sea ice

You're Invited To "Polar Bear Wonder and Warning"

Christine’s Solo Show of Polo Bear Paintings

at the Fireside Gallery at Art Gallery of Burlington June 28 - July 9, 2023

If you live in the Burlington, Ontario area I’m delighted to invite you to my solo show show of recent polar bear paintings.

Wonder and Warning Exhibit. View from atrium . Fireside Gallery at Art Gallery of Burlington. Burlington, ON

The show is a series of work paying tribute to the magnificent polar bear on its solitary journey through the arctic night. But in each painting, evidence of climate change and vanishing sea ice awaits.

More Info on Polar Bear Wonder and Warning Show

Location : Fireside Gallery at Art Gallery of Burlington, Ontario. 1333 Lakeshore Rd., Burlington, ON, L7S 1A9

Please phone the gallery 905 632 7796 to ensure Fireside gallery is open.

Hours: The gallery is closed Mondays. But is open Tues. & Wed. 10 am - 9 pm. Thurs.,Fri., Sat., & Sun. 10 am - 5 pm

Entry: Free, but donations are appreciated.

Parking: Paid parking is available behind the gallery. Free after 6 pm.

Here's December 20 Polar Bear Art Advent Calendar

We’re All in This Together

Today's Polar Bear has a couple of titles - one of which We Are All In This Together. And whether climate change issues (what this was created for with its crown of Canadian provincial & territorial flowers ) or the pandemic, we most certainly are, aren't we? Enjoy your December 20th, may you be safe and well.

To learn more about this available 30” x 30” painting, please click here. Do you know I actually will consider any reasonable offer on larger art? Please contact me here

Here's December 16th's Polar Bear Art Advent Calendar

Wise Eyes For Troubled Times is Today’s Painting

Inspired by the beautiful, intelligent polar bear that enjoys the solitude, wonder and beauty of its arctic night journey. The bear in this painting gives us a “look”. We know what we have to do, that inner strength, that fortitude, it’s there. The original oil painting is a 6" round canvas, a portal into the polar bear world, and round like our beautiful planet. It is attractively framed in a black, and is wired, ready to hang. To see or purchase the original artwork , please click Shop Original Art

The Grey is the December 10th Polar Bear Advent Calendar Art

A Beautiful Polar Bear…

.. rising from a grey sea. A grey painting for a grey, but beautiful day here in the Toronto area. I hope you enjoy your day!

Here's the Polar Bear Art Advent Calendar for Dec. 5th

Into the Northern Lights is Dec. 5th’s Bear

To learn more about this artwork and see it in its entirety, please click Shop Original Art

Polar Bear Rock

Polar bears rock ! Yes, polar bears are awesome, but there's another way they "rock", too.

In the fall , the polar bear finds its way to the sea’s shore to wait for the ice to form. It has been months since it has feasted on it vital source of nutrition - the ringed seal. And it needs the frozen sea in order to catch this seal, travel, mate, and shelter.

Polar bears are excellent at conserving their energy. They enjoy a nap amongst, (or on) the rocks and willows. It is easy from afar to mistake a still, motley white and cream polar bear for one of the big rocks in the landscape.

In my latest polar bear painting, A Polar Rock Waiting Beneath the Northern Lights, a graphically painted landscape, I strive to bring you into the magic and otherworldliness of the north. It is a world as filled with wonder and danger, beauty and vulnerability, found in any storybook tale.

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30" x 40"x 1.5" oil painting. Edges are black. Wired, ready to hang.

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Regular price is $2500 CAD. However, until Feb 28th, 2021 enter POLARBEAR21 to receive 10% discount in celebration of International Polar Bear Day. Free shipping in Canada

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Painting of the Day - Into the Sunset 1

Polar Bear "Into the Sunset 1"

A powerful looking polar bear is portrayed against the setting sun, and the sea. The darkness of the winter is retreating, as is the sea ice, so important for the polar bear's survival.

As the sun sets, its glory is reflected in what remains of the sea ice and off the polar bear's translucent fur.

We can reflect, too. What will we loose under the threat of climate change? A setting sun offers hope with a new day ahead, but it also symbolizes the end of a story. Do we want a happy one? .

24" x 24' x 1.5" Painting continues around edges. Wired ready to hang. Certificate of Authenticity supplied.

$1000 CAD. Free shipping to Canada. Shipping is available worldwide. Contact me here

Into the Sunset 1 © Christine Montague ChristineMontague.com

Into the Sunset 1 © Christine Montague ChristineMontague.com

Polar Bear Cubs- How to See the Picture

Triplets

This stylized oil painting has a climate change story to tell, and can be hung vertically or horizontally to do so. 

Hung horizontally: In my latest oil painting, Triplets, three polar bear cubs affectionately play with their mother, secure and warm in their den. It is rare that 3 cubs are born and so this is one lucky polar bear mother.

One of the cubs is in the shadows. It could be a sign of foreboding, but is more a comment of how the healthier a bear is the more likely multiple births succeed. (Recently, a Polar Bears International post mentioned a bear with three cubs was observed for the first time in five years.) 

Triplets. Hung horizontally. ©Christine Montague Oil painting. 20” x 30”

Triplets. Hung horizontally. ©Christine Montague Oil painting. 20” x 30”

Hung vertically: The bear family’s survival is dependant on sea ice. Too early a breakup of the ice in the spring, and a delay in its formation in the fall, leaves the polar bear and cubs vulnerable to starvation, drowning and threat from male bears. 

