oil painting
Today's addition to the Polar Bear Art Advent Calendar is very late because we had a wonderful early Christmas celebration with the new little cub in our family! It seemed appropriate that a baby bear should be the art for today. (To see Fuzzball & The Poppies in its entirety & to learn its symbolism , please click here). I hope your December 22 is (was ) a good one!
In my new series of framed round paintings, I strive to create the illusion of tiny windows or portals to the polar bear’s world. I want you to have the good fortune to look out as a polar bear passes by and for a brief moment for you both to connect. You get to share in its quiet journey through the arctic night and feel the calm of the twinkling stars. Created as the pandemic had us all locked down, these new artworks are meant to offer calm and beauty, and to remind us that there is still wonder in nature.
Please contact me about my art or to commission a painting here
6” round canvas. Black wood round frame. Wired and ready for hanging. July & Au. 2020 -available at Steve Wilson Studios and The Gallery. Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada.
The sweetness of babies is universal. Whether human, or animal, it seems we are all struck by the cuteness of the young. If you have been fortunate, you will have seen a polar bear cub. They are so cute, playful and funny, it almost hurts! So why, you wonder, does this portrait of a dear little polar bear cub have a baby's breath (gypsophila) flower crown on its head?
Well, the flower crown is a symbol of nature, tribute and celebration. It reminds us that our lives - nature and humanity, are as intwined as the flowers in the crown. ( For another flower crown painting visit here)
The white gypsophila represents the innocence of the young bear, and well, that its English name is “Baby’s Breath” is symbolic in itself. Not only do we want that little bear to keep breathing for many year’s to come, but also it’s a reminder, we all share the airspace here. We are connected, that what is important for the polar bear’s survival is also important to our quality of life, too.
Do you know, that my realistic polar bear paintings are all inspired by the photographs I have personally taken of polar bears? This cub is Juno who was born at The Toronto Zoo. I think she is now at the beautiful Assiniboine Zoo, Winnipeg, Manitoba. I have not exaggerated the fur - it quite naturally formed the shape of a heart!
Sweetheart Bear. 12” x 12” x 1.5” original oil painting on wood panel. © Christine Montague For more information, please contact me.
Golden Lab Commission. 24” x 24” x 1.5” oil painting on canvas. ©Christine Montague Contact me here, or visit Commission a Portrait.
Wistful. Polar bear portrait. 12” x 12” x 1.5” oil painting on canvas. ©Christine Montague Contact me here
Wistful Bear and the dog portrait it inspired side by side. ©Christine Montague
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
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.
©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
In Benediction, a 36" x 12" polar bear oil painting on canvas a polar bear, suspended upright under blue free water, seems to be giving a blessing. Who would be the recipient of such a gift, do you think?
As with other paintings in the polar bear Sink/Swim Series, we are at that tipping point of loosing much that is wonderful in this world. We need all the blessings we can get, and we should not only count them, but protect and nurture them, too.
I'm very blessed I can take the risk to follow my polar bear muse and look forward to where this polar bear art will take me. Are you enjoying these polar bear paintings? Let me know as I enjoy and appreciate your comments!
"Benediction" has a new home, but if you would like to have a polar bear in your home or office, or lucky you, polar bear lodge, please check out what's available at ChristineMontague.com
Benediction Polar bear painting SOLD ©Christine Montague www.ChristineMontague.com
Polar Bear Cub 3, a 6" x 12" oil painting study on canvas, depicts a polar bear cub mid-swim, beneath the water's surface.
Sink/Swim3. Polar bear cub painting © Christine Montague www.ChristineMontague.com
My polar bear Sink/Swim series of oil paintings offers commentry on the effect vanishing polar ice has on the survival of the polar bears. The delay in the formation of the sea ice, leaves the baby polar bear more vulnerable to attack by hungry male polar bears. The increased open water means the distance a mother polar bear must travel, polar bear cub(s) on back, before ice is found to rest on or hunt seal from, increases the odds the polar bear bear cub(s), and even the mother, will make it safely ice top.
The sink or swim aspect can apply to the bigger picture of our planet as well. The decrease in the polar bear population is but one of the many consequences of increased global warming, and the resulting polar and glacial ice loss. Less ice means more dark water.
When polar caps melt, sea water rises. As a good part of the earth's population lives near the water's edge, well, we could all be swimming for it, couldn't we.
