Polar Bear Art for the Ukraine

An Art Auction with Heart at Waddington’s

All Proceeds Go to The Canada-Ukraine Foundation to be used where needed most. Make a Polar Bear Yours & Help the Ukraine, too

Bidding begins … NOW until April 14th, 2022. https://www.waddingtons.ca/auction/auction-for-ukraine-apr-14-2022/gallery/lot/107/

I wanted to help in some way with my art and wasn’t sure how. When this opportunity to donate came up I jumped at the chance. All proceeds from the auction will go The Canada-Ukraine Foundation. Waddington’s is a well revered, prestigious auction house (read more here. )They are generously waiving any of the fees normally associated with an auction.

So which polar bear painting can be yours?

A Light in the Darkness is a perfect title and symbol for this cause. Goodness and hope will shine even brighter in the darkness of evil. This beautiful bear rises up out of the dark sea, to face the future with strength, intelligence and resilience. Please bid here

Please bid for this important cause! You will have the fun of bidding from the comfort of your home, the triumph of winning art at good value and helping those who need it in the Ukraine. Please bid here

THANK YOU! GOOD LUCK!

A Light in the Darkness. 12” x 12” oil painting on canvas ©Christine Montague Available through waddingtons.ca April 9 - 14, 2022. Auction to help The Canada-Ukraine Foundation. Please bid at https://www.waddingtons.ca/auction/auction-for-ukraine-apr-14-2022/gallery/lot/107/

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

Special Offer. Special Bear. Special Day. Special Code. International Polar Bear Day 2021 Celebration

Special Offer! Enter code POLARBEAR21 for 10% off

In celebration of International Polar Bear Day Feb. 27th, 2021 I am excited to offer my polar bear art at a special value! Valid from February 23 - Feb. 28, 2021

(Sorry, cannot be applied to custom art or portraits)

Shop for polar bear art here.

An example of savings -

In the Pink (below) Regular price is $884.96 CAD + 115.04 hst = $1000 CAD

Special price until (and incl.) February 28th, 2021 is $796.46 CAD + 103.54 hst = $900 CAD

BONUS! Free shipping to Canada.

About International Polar Bear Day

International Polar Bear Day is held annually to raise awareness of the polar bear and its vulnerability to climate change. On this day, as well as the days leading up to it, Polar Bears International, a world wide acclaimed resource of research on polar bears, offers a delightful selection of live events .

A lot of what I have learned about polar bears, I have learned from PBI, as well as from another favourite of mine the Churchill Northern Studies Centre (CNSC). I had an incredible learning adventure at the CNSC, and it was there, out on the tundra, Our Tundra Buggy actual passed Tundra Buggy One, the PBI research buggy.

As a result, I always try to commit a portion of my polar bear paintings sales to polar bear research.

In the Pink. 24” x 25” oil painting on canvas. ©ChristineMontague More info on this painting here

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”

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

A Favourite Colour for a Favourite Animal

The Blue Prince at a Crossroad

"Blue Prince" is the Spanish, French and Italian reference for "Prince Charming". And this polar bear is definitely that. Blue is the world's favourite colour & is associated with nature. It makes you feel good to look at blue. Deep blue symbolizes intelligence, dignity, and authority.
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This bear attends looks to the right towards the future, but is also standing solidly in place. His past and future fates are at a crossroad. With action - for example, reducing carbon emissions & single use plastic use, as well as turning down the thermostat -the future ahead for this bear is not to be simply the stuff or folklore (you know, once upon a time, there was this great white bear.) Action, means the polar landscape, polar animals, and the rest of the planet will have a fairy tale ending.
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Edges are painted black. Wired, ready to hang.
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30" x 40" x 1.5"
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$1900 CAD Free shipping to Canada. Contact me

Curb-side delivery available for those in the Greater Toronto area.

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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.

The Fall

The Fall is a portrait of a polar bear on its solitary journey in the arctic night, unaware that a red maple leaf (Canada’s national symbol) falls before it from above. The fall colour of the maple tree isn’t part of this bear’s autumn landscape, but the frozen sea, so vital for its survival, is. Increased periods of open water from spring to fall, due to climate change, increases the polar bear’s vulnerability.

Painted in wonder and warning,The Fall pays tribute to an iconic Canadian animal, and connects Canadians in the responsibility to protect it, thereby protecting and saving ourselves.

The Fall. An original oil painting ©Christine Montague 2018

Why the Canadian connection? Although one of the world’s most favourite animals, polar bears are only found in Canada, Alaska (USA), Russia and Norway. 60 - 80 % of the world’s population are found in Canada. The Fall has a “sister” painting, the award winning “The Canadian Flower Crown”. Read about it here

I am pleased to announce The Fall has been accepted into ARTWORKS 2018, the OCADU Alumni Show, December 2 -8, 2018. The Great Hall, OCADU. 100 McCaul St., Toronto. More Info and opening reception date & time here

"Who's For Dinner" at the Dragonfly? It's Art.

 

If you are up in the Orangeville area - just north of Brampton and north-west of Toronto, be sure to drop into the lovely "Dragonfly Arts on Broadway". My larger than life oil and oil stick painting of a cat , seen from  the viewpoint of "something" much smaller, is featured in the window there until Halloween.  I have heard great things about the Dragonfly Gallery over the past couple of years, but had never been there myself until last week.

Broadway is the "main" street accessed directly off Hwy 10, so the gallery is easy to reach. This main street is attractively maintained, has a variety of shops and eating establishments and the parking is free!

"Who's for Dinner?"  - a huge attraction in my studio - is the latest in my big cat series. I don't paint with decorating in mind, but with its dramatic scale, use of black and silver, I have not been alone in  imagining it over a leather couch or over a server in a contemporary dining room. See it at the delightful Dragonfly Arts on Broadway Gallery http://www.dragonflyarts.ca/ until the end of October.