For a second year five Kootenay painters—Jenny Baillie, Brigitte Desbois, Louise Drescher, Stephanie Gauvin, and Mirja Vahala—will be kicking off the Christmas season with their December art exhibition at the Rossland Gallery.
The Painters’ Retreat ‘Paintings from Mount Assiniboine’ art exhibition and sale runs from Dec. 1-15 in the gallery, with an opening reception on Friday, Nov. 29, 6-9 p.m.
The artwork featured evolved from a seven-day saga in the Rocky Mountains this past summer, where the artists immersed themselves to capture onto canvas the grandeur of Mount Assiniboine.
“It was an epic painting experience,” said Louise Drescher. “An eight-hour hike to our rustic cabin on the first day, followed by six days of trekking our art gear to various view points within this park of lakes, bears, spired cliffs and verticle mountains.’
“We were all mesmerized by the sight of the legendary 12,000-foot-high Mt. Assiniboine reflecting into Lake Magog,” said Mirja Vahala.
Jenny Baillie agreed: A perfect mountain to paint.
“We even enjoyed a tug-of-war with a huge marmot determined to drag away my pack while I painted,” said Brigitte Desbois.
“Our painter’s group has definitely evolved to another level since our first plein air trip to Mount Carlyle,” said Rossland-based artist Stephanie Gauvin, who spearheaded the group.
“We believe we can continue to show, through our paintings, the majesty of Canadian landscape. It is our intention to paint as a plein air group again in 2014.”
The artists would like to thank the Arts Councils of Rossland, Castlegar and Nelson and the Columbia Kootenay Cultural Alliance for their generous support of this project.
Please visit the artist’s websites to learn more about each artist.
http://www.brigittedesbois.com; http://www.jennybaillieartworks.com; http://www.artiststephaniegauvin.com; http://www.mirjavahala.com.