Kristi’s Cottage Commission

Back in February of 2016, I celebrated the 30thanniversary of my business by inviting supporters to enter a draw for: a bundle of publications, a donation to a charity of their choice, and an original ink and watercolor sketch inspired by a photo of a place that mattered to them.

The first two prizes were dispatched right away. However, it took the winner of the original sketch, Kristi Glover of Saskatoon, a couple of years to claim her prize.

Life has a way of tossing roadblocks in our path from time to time, but now Kristi has her prize in hand. I was delighted to be able to create for her an original sketch of her family cottage at Waskesiu Lake in Prince Albert National Park.  Read more….

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Commissioned Painting For CAPS

I’ve been a member of the Canadian Association of Professional Speakers since its inception two decades ago. Over the years, I’ve attended and presented at conventions and chapter meetings, played roles on various committees, and served as the President of our National Board.

Last year, CAPS celebrated its 20th anniversary as an organization. In honor of the occasion, I was invited to use my skills as an artist to create something unique to mark this special milestone.

Since our 20th Anniversary aligned with the 150th anniversary of Canada, and our 20th convention was held in Ottawa, I was asked to create a painting that featured Parliament Hill and to include a special element that would reference the CAPS 20th.

The image you see here is the original painting that I created featuring an autumn view across the Ottawa River looking towards the Peace Tower and the Parliamentary Library. Cruising down the river in the foreground is a boat carrying the name, CAPS 20.

This original painting was presented to the CAPS National President, Suzanne Stevens at a special pre convention reception hosted on Parliament Hill. Here is a photo of Suzanne with the framed original ready to take a place of honor in her home.

In addition, each person who served on the planning committee, volunteered for special tasks at the event, or presented a session at the convention received a reproduction of the image, matted and ready to frame and display.

Print in Recipient Grant Ainsley’s Office

The paintings were a tremendous hit. Some declared it the best convention gift they’ve ever received! Many recipients have sent me photos showing their prints proudly on display in their homes and offices.

I was delighted to be able to use my skills as an artist to support an organization that has played such a significant role in my professional life. Special thanks to Rhoinda Scharf for the inspiration that led to the request and, ultimately, a throng of happy recipients.

 

PS – You can purchase your own copy of Celebrating Canada 150 – CAPS 20 through this online link.

 

Parliament Hill In The Snow

 

It’s dusk in Ottawa. The snow has been softly falling all day long.

You’ve just spent two hours roaming the salons of the National Art Gallery.

Inspired by what you’ve seen, your fingers are itching to sketch.

You sit down for a coffee in the NAG cafeteria.

 

 

 

As you gaze through the glass walls across the Ottawa River towards Parliament Hill, the lights begin to glow through the snow.

You only have ten minutes before you catch your cab to the airport.

You decide that’s just enough time for a quick sketch to capture the moment.

And so you do, and here it is!

 

See larger version of color image.

See larger version of shades of gray image.

Canada 150 Gallery Of Images Now Online

I hope you enjoyed the series of paintings of our ten Canadian provinces that I released over the summer as my Canada 150 art project.

It was such fun recalling my experiences with all of these parts of this great country of ours, and creating images to represent each.

All but two of the paintings have found new homes. Quebec and New Brunswick originals are still available.

If you are interested in either of those, you can contact me directly and the same special Canada 150 pricing will apply.

Many people have asked if they can purchase prints of one image or another, and the answer to that question is yes.

I have now posted all ten of the images to a Canada 150 Gallery on my fine art website. You can view all of them and their accompanying stories online. And you can order prints in sizes and styles that suit you best.

The Fine Art America service that hosts my online gallery reproduces images on paper, canvas, metal, acrylic and wood. So many options !

Here, again, is the link to the Canada 150 Art Gallery.

Happy browsing! And Happy Canada Sesquicentennial!

And thanks for all the kind words about the project and the paintings.

Canada 150 Art Project – Saskatchewan

Welcome to the last in a series of ten watercolor paintings to honor Canada’s Sesquicentennial – this one featuring Saskatchewan. Read on to learn more about the backstory behind this painting, and to find out how you can make this painting yours.

