THE GALLERY

As requested by a few people, here are some of my paintings all in one spot. Most from 2009 and 2014. And now 2015. Some sold. Some not. I've not got all the sizes here yet. They are all oils.

To purchase or inquire about pricing please contact:

syl.shawcross@gmail.com

 

 

 

 

Wild Sky, 16 x 20, Oil on canvas board, 2009 SOLD

Evening Soar, 24 x 36, Oil on Canvas, 2015

Stark Solitude, 15 x 30, Oil on canvas board, 2015

The Dog of the Great Mother, 15 x 30, Oil on canvas board, 2015

View from the Skyline Trail, Gatineau, PQ, 24 x 36, 2015

Spring Frieze, 16 x 48, 2015

A drop of golden sun, Oil on canvas, 18 x 24, 2014

Spirit Crow, Oil on Canvas, 2014 SOLD

Portrait of T., 16 x 20, Oil on canvas NFS

Portrait of S., Oil on Canvas, 16 x 20 SOLD

Portrait of W., Oil on canvas, 16 x 20 NFS

In the still of the forest, 18 x 24, Oil on Canvas, 2014

Old Chelsea Tree, Oil on canvas, 18 x 24, 2009

The Unbearable Lightness of Being

Oil on Canvas, 18 x 24, 2014

Green Chair 16 x 20 Oil on Masonite 2009

Man with a cigar, 16 x 20, Oil on canvas with a little fluorescent paint, 2009 SOLD

What Matters, 2010, Oil on masonite, 16 x 20

Going Home 2009, Oil on canvas board, 20 x 24 SOLD

City Rain, 2010, 19.5 x 9.5, Oil on masonite

Merry-Go-Round, 2006, 12 x 48, Oil on canvas SOLD

Passages, 2009, 24 x 30, Oil on canvas SOLD

Rest, 2010, 16 x 20, Oil on masonite

Teapot and Red Pears, 16 x 20, 2009

Rose Village, 16 x 20, 2009 SOLD

The Storm, 20 x 26, 2009 SOLD

The Laurentians, One of 3 panels This panel is 18 x 24 (I think), Oil on canvas SOLD

d'Apres Langeder, Oil on Canvas, 24 x 30 SOLD

Blue Cow, Oil on canvas, 16 x 20 I think SOLD

Montreal in Winter, Oil on canvas, 24 x 26, SOLD

Northern Lights, Oil on canvas, 24 x 24 I kinda think, SOLD

North Country, Oil on canvas, 22 x 28, SOLD

After Caillebotte, very large Oil on Canvas

Wheel of Life, Oil on canvas, 20 x 26

How many seas must a black crow sail, 2014, Oil on canvas

City Light, 20 x 26, 2009 Oil on canvas SOLD

Eye of the