Canvas Gallery

Shane Norrie has brought six new paintings to the gallery this week, and they show just how much range he has. He’s a potter, an abstract painter and a landscape painter—and he’s remarkably good at all three.
Five of the new works are oil landscapes. The colour is electric: blue trees, flashes of orange and pink, and rocks and forest floors built up with energetic brushwork. They have the feeling of being out in the woods, while still looking entirely like Shane’s own world. The sixth piece is a 42 × 42-inch acrylic abstract, quieter in colour but full of movement and texture.
Shane has exhibited his painting and ceramics widely, including at the Woodstock Art Gallery. What we admire most is his willingness to keep experimenting. Come see these in person—the brushwork is even better up close. Please enjoy Shane’s new work and in situs. Details below.

1/ “Forest Gateway “ in situ
2/ “Forest Gateway” 48X60 oil on canvas $4500.00
3/ “ Woodland Grove” in situ
4/ “Woodland Grove “ 40X60 “ oil on canvas $3700.00
5/“Seasonal Shift” in situ
6/ “Seasonal Shift “ 40X60 “ oil on canvas $3700.00
7/ “Woodland Whisper” in situ
8/ “Woodland Whisper “ 36X60 “ oil on canvas $3300.00
9/ “Canadian Shield“ 40X60 “ oil on canvas $3700.00
10/ “ Coastal Surf” 42X42” acrylic on canvas $2500.00

Holly Ann Friesen came to Toronto from her studio in Kenora for two very good reasons—to bring us three new paintings and to visit two of her three daughters who live here in the city.
Before she headed off, I suggested a quick stop next door at Gaucho Pie Co. to pick up a selection of their amazing empanadas for the girls. I’m sure they were enjoyed by all!
Holly’s new paintings feel like standing beneath a forest canopy, looking through layers of branches as the light shifts between them. Loose, broken brushstrokes suggest leaves, reflections and glimpses of sky, while earthy greens, warm golds, soft blues and touches of red give each piece a wonderful sense of depth and movement.
Holly has a background in plant science and landscape architecture, but rather than painting the Canadian landscape literally, she distills it into colour, light and memory—leaving space for each viewer to bring their own experiences to the work.
Please enjoy these images and in-situ views of Holly’s beautiful new paintings.
1/Holly Ann Friesen
2/“A Glimpse Beyond” 48X36” acrylic on canvas $ 4350.00
3/ “Holding Warmth “ 40X50” acrylic on canvas $ 4050.00
4/ “ Birch Island Rocks” 36X36” acrylic on canvas $ $3600.00
5/ “ A Glimpse Beyond “ in situ
6/ “Holding Warmth “ in situ
7/ “ Birch Island Rocks” in situ

And now for something completely different.
Ivano Stocco brought us three striking new hand-carved wood sculptures, each created from layered Baltic birch plywood and designed to hang either vertically or horizontally.
From left to right: “Bukini,” “Plane and Simple,” and “Train of Thought.” Each measures approximately 48 × 10 × 4.25 inches and each one is priced at $2,400.
We love the movement in these pieces. The exposed layers of birch plywood create beautiful flowing lines that almost resemble geological formations, waves, snow drifts or carved stone. And just as important are the incredible shadows they cast — as the light changes throughout the day, the shadows shift across the wall and almost become part of the sculpture itself.
Ivano’s process combines technology with traditional handwork. Each piece begins as a sketch, is refined using computer-aided design, and then returns to the studio where the final form is carved by hand. His inspiration comes from both architecture and the natural landscape, including the Niagara Escarpment, Bruce Peninsula, and the dramatic landscapes of California.
Shown individually, as a pair, or grouped together, these contemporary Canadian wood sculptures add incredible texture, dimension, movement and light to a wall.
1/ “Bukimi”, “Plane and Simple” and “Train of Thought”
3/ “Bukimi”
4/ “ Plane and Simple”
5/ “ Train of Thought”
6/ In situ all 3
7/ “ Bukimi” in situ
8/ “ Plane and Simple” in situ
9/ “Train of Thought” in situ
10/ Close up all three