 

 

The Backstory: The final image in this Canada Art 150 series brings us to my home province of Saskatchewan. I know there are many who believe this place is one flat grain field stretching from horizon to horizon. Those folks might expect to see a painting of the great plains as seen cruising along the Trans Canada Highway.

But wait, as they say, there’s more to Saskatchewan than that. For example:

  • the Big Muddy badlands with its rough terrain and sandstone outcroppings
  • the grasslands and the Cypress Hills with their Ponderosa pines
  • the Great Sandhills with their shifting sands and desert topography
  • the parkland with its rolling hills, sloughs and willow bluffs
  • the Boreal forest with its lakes, spruce and aspen
  • the northern shield with its rock, muskeg, and moose

So, what did I choose to share with you? A country road. And not just any country road. This one runs past NW 17 33 26 W2 – the farm where I grew up eight miles south of the village of Viscount. The rise of land looked north to our home quarter on the right and to our land on the left.

This scene was my ‘coming home’ greeting at the end of a daily 40 minute school bus ride. The road was designated Thoen Road in 2008 in honor of our family, and in particular my Dad who drove the snow plow that kept this road open through all the winters of my childhood.

 

How You Can Make This Painting Yours: In honor of our country’s 2017 anniversary celebrations, I’ve created one watercolor painting to honor each province.

One unique provincial landscape, seascape or streetscape will be featured each week throughout the summer. Ten paintings are up for grabs – one for each province – and one each week.

Each original painting is 8” x 10” in size and each one will arrive mounted in a double white mat bringing the outer dimensions to 11” x 14” – ready to pop into a standard frame of your own choosing.

The price for each painting will be $150 (taxes included) plus $15 for shipping to anywhere in Canada.

If you are looking for a unique remembrance of Canada 150, and you’ve always wanted to buy an original watercolor from the Pauseworks Studio, here’s your chance.

Just send me an email message ( to pat@patkatzart.com) with the words ‘Canada 150 – I’ll Take It’ in the subject line. The first reader to call dibs on each week’s masterpiece takes it. Good luck to all!

 

If you wish to Subscribe or Unsubscribe to notifications from the Pauseworks Studio Blog,

you can do so in the Let’s Keep In Touch area on any page of the Pauseworks Studio website.

Canada 150 Art Project – Quebec

Welcome to the ninth in a series of ten watercolor paintings to honor Canada’s Sesquicentennial – this one featuring Quebec. Read on to learn more about the backstory behind this painting, and to find out how you can make this painting yours.

 

The Backstory:

I first visited Quebec to attend Expo 67 in Montreal. That experience opened my eyes to the world and seeded my lifelong interest in travel. The Expo extravaganza was something this prairie girl could never have imagined – even in her wildest dreams.

I’ve since returned many times to explore more of Montreal and Quebec City. I’m always delighted to have a chance to: converse in my sadly lacking but serviceable French, enjoy the amazing food, and soak up the European atmosphere.

I’m especially enamored by the Vieux-Quebec area with: the Chateau Frontenac, the funicular, the Breakneck Stair connecting upper and lower town, the shops, stone buildings and narrow cobblestone streets. La Fresque des Quebecois near Place Royale is a massive trompe-l’oeil mural that is definitely worth a visit.

This restaurant, Aux Anciens Canadiens, sits on Rue Saint-Louis. It operates out of one of the oldest houses in Quebec, which was originally built in 1675.

One of the most nerve-wracking experiences of my life as a Canadian was the night of the 1995 sovereignty referendum when (thankfully) Quebecers voted to stay in the confederation by a narrow margin of not quite one percent. I did not then and do not now wish for a separate Quebec. La Belle Province is most definitely a part of my Canada, and I look forward to exploring more of it in the years ahead.

 

How You Can Make This Painting Yours: In honor of our country’s 2017 anniversary celebrations, I’ve created one watercolor painting to honor each province.

One unique provincial landscape, seascape or streetscape will be featured each week throughout the summer. Ten paintings are up for grabs – one for each province – and one each week.

