We have decided, with great regret, to cancel this year’s Before the Summer show. The spread of the COVID-19 virus into our community has already led to many cancellations of local events. It is our belief that this trend will continue and likely worsen over the next several months. We hope that by the end of October the crisis will have passed and that you will be able to enjoy the work of many of these artists at the Before the Rush Show, October 30, 31 and November 1 at the Firehall Theatre in Gananoque. Check beforetherushshow.com for updates.
Any of the artists listed below would be delighted to respond to questions about their paintings. Please send them an email.
Any of the artists listed below would be delighted to respond to questions about their paintings. Please send them an email.
Our Talented Artists
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Béatrice Eberhardt
Gananoque ON Béatrice grew up in Switzerland and studied ceramics. In 2000 she immigrated to Canada. Life asked her to become many different things, which is reflected in her work. She is fascinated with connecting different textures and materials - acrylic paint, magazine paper and her own photographs - that suddenly paint a new picture. The process of layering, scratching beneath the surface gives her art diversity and depth. In her textile work, she uses cloth as she would use paint. The delicate and fragile process of layering small pieces together is important to the meaning of the work. Her work is about the thin line between deep connections and falling apart. |
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Belia Brandow
Lyn ON A contemporary realist painter, I paint for the sheer pleasure and enjoyment I receive from the entire process. From viewing the world through an artist’s lens, determining what inspires me to paint this picture, what do I want to convey and then deciding how I am going to convey this through design, colour, light, mood, shape and size. My primary goal is to become the best painter I am capable of being and I am constantly working on honing my skills and growing as an artist. This is a lifelong process and each painting becomes another challenge as I continue to evolve and develop my unique style. |
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Betty Matthews
Gananoque ON Betty believes that art plays an important part in everyone's life, whether as a hands-on approach, or simply for the sake of enjoyment. There are many different forms of art - including visual - and she is very happy to be a part of that world. |
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Carolyn Huff Winters
Kingston ON https://www.carolynhuffwintersfineart.com/ Kingston based artist, Carolyn Huff-Winters has been painting since 2010. Inherently creative, she has taken numerous courses and workshops but considers herself to be primarily self-taught. She finds inspiration everywhere and notices details and beauty in the ordinary and routine, and these inspirations are often the focus of new works of art. She constantly challenges herself to try new approaches, methods and techniques. Several years ago, she challenged the boundaries of her art, developing a method using powdered charcoal which she finishes with acrylics. The paintings are incredibly unique and absolutely one of a kind, impossible to repeat or hand copy. Carolyn paints every day, often landscapes, abstracts or mixed media works of art, but presently her primary focus is on the modern and contemporary charcoal / acrylic paintings. |
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Graham Thomas
Merrickville ON I am an observer of my surroundings, interior, exterior, urban or rural, at home or away. Time, climate, colour and form affect what one observes. Sometimes all these things have impact at the same time but the quality of light is what usually catches my attention at first glance. |
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Helma Gansen
Gananoque ON The beauty of the St. Lawrence River and the Thousand Islands inspired me to paint. Capturing natures beauty is my quest and reinterpreting on canvas colour, light and composition is my ongoing passion and challenge. My training as an Interior Designer provided the opportunity to develop sketching skills and to explore different paint media. I began to paint in 1999. Since then I have attended many workshops and participated in Plein Air Painting Excursions and Competitions. As a past member of VAGA, TIARTS (Thousand Island Artist Association) and the Rideau Lakes Artist Association I have participated in many art shows. I am currently an active member of TIFAA (Thousand Island Fine Art Association) and FMBAA (Fort Myers Beach Artist Association). My paintings vary from landscape to floral and figurative. My preferred medium for landscapes is oil. I use mixed media for my abstract work. |
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Janice Moorhead
Ottawa ON http://janice274.wix.com/janglasspaint Originally from Montreal, after spending three years in Ottawa, I relocated to a lovely community in the Gatineau Hills close to Wakefield. This is where I have spent the past 35 years raising two children and creating my art. In 1979 I received an honours degree in visual arts from the University of Ottawa. While my studies were mostly in the realm of painting and print making, it was quite soon after graduation that I discovered glass. Because of its luminosity and perfect surface quality it soon replaced paint as my medium of choice. Currently I am known across Canada for my glass work, having created a body of work over the past 35 years that employs a rather unique “painterly” approach to stained glass. |
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John Sorensen