Annie Naranian — New Limited Edition Fashion Art Prints
Toronto artist Annie Naranian has brought us nine new fine art limited edition prints, and they’re every bit as playful, fashionable and wonderfully quirky as we hoped.
Annie’s contemporary figurative work sits somewhere between fine art, fashion illustration and runway fantasy. Created digitally, she uses technology much like a painter uses a brush, building expressive marks that resemble loose ink, paint and hand-drawn line work. The results feel spontaneous and fresh, with exaggerated silhouettes, dramatic hats, couture-inspired clothing and unexpected hits of colour.
Her work has been exhibited in galleries internationally and has caught the attention of some of fashion’s biggest names, including Moschino, Jeremy Scott, Marc Jacobs and Chanel. Annie’s artwork has also been featured in Grazia and FLO Magazine in Milan.
This new collection ranges from bold black-and-white fashion figures to colourful, runway-inspired characters — including Mercedes and Me, Disco Ladies, Big Bow Clown and the wonderfully oversized Chapeau Green Furry.
All nine are limited edition fine art prints on paper, sold unframed and ready to be custom framed to suit your space. They’re particularly fun in dressing rooms, walk-in closets, bedrooms, hallways and home offices, and they look fantastic hung individually or mixed together in a gallery wall or grouping.
If your walls could use a little more fashion, colour and personality, these might be exactly what they’re waiting for.

1/ Annie Naranian
2/ “Figure 3” 1/25 limited edition print unframed 18X22” $350.00
3/“Chapeau Long Green Furry” 1/25 limited edition print unframed 22X101/4” $350.00
4/ “Figure 2” 2/25 limited edition print unframed 18X22” $350.00
5/“Figure 3” , “Chapeau Long Green Furry” and “Figure 2 “ in situ
6/ Figure 1” 1/25 limited edition print unframed 18X22” $350.00
7/“ Big Bow” 1/25 limited edition print unframed 18X22” $350.00
8/ “Balenciaga” 1/25 limited edition print unframed 18X22” $350.00
9/ “Mercedes and Me” 1/25 limited edition print unframed 18X22” $350.00
10/ “Disco Ladies ” 1/25 limited edition print unframed 22X18” $350.00
11/ “Cafe de Flore” 1/25

Caitlyn Jones — New Small Works
Toronto artist Caitlyn Jones just dropped off a long-awaited collection of small paintings — and we know a few of you have been waiting for these.
Full of thick, expressive brushwork and beautiful colour, these little pieces capture those fleeting everyday moments that somehow stick with you: a cyclist heading into the sunset, a surfer at the water’s edge, swimmers and beachgoers, a cat tucked into a doorway, and a tiny cat caught mid-moment.
There’s a wonderful looseness to Caitlyn’s painting. Up close, the surfaces are layered and tactile; step back and the scene suddenly comes together. Her use of turquoise blues, soft pinks, warm yellows and sunset oranges gives the entire collection that relaxed, end-of-summer feeling.
And because they’re small original paintings, they’re easy to find a home for — on their own, tucked into a bookshelf or smaller wall, or grouped together as a collection.
Please enjoy these images and in -situs

1/ Here’s Caitlyn
2/“Wherever You Go” 12X24” acrylic on panel $600
3/Where You Belong “ 12X16” acrylic on panel $350
4/“Happy Place” 12X12”acrylic on panel $300
5/“Chasing Colours” 6X6” acrylic on panel $150
6/“Lane Swim” 8X8” acrylic on panel $200
7/“Blue Wander” 10X10” acrylic on canvas $250
8/“Mango Morning “ 10X10” acrylic on panel $250
9/here we have all of Caitlyn’s pieces in a grouping … scale is accurate.
10/“Wherever You Go” in situ

Barbara Ursel just sent us three terrific new paintings from her Ottawa studio — and they’re exactly the kind of city-life scenes we love from her.
Barbara has such a great eye for the everyday moments most of us walk past without thinking twice. A busy market packed with people, produce and colour. A quiet café storefront with one person sitting outside. A neighbourhood corner shop with its striped awning, hand-painted signs and all those little details that give a street its personality.
What I really like about these is that they feel familiar without being overly polished. Barbara leaves enough looseness in the brushwork that the paintings still feel alive — figures are suggested rather than fussed over, signs and storefronts become blocks of colour, and the light does a lot of the storytelling.
The larger market scene has wonderful movement to it — your eye keeps travelling from the awning and stacked produce through the people and right down the street. The BOLT painting is the opposite: quieter, simpler and almost cinematic, with that great green storefront and the lone figure catching the light. And the corner-store piece has a real neighbourhood charm to it, full of character, colour and little bits of signage that make you want to keep looking.
1/ “Sidewalk Shoppers “ 36X36” acrylic on canvas $2990.00
2/ “Sidewalk Shoppers” in situ
3/“Caribbean Corner” 30X30” acrylic on canvas $2070.00
4/ “Caribbean Corner in situ
5/ “Was I Wong to Leave You?” 30X30” acrylic on canvas $2070.00
6/ “Was I Wrong to Leave You” in situ