Each original painting is 8” x 10” in size and each one will arrive mounted in a double white mat bringing the outer dimensions to 11” x 14” – ready to pop into a standard frame of your own choosing.

The price for each painting will be $150 (taxes included) plus $15 for shipping to anywhere in Canada.

If you are looking for a unique remembrance of Canada 150, and you’ve always wanted to buy an original watercolor from the Pauseworks Studio, here’s your chance.

Just send me an email message ( to pat@patkatzart.com) with the words ‘Canada 150 – I’ll Take It’ in the subject line. The first reader to call dibs on each week’s masterpiece takes it. Good luck to all!

If you wish to Subscribe or Unsubscribe to notifications from the Pauseworks Studio Blog,

you can do so in the Let’s Keep In Touch area on any page of the Pauseworks Studio website.

Canada 150 Art Project – New Brunswick

Welcome to the eighth in a series of ten watercolor paintings to honor Canada’s Sesquicentennial – this one featuring New Brunswick. Read on to learn more about the backstory behind this painting, and to find out how you can make this painting yours.

 

The Backstory: New Brunswick is probably best known for its powerful tides that surge up and down the Bay of Fundy.   You can see the impact of that tide in action most dramatically at the iconic Hopewell Flowerpot Rocks.

Other curiosities of New Brunswick include the optical illusion of Magnetic Hill in Moncton where cars seemingly roll uphill, and the Reversing Falls of Saint John where the Fundy tides meet the Saint John River.

I’ve traveled to both Moncton and Saint John several times over the years for both work and pleasure. What intrigued me most on my recent visit to Saint John was the architecture of the city.

This image features the welcoming front steps and doors that can be found leading into the two story brick Italianate homes along Germain Street in downtown Saint John.

Many of the grand homes along this street were built following the Great Fire of 1877 which destroyed 40% of the city.

 

How You Can Make This Painting Yours: In honor of our country’s 2017 anniversary celebrations, I’ve created one watercolor painting to honor each province.

One unique provincial landscape, seascape or streetscape will be featured each week throughout the summer. Ten paintings are up for grabs – one for each province – and one each week.

Each original painting is 8” x 10” in size and each one will arrive mounted in a double white mat bringing the outer dimensions to 11” x 14” – ready to pop into a standard frame of your own choosing.

The price for each painting will be $150 (taxes included) plus $15 for shipping to anywhere in Canada.

If you are looking for a unique remembrance of Canada 150, and you’ve always wanted to buy an original watercolor from the Pauseworks Studio, here’s your chance.

Just send me an email message ( to pat@patkatzart.com) with the words ‘Canada 150 – I’ll Take It’ in the subject line. The first reader to call dibs on each week’s masterpiece takes it. Good luck to all!

 

If you wish to Subscribe or Unsubscribe to notifications from the Pauseworks Studio Blog,

you can do so in the Let’s Keep In Touch area on any page of the Pauseworks Studio website.

Canada 150 Art Project – Alberta

Welcome to the seventh in a series of ten watercolor paintings to honor Canada’s Sesquicentennial – this one featuring Alberta. Read on to learn more about the backstory behind this painting, and to find out how you can make this painting yours.

 

The Backstory:

Alberta is right next door to my home province of Saskatchewan; and it’s the province I’ve visited most often over the years – both for work and pleasure.

Alberta has plenty of attractions – from the Japanese Gardens in Lethbridge, to the world famous Calgary Stampede, to the Badlands and Hoodoos of Drumheller, to the many diversions of the West Edmonton Mall.

As a family, we made an annual Labor Day weekend trek to Edmonton for some twenty years to visit a favorite aunt and uncle. We now travel as often as possible to Calgary to visit our two youngest grandsons and their parents.

In addition to friends and family, what draws me back again and again to Alberta are the Canadian Rocky Mountains. In fact, just this year, we took another trek along the Banff Jasper Parkway and enjoyed both old and new sites along the way.

Here are a few of my favorite remembrances from our many visits to the Rockies:

  • the colorful poppies sprinkled across the grounds of Chateau Lake Louise
  • hiking the Lake Agnes Tea House Trail and the views along the way
  • sketching the beautiful blue-green waters of Moraine Lake
  • camping near and hiking up Johnston Canyon
  • sweet tooth purchases at the fudge shop on Banff Avenue
  • whitewater rafting with the family on the nearby Kananaskis River
  • the bugling elk roaming the grounds of Jasper Park Lodge
  • the thundering Athabasca Falls as they carve their way through their rocky sidewalls
  • taking a wintry ice walk through the frozen waterfalls in the depths of Maligne Canyon

This painting features beautiful Lake Louise, one of the most visited and most photographed sights in the Rockies.

 

How You Can Make This Painting Yours: In honor of our country’s 2017 anniversary celebrations, I’ve created one watercolor painting to honor each province.

One unique provincial landscape, seascape or streetscape will be featured each week throughout the summer. Ten paintings are up for grabs – one for each province – and one each week.

Each original painting is 8” x 10” in size and each one will arrive mounted in a double white mat bringing the outer dimensions to 11” x 14” – ready to pop into a standard frame of your own choosing.

The price for each painting will be $150 (taxes included) plus $15 for shipping to anywhere in Canada.

If you are looking for a unique remembrance of Canada 150, and you’ve always wanted to buy an original watercolor from the Pauseworks Studio, here’s your chance.

Just send me an email message ( to pat@patkatzart.com) with the words ‘Canada 150 – I’ll Take It’ in the subject line. The first reader to call dibs on each week’s masterpiece takes it. Good luck to all!

 

If you wish to Subscribe or Unsubscribe to notifications from the Pauseworks Studio Blog,

you can do so in the Let’s Keep In Touch area on any page of the Pauseworks Studio website.

Canada 150 Art Project – Nova Scotia

Welcome to the  sixth in a series of ten watercolor paintings to honor Canada’s Sesquicentennial – this one featuring Nova Scotia. Read on to learn more about the backstory behind this painting, and to find out how you can make this painting yours.

 

The Backstory:

I love visiting Nova Scotia. It’s such an historic province with so much to see and enjoy.

The Halifax harbor is a great spot for adventuring and good food. Kids will love a tour on Theodore the Tugboat. I was thrilled to take a turn at the wheel of the Mar as we sailed through the harbor. Pier 21 offers engaging exhibits on the story behind immigration to Canada. You can also search the archives for stories of your own ancestors. The Maritime Museum is where you will find the inside scoop on the great 1917 Halifax Explosion.

And of course, no visit to the southern part of Nova Scotia is complete without a sidetrip to the very scenic and highly photographed, Peggy’s Cove.

My strongest remembrances of Nova Scotia are connected to our roadtrip on the winding Cabot Trail. I giggled at the naming of villages of Margaree: Margaree Forks, Margaree Harbour, East Margaree, Margeree Centre, Margaree Valley and NE Margaree. I breathed in the beauty of Bras d’Or Lake. We still own a handcrafted wooden sculpture of a weathered sailor we picked out in a shop in Baddeck.

This painting features Keltic Lodge which perches high on Ingonish Beach on the north eastern edge of the Cape Breton Highlands. My husband and I spent a memorable night there enjoying the amazing views of the sea and the sounds of a bagpiper who saluted the flag at both sundown and sunrise – mercifully at some distance from our room!

 

How You Can Make This Painting Yours:

In honor of our country’s 2017 anniversary celebrations, I’ve created one watercolor painting to honor each province.

One unique provincial landscape, seascape or streetscape will be featured each week throughout the summer. Ten paintings are up for grabs – one for each province – and one each week.

Each original painting is 8” x 10” in size and each one will arrive mounted in a double white mat bringing the outer dimensions to 11” x 14” – ready to pop into a standard frame of your own choosing.

The price for each painting will be $150 (taxes included) plus $15 for shipping to anywhere in Canada.

If you are looking for a unique remembrance of Canada 150, and you’ve always wanted to buy an original watercolor from the Pauseworks Studio, here’s your chance.

Just send me an email message ( to pat@patkatzart.com) with the words ‘Canada 150 – I’ll Take It’ in the subject line. The first reader to call dibs on each week’s masterpiece takes it. Good luck to all!