30” x 20” x 1.5” oil painting on canvas. Edges are painted black. Wired, ready to hang. Certificate of Authenticity supplied. 

$1000 CAD Free shipping to Canada . Please contact me

Triplets hung vertically. 30”h  x 20”w ©Christine Montague

Triplets hung vertically. 30”h x 20”w ©Christine Montague





Looking Back Moving Forward - Happy New Year

Looking Back, Moving Forward


The painting below has the perfect title - Looking Back, Moving Forward - for New Year's Eve. New Year’s Eve is all about saying goodbye to what has been a heck of a year, and saying hello with great anticipation, to the new one.

Looking Back, Moving Forward tells a story about a polar bear in the spring (the next thing we can look forward to). The arctic night has ended, dramatic sunsets make their reappearance , the sea ice is breaking up, and the polar bear returns to the tundra. As the day draws to an end, the sun’s glory is reflected off the open water, the remaining ice, and the polar bear's translucent fur - sea, ice and polar bear connected by its light, colour and warmth.

In the movies, setting off into the sunset symbolizes a happy ending, but it is also the promise of a new day ahead.

Wishing you all a better new day, and New Year ahead!

Looking Back, Moving Forward is a 24" x 24" x 1.5" oil painting ©Christine Montague . It is available.

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The Polar Bear Life Preserver

Polar Bear Life Preserver

The intrepid polar bear, backlit by the northern lights, is perched upon a circular ice floe. There isn't much room, but not to worry, this marine mammal is a powerful swimmer.

The real question is how much sea ice will our bear find located out past the picture frame? It is the frozen sea that the polar bear depends upon for travel, hunting, food and shelter. It is the frozen sea that is the life preserver for our beautiful bear.

12" x 12" x 1.5" oil painting on canvas

Edges are painted black. Wired, ready to hang. Certificate of Authenticity supplied.

$350 CAD. Free shipping to Canada and USA.

Please contact me.

Polar Bear Life Preserver  ©Christine Montague

Polar Bear Life Preserver ©Christine Montague


Why the Halo? The Inspiration for Dec 17th Polar Bear Art Advent Calendar

Today’s Featured Polar Bear in the Polar Bear Art Advent Calendar 

December 17th Special Offer -

Sun Halo Polar Bear 1

Is it a halo or the sun that frames this polar bear’s handsome face? Gold metallic paint, and a stylized purple ice floe connect us to the royalty of this incredible marine mammal and its vulnerability from our warming planet.

Sun Halo Polar Bear 1 ©Christine Montague ChristineMontague.com

Sun Halo Polar Bear 1 ©Christine Montague ChristineMontague.com

The edges of the wood panel are painted in gold acrylic paint. Perfect for standing on a shelf or table. 
6” x 4” x 1.5 " wood panel. 

Artist signature on the front, unique work completion number on the back. Certificate of Authenticity is supplied.

Reg. $195 CAD, NOW $130 CAD incl. shipping to Canada and the USA. Special offer valid  until Dec. 31, 2020.

Please contact me

Why the Halo? Polar Bear No. 15 Polar Bear Art Advent Calendar  Dec. 15th

Every day a new polar bear painting is added to the Polar Bear Advent Calendar at special value .

Sun Halo 1

The gold in this painting symbolizes the richness of our planet and the power of the sun. Halo-like the sun appears behind this cub.  Perhaps, we should be regarding our connection to nature as more holy.   

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The curvy shape behind this little bear represents the ice on which the polar bear is so dependant upon for survival. 

And the pink? Perhaps it is about innocence. But maybe it is that I like pink, and rarely get to use it in my polar bear art :D

The edges of this wood panel are painted gold. My miniature works on panel are designed to stand..

6” x 4” x 1.5 " wood panel. 

Artist signature on the front, unique work completion number on the back. Certificate of Authenticity is supplied.

Special offer until Dec. 31, 2020

$130 CAD incl. shipping in North America  Reg, $195 CAD 

Shopping in USD? $100 USD includes shipping. (Reg. $150 USD)

Please contact me

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Shrodinger's Cat, er, Polar Bear

A Polar Bear Cub Painting

The polar bear cub painting below,  is the second in my Sink/Swim series of polar bear  oil paintings. This painting comments on  sea ice loss and its negative effect on the polar bear habitat. 

Sinking or Swimming?

©Christine Montague. Sink/Swim 2. 12" x 6" oil painting. 

©Christine Montague. Sink/Swim 2. 12" x 6" oil painting. 

Climate change has decreased the amount of sea ice necessary for the mother bears to hunt seals, feed their young, and sometimes den. The season of open water from spring to fall has increased, delaying the opportunity to hunt. Cubs do not yet have that great insulating layer of fat and so the mother bear must carry the baby bears on her back as she swims to the next ice top.  These trips  are not always successful. Polar bear cubs just simply vanish along the route, and sometimes the mothers do, too.

The bear cub above, does not seem distressed. Like with the experiment Schrodinger's Cat, it is up to the viewer's thoughts about what this bear's state of being is.

For my online gallery of polar bear art – paintings and portraits, please visit ChristineMontague.com