watercolor painting with ink & acrylic lineart, 2020. SOLD.
Painting created based on the watercolor texture rather than subject first.
Moonlight Flight
16″x16″ animal watercolor painting with acrylgauche lineart, painted in 2020.
A barn owl flying past a full moon in the night sky.
Toads on a Toadstool
18″x16″ watercolor painting of two toads sitting on Fly Agaric mushrooms on the forest floor. Painted in 2021.
Lineart done with acrylgauche. Based on references from the Reptile Expo in Montreal taken by the artist and found image.