If you wish to Subscribe or Unsubscribe to notifications from the Pauseworks Studio Blog,

you can do so in the Let’s Keep In Touch area on any page of the Pauseworks Studio website.

Canada 150 Art Project – Ontario

Welcome to the fifth in a series of ten watercolor paintings to honor Canada’s Sesquicentennial – this one featuring Ontario. Read on to learn more about the backstory behind this painting, and to find out how you can make this painting yours.

 

 

The Backstory: A dear friend always referred to Toronto as The Big Smoke. I believe he meant ‘thought to be something special by those within and beyond’. Toronto is all that and more, and the CN Tower is the very first thing I look for as I fly into Toronto to confirm that I have indeed arrived once more in The Big Smoke.

I first set foot in Toronto in 1967 en route to Expo 67 in Montreal, and then again a couple of years later in 1969, as a guest of the T Eaton Company. Earlier that year, my sewing and modeling skills won me the opportunity to represent Saskatchewan at Eaton’s 100th anniversary sewing competition.

We stayed at the Royal York Hotel across from Union Station; and were wined and dined and toured in style. Most memorable to me was our evening of folk music at the Riverboat Coffee House, a famous hippie hangout in Yorkville. At the end of the week, all ten competitors strutted their stuff on the fashion show runway at Eaton’s flagship store on Queen Street.

Over the years, I have made many visits to and through Ontario both to Toronto and elsewhere in the province. Here are a few of my memorable Ontario moments:

  • Tenting and swimming at Rushing River Park on Dogtooth Lake
  • Cooling off on a hot summer day by skimming across Lake Of The Woods in bumper boats
  • Driving the long scenic route across the northern edge of Lake Superior
  • Celebrating human perseverance at the Terry Fox Monument in Thunder Bay
  • An evening of theatre at the Shaw Festival on beautiful Niagara On The Lake
  • The spray of Niagara Falls on my face, and its beauty in the colored lights at night
  • Seeing paintings by the Group of Seven at the McMichael Gallery in Kleinburg
  • Dinner at Honest Ed’s Restaurant followed by a play at the Royal Alexandra Theatre
  • Seeing Harry Belafonte live in concert at the O’Keefe Centre (one of my first ever concerts)
  • Watching the Santa Clause parade out the window of our room in the Park Plaza Hotel
  • Exploring two of Canada’s largest fairs: The Canadian National Exhibition in August and the Royal Winter Fair in November
  • Browsing the Farmer’s Market at the Don Valley Brickworks
  • Late night adventures at the downtown TO art instillations during Nuit Blanche
  • Sketching TO during a plein air watercolor workshop: Lakeshore Boulevard, Queen’s Park, Botanical Gardens, and Riverdale Farm
  • Admiring the grandeur of Parliament Hill in Ottawa, and sipping tea at the National Gallery overlooking the Ottawa River

 

How You Can Make This Painting Yours: In honor of our country’s 2017 anniversary celebrations, I’ve created one watercolor painting to honor each province.

One unique provincial landscape, seascape or streetscape will be featured each week throughout the summer. Ten paintings are up for grabs – one for each province – and one each week.

Each original painting is 8” x 10” in size and each one will arrive mounted in a double white mat bringing the outer dimensions to 11” x 14” – ready to pop into a standard frame of your own choosing.

The price for each painting will be $150 (taxes included) plus $15 for shipping to anywhere in Canada.

If you are looking for a unique remembrance of Canada 150, and you’ve always wanted to buy an original watercolor from the Pauseworks Studio, here’s your chance.

Just send me an email message ( to pat@patkatzart.com) with the words ‘Canada 150 – I’ll Take It’ in the subject line. The first reader to call dibs on each week’s masterpiece takes it. Good luck to all!

If you wish to Subscribe or Unsubscribe to notifications from the Pauseworks Studio Blog,

you can do so in the Let’s Keep In Touch area on any page of the Pauseworks Studio website.

Copyright © 2016 - Pauseworks Studio - Patricia Katz, Optimus Consulting
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