As initiator and coordinator of the project, I had the privilege of selecting the talented members of the team to represent their province. I approached and selected artists on the basis of painting style, reputation and enthusiasm, attempting to provide a range of styles and techniques as diverse as our great country. Over a 2-year period, I traveled across Canada to take a variety of landscape photos in each province. The scenes ranged from provincial iconic views to simple seasonal landscapes. Much of the photography was dictated by the weather and lighting conditions, as well as the accessibility of the remote areas. In all instances I concentrated on capturing a photo with the artist's particular style in mind.
Once I had collected an array of landscape shots, I sent them to the artists to select the photos that inspired them and that they felt best suited their individual painting styles. Together we considered creative and unique characteristics that would capture the interest and imagination of the art world and the Canadian public. The challenge, unique in each instance, was to find a way to have the photograph and the paint share the canvas, blending the media into one homogenized scene.
The photo itself first had to be transferred to canvas, omitting portions of the image selected by the artist. Then came the interpretation and rendering of the missing portions by the artist in his/her chosen medium right on the canvas. The result is a landscape illustration that merges photo and painting seamlessly. The combinations are as interesting and varied as the landscapes and the artists themselves.
Reproductions of the (final) artwork are formatted in this coffee table book. The content is focused on the artwork of the Canadian environment with short insights of my experiences on location across the country. The artists share their personal thoughts about how their paintings are representative of their respective provinces.
Belcourt, Raymond J.: - Ray's discerning eye for landscapes and natural forms most likely grew out of his love of nature, which developed at an early age. He spent large parts of his teenage years out of doors on adventures-hunting, fishing and trapping in the beautiful boreal forest of Northern Ontario. Ray calls Alberta his home now and has been experimenting with landscape photography for many years. Ray a développé un amour profond pour la nature dès un jeune âge. Il a passé la plus grande partie de son adolescence à la chasse, à la pêche et au piégeage dans la superbe forêt boréale du nord de l'Ontario. La beauté naturelle rencontrée lors de ces aventures est assurément à l'origine de son appréciation pour les paysages et les formes naturelles. Ray a élu domicile en Alberta où il s'adonne à la photographie de paysages depuis de nombreuses années.
Belcourt-Paquette, Denise: - Denise Belcourt-Paquette was born in Northern Ontario. She earned an Honours Degree in Translation in 1981 and worked as a translator, an interpreter and a court reporter for a number of years. In 1999, she decided to go back to school to get her B.Ed. and has been teaching French and Spanish at the local high school in Sturgeon Falls and a French Immersion night class at Nipissing University in North Bay. Her hobbies include reading, travelling and spending time at the cottage with her family. Denise lives in Sturgeon Falls, Ontario. belcourt_paquette@hotmail.com Denise Belcourt-Paquette est née dans le Nord de l'Ontario. Elle a reçu un baccalauréat spécialisé en traduction en 1981 et a travaillé pendant plusieurs années comme traductrice, interprète et sténographe judiciaire. En 1999, elle est retournée aux études pour compléter un baccalauréat en éducation. Elle enseigne le français et l'espagnol dans une école secondaire à Sturgeon Falls et un cours du soir en immersion française à l'université Nipissing à North Bay. Pendant son temps libre, elle aime faire de la lecture, voyager et passer du temps à son chalet avec sa famille. Denise demeure à Sturgeon Falls, Ontario. belcourt_paquette@hotmail.com
Fay, Ignatius: - Ignatius is an invertebrate paleontologist retired due to chronic severe lung/heart disease. Born and raised in Levack, near Sudbury, Ontario, he earned his PhD from the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon, accepting the position as the first invertebrate paleontologist at the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology. Upon becoming disabled, he returned to Sudbury to raise his two daughters and dabble in computer graphics. His lifelong love of words, language and learning provided fertile ground for his introduction to the Japanese poetic form, Haiku, in the late 1980s and he has been writing haiku and senryu since 1990, extending his interests to haibun, tanka and tanka prose in 2010. Ignatius est paléontologue des invertébrés; il est à la retraite en raison d'une grave maladie pulmonaire/cardiaque chronique. Il est né et a grandi à Levack, près de Sudbury, en Ontario. Il a obtenu son doctorat de l'Université de la Saskatchewan à Saskatoon, et a été le premier à occupé le poste de paléontologue des invertébrés au Musée de paléontologie Royal Tyrrell. Devenu invalide, il est retourné à Sudbury pour élever ses deux filles et s'aventurer en infographie. Son amour des mots, des langues et de l'apprentissage lui a permis, a la fin des années 80, de se familiariser avec le haïku, poème classique japonais.