Ian Varney made the drive down from his studio in Haliburton with a fantastic new selection of work — lots of beautiful smalls, along with some gorgeous 24 × 24 and 30 × 30 pieces. There’s a great mix of both encaustic and acrylic, and we have lots of images to share, along with a couple of in situs.
Water is always somewhere in Ian’s work. Living and working on Soyers Lake in the Haliburton Highlands certainly gives him plenty to draw from, but you can also feel the influence of the years he spent living in Australia. Shorelines, lakes, ocean, rocks and trees are all there — but never painted too literally.
The new encaustic pieces are especially beautiful. They have that wonderful hazy, almost dreamlike quality that wax can give a surface — soft layers of pale blue, turquoise, violet and green that seem to drift in and out of focus. Some feel like a shoreline disappearing into mist.
The acrylics are a little more energetic. Ian builds the landscape with dragged paint, scratched lines, grids and repeated marks, breaking trees and reflections down into colour and movement. In some of the larger pieces it almost feels as though you’re looking across a lake through rippled glass. There are hits of turquoise, yellow, soft pink and deep green running through all those cooler blues and whites.
They’re unmistakably landscapes, but just abstracted enough to let you find your own place in them.
1/ Here is Ian Varney
2/“Sanctuary” 30x30” acrylic on panel $1500.00
3/ “Sanctuary “ in situ
4/ 2/“Cottage Colours 2” 30x30” acrylic on panel $1500.00
5/ “ Cottage Colours 2” in situ
6/“Broccoli Ripple 2” 20X20” encaustic on panel $700.00
7/“Near Lollipop Beach” 24X24” encaustic on panel $900.00
8/“Cottage Life 2” encaustic on panel 24X24” $900.00
9/ “In a Hurry “ encaustic on wood 12X12” $285.00
10/ “Just Playing 3” 12X12”acrylic on clay board $285.00
11/“Beyond” 12X12” acrylic on canvas $285.00
12/“Grid Shoreline” 12x12” acrylic on panel $285.00;
13/ “Just Playin 2” 12X12” acrylic on clay board $285
canadianart

New work from Geraldine Gillingham has arrived from her studio in St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador — three large, beautiful paintings: two 48 x 48” works and one 60 x 61”.
These are such great examples of Geraldine’s intuitive approach. One is light and airy with soft blues and greens, flashes of pink and a strong hit of cobalt. Another is built around layers of pink, lavender, olive and white, with loose marks and texture throughout. The third is bolder and more saturated, with brilliant yellow, deep blue, coral, pink and green creating a really joyful sense of movement.
Geraldine’s work is inspired by her surroundings and memories of growing up in rural Newfoundland, but the paintings remain completely abstract, spontaneous and open to interpretation.
And the in situ images really show how beautifully these pieces can transform a room.
All three are now in the Gallery.
See you on Tuesday and have a great Labour Day weekend.
1/“In My Dreams” in situ
2/ “In My Dreams” oil on canvas 60X61“ $4000
3/ “Untamed” in situ
4/ “ Untamed “ oil on canvas 48X48” $2800.00
5/ “Cloud Illusions” in situ
6/ “Cloud Illusions” oil on canvas 48X48” $2800.00
7/ “Cloud Illusions “ in situ

NewfoundlandArtist

Fresh work from Meredith Bingham arrived today — and these are SO good.
Anyone who loves a modern abstract with a hit of colour is going to love this new group.
Meredith has been with Canvas since 2004, and over those years she’s built up a very loyal following. Looking at these new paintings, it’s easy to see why.
There’s so much freedom in them — big areas of soft white and pale grey broken up with loose, gestural marks and unexpected hits of hot pink, red, cobalt blue, yellow, lavender and ochre. They feel light and spontaneous, but they still have enough presence to completely make a room.
We especially love that the colour never takes over. These are strong, contemporary abstract paintings, but there’s lots of breathing room — exactly the kind of work that can bring energy into a modern interior without overwhelming it.
Meredith works from Port Perry, Ontario, and we’ve loved watching her work evolve over more than two decades at Canvas.
Come see them in person — the texture, marks and movement are even better up close.

1/“The Reign” in situ
2/“The Reign “ 54X54” acrylic on canvas $3200.00
3/ “ Mutek” in situ
4/ “ Mutek” 36X 60” acrylic on canvas $2600.00
5/ “Morning Light” in situ
6/ “Morning Light” 22X70” acrylic on canvas $1900.00