Mallorytown ON John's background as an architectural antique dealer and passion for ballroom dancing influence his choice of subject matter. He uses the rich warm colours and texture obtained from traditional oil paint to interpret his two primary interests – old room interiors and “ordinary” people dancing or just sharing a quiet moment together. |
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Julie Davidson Smith
Kingston ON Website I am an award-winning mixed-media visual artist from Gananoque currently living in Kingston since 1999. My work is an exploration of the unknown - experimenting with techniques, themes and ideas. The common thread throughout my years painting has been the human figure, nature and how I/we experience the world around us. My art is an interpretation of my experience and making sense of it all while making what I think is beautiful. |
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Kitty Kelly
Brockville ON Website Kitty's passion is painting - she wants to share what she sees and feels by putting it onto canvas with the hope that the viewer experiences those senses as well. Self taught, Kitty has always been interested in the world of art and is now immersed full time in painting. Her favourite medium is acrylic, however, oil & watercolour are sometimes used. She was born in Toronto, Ontario & has lived in Australia, Victoria, B.C., P.E.I. and now resides in Brockville, Ontario. |
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Margaret McLauchlan
Kingston ON Website I spent my childhood in small remote communities all over the Canadian Arctic. Although I have lived in Kingston for many years I continue to travel "north of ordinary" as often as possible. Those wide open spaces where you can see forever are exquisitely beautiful and haunt my soul. I am playing with the new Tri-Art line of liquid glass acrylic paints. I love the depth, the layerings and the movement that these paints produce. I paint on the floor so I am looking at it from above, as if I am in a small plane flying over the masses of waterways and ice and tundra in the north. All my paintings are imaginary abstract works anchored with ice and shades of blue. |
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Martha Stroud
Kingston ON I have been influenced by the Tom Thomson and the Group of Seven. Of course I have. I'm Canadian and I think it is part of our DNA. This year, however, because of an art group challenge, I am digging a bit deeper, studying them a bit more intensely, having fun trying to use some of their techniques within my own practice, realizing what amazing artists they are, and how hard it is to see landscapes through their eyes. |
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Nancy Paul
Lansdowne ON Website Website Website Nancy Paul is a painter, drawer and printmaker who has exhibited with professional groups such as the Canadian Society of Artists. Her recent solo shows in Toronto (Dualities/Mythologies, Rebecca Gallery, 2018) and Kingston (Restoring Balance, Art Noise, 2018) featured paintings on canvas, paper and stone tile. A selection of her work currently (Winter 2020) is on display at the Piggery Gallery in Newburgh. Originally from northwestern Ontario, Nancy moved to Toronto to study art (OCAD) then Kingston (Queen’s) where she has worked in cancer research and earned her doctorate in literature. She lives in Lansdowne with her husband, Steve, and their cat, Zarco. Artist’s Statement: My work is a search for understanding of the world and my place in it. The female figure is at once my agent of discovery and the object of my scrutiny. I use contrast and juxtaposition, repetition and sequencing, to explore the spaces between and around us and to suggest relationships. Creatures of the sea and sky are among my favourite subjects. Times of day and night, the cycle of the seasons, provide context and perspective in my art. |
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Pam McKinnon
Brockville ON Pam Warren McKinnon, an elected member of the Canadian Society of Painters in Watercolour, believes the sacred act of creating art with absolute, undivided attention allows reality to reveal itself and gives value to time. Choosing subjects she knows intimately her paintings are a meditation on colour, light, balance and design. Loving how the ravages of time creates its own sense of beauty Pam brings with her a robustly sensual grasp of the world with a sensitivity to colour changes across form as it takes on or loses light. Her main artistic goal is to give the viewer pleasure through the senses. |
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Rachel Legault
Brockville ON Through my artwork I try to convey the beauty of the Canadian fauna and flora. I enjoy painting breathtaking sunsets, shimmering waters, bold skies, beautiful landscapes and animals. When I see a viewer smile as they admire one of my paintings, I know I have achieved that goal. |
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Sian Tucker
Brockville ON Originally from Kent, England, Sian now lives with her husband in the Thousand Island region where she obtained a Fine Arts certificate. A rural property and a cottage on Grenadier Island provide endless inspiration for painting trees, water, sky and rocks. “I just love to paint, preferably in oil. The ‘feel’ of a scene is what I try to capture... the light, the play of shadows, temperature and smell. All the things we remember and a camera misses” |
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Solange Leman
Brockville ON “I paint for the pure pleasure of playing with colour, paint and texture ... just to see ... what if.” |
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Suzanne Owen
Gananoque My work explores the beauty of the natural world in a medium which has no boundaries, allowing me to work purely from my imagination. I seek to portray images in a playful way. My subject matter provides varying whimsical views of nature’s flora and fauna. My wish is to share my vision of the world with others. |
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