Anecdotal stories state that human babies will sometimes play as they drown, not realizing they are in danger. With this chilling fact in mind, I wondered if polar bear cubs are aware they are in danger as they drown. I hope not.
Some may think of these polar bear cub paintings as "cute", not exactly a word a fine artist loves to hear. But, the fact is, it is difficult to paint escape the cute factor of a polar bear cub. I hope that the affection, admiration and concern I feel for these wonderful bears is evident, and that they evoke similar emotions in you, too. The thought that in the next 50 years then number of these magnificent polar bears may decline dramatically, is the furthest from polar bear cute I can imagine.
To sign up for my blog & newsletter, or for more info on my polar bear paintings or to buy a painting, please visit Christine Montague Polar Bear Art.
Mauja I sa 6" x 12" portrait of a polar bear taking it easy ion some soft snow. Mauja is Inuktitut for soft snow. Inuktitut is the language of the Inuit from Nunavut, an arctic territory in Canada.
The painting above is just one the polar bear oil paintings available in my series A Celebration of Polar Bears, my way of creatively celebrating a celebration of bears (what a group of bears is known as).
Mauja. 6" x 12" polar bear oil painting on canvas ©Christine Montague. Canada.
For more polar bear paintings please visit here.
To contact me about my art contact Christine Montague
I was a guest artist for a beginner's class where the students were learning landscape painting in acrylics and water-soluble oils. I thought they would enjoy a quick look at some of our present day Canadian landscape painters and at the variety of landscape painting available. I thought you might enjoy these artists and their work, too. Do you have a landscape artist you love? Let me know and I will create a new list withe the results.
Centre of Attention. Scottsdale Farm, Halton Hill, Ontario, Canada. Private collection. Oil painting copyright Christine Montague
Inerkartok, is a 6" x 12" portrait oil painting on canvas of a polar bear sitting in the snow. "Inerkartok" means pretty in Inuktitut, the language of the Inuit in Nunavut, an arctic territory in Canada. The polar bear in this oil painting is a pretty one, and I would like to believe she is sitting pretty, too. Sitting pretty is an old idiom that means in a good place or a in a good situation. However, this recent Polar Bears International video on the retreating sea ice and the 40% decline in the polar bear population is far from pretty.
Inerkartok is just one of the paintings in my series A Celebration of Polar Bears.
More more polar bear info -
Anana isa 6" x 12" portrait oil painting on canvas of a beautiful polar bear. And that is what "Anana" means, beautiful in Inuktitut, the language of the Inuit in Nunavut, Canada's arctic. This painting is another of the polar bear oil paintings available in my series A Celebration of Polar Bears. This painting is not framed, but the painting carries around the edges and is ready for hanging.
Christine Montague polar bear oil paintings, Ontario, Canada. Contact me at Christine Montague
Here is another polar bear portrait oil painting from my A Celebration of Bears Series. I have named the little bear in this painting Ursa, for the northern sky constellation Ursa Minor or Little Bear. Please feel free to contact me or comment about any of these little bear artworks.
Ursa. (private collection) ©Christine Montague. Celebration of Polar Bears Series.
Here is my polar bear portrait oil painting "Saimarnerk" (the Inuit word for grace.) The largest predator in the Canadian north, this big bear moves with grace and ease across the frozen sea. A group of polar bears is known as a celebration. Saimarnek, or Grace was the first painting in my "A Celebration of Polar Bears" series of 6" x 12" oil paintings depiciting these magnificent arctic animals. Inspired by my recent journey to Cape Dorset, a remote Arctic community, most of these bears will have Inuit names. To see more polar bear paintings visit ChristineMontague.com
Saimarnek. ©Christine Montague. For information on my art, please contact me
Although polar bears are solitary animals, when there is a group of them, it is known as a celebration of polar bears. Can you think of a better word to describe a gathering of these magnificent arctic animals?!
Each painting is a tribute to these intelligent, mighty arctic mammals. These portraits give a nod to their beauty, fuzziness, playfulness (goofy even?), but one should never forget their awesome teeth and powerful claws are ever present. Can you see their distinct personalities, too?
Please feel free to contact me through Guestbook atwww.christinemontague.com or visit there for more polar bear art.
To learn more about polar bears, please visit Polar Bears International
Drying on the easel is the 24" x 18" polar bear oil painting above. This painting is the direct result of the large painting I created before it that took a lot of time, focussed attention, and physical effort to create.
One of the joys of painting is that artist often goes into "the zone". You may have heard runners speak of this loss of time and in the moment experience, but did you know that painters experience this, too?
The day I finished the big painting, I still had the time and urge to paint. I spontaneously decided to work on a smaller canvas I had in the studio, and not begin the next large work I had planned.
Because this painting was unplanned, I had no clear vision of what it would be other than to keep to my Polar Bear Dreams Series theme of monochromatic blue polar bears. I was pretty relaxed as I blocked in the bear's portrait, as after all, I was basically playing at the end of the day. As I laid down the blue under painting, I got to thinking how much I enjoy showing movement in the fur, and that I love doing the brush stroke that emphasises this.
Next thing I knew I had a swirly sky with stylized northern lights and stars. And colour followed the day after. I think the fun and joy I felt while creating this polar bear tribute shines through in the work. And the portrait has that odd mix found in the polar bear - mighty, beautiful, intelligent, and somehow goofy at the same time. My good spirits played a part in conveying the spirit of the bear and sky above.
These polar bear oil paintings are part of the Polar Bear Dreams Series, a dreamlike, wistful, and spiritual tribute in oil to the mighty polar bear, whose threatened future always seems open to debate.
Polar Bear Dreams. On the Move. Oil Painting ©Christine Montague
In dream intrepretation, the symbolism held by a bear is independence, strength, death and renewal, and/or resurrection.
And, if that bear is a polar bear? Reawakening.
I try to show the physical beauty and power of the bear in my paintings. The night sky, the aurora borealis (northern lights) , the use of color, and lack of detailed landscape show how this beautiful bear has a foot in our world, but may be edging closer to the spiritual one. Hopefully, knowledge, awareness, and empathy, will ensure that the ursus maritimus remains firmly planted in this world.
The limited color pallette of Prussian (or Indigo) blue, white, black, (and sometimes green ) creates the other-worldy mood, spirituality, and mystery.
Polar bears are actually not white, but we do see them that way. (Read the Polar Bears International article on their fur here).
The white in my polar bear paintings represents strength, intelligence, innocence, and hope.
Blue is the most popular colour. Looking at blue is proven to make one feel well, and is helpful to sufferers of SAD. The blue in these paintings is more than representation of the night sky. It symbolizes the earth, the spiritual, the unknown, and beauty, too.
When I paint the green of the northern lights, it is one of the colours of the aurora borealis, but also represents nature, fertility, life and balance. The colour reflects off the bear's fur, connecting it to all this colour represents.
And, as in many of my paintings, the concept of living life "in the moment" and of solitude that is not lonely is prevelent. But, longing lingers there, too.
In these paintings, the longing can be as simple as wanting these polar bears and their progeny to live a long. healthy life.
I welcome your comments and inquiries. To see more polar bear art, or to make inquiries about my polar bear paintings (portraits, too), please feel free to comment below, or contact me www.christinemontague.com
I hope, like this polar bear, you can look ahead with hope, and that your year will be full of good health, caring, and whatever success you wish.
Looking to the Future ©Christine Montague
Here is my latest little 6" x 6" portrait oil painting on canvas. Commissioned by this dear little guy's mom, it was a joy to paint this bright little baby boy face.
This is an example of one of the wonders the internet holds for the artist and for the art collector. I have never met this mom or baby. In fact, they live hundreds of miles away.
The mom stumbled upon my web site while surfing online late one night (all new moms can relate to this). She took a photo of her baby in his stroller with her cell phone and emailed it to me. We discussed the commission process by email, including that I leave out details of the stroller straps, etc.
I received payment for the commission via snail mail, but, there are many payment alternatives available to buying online. I used Canada Express Post to deliver the carefully packaged portrait. This insured service supplied a tracking number that I shared via email with the client. By the time I got home from the post office , only a short distance away, the online tracking info informed me the parcel was in the system, about to be on its way, and posted the estimated date and time of arrival.
Pretty amazing, I think.
If you would enjoy seeing more of my little 6" x 6" portraits please visit www.littleportraitpaintings.com
For larger oil paintings, please visit www.christinemontague.com
This 6" x 6" portrait oil painting was commissioned to celebrate this pretty little baby girl's first birthday. I love creating these 6" x 6" portraits, more of which can be seen at my website www.littleportraitpaintings.com Every portrait teaches me something! A first for me? Why baby's first teeth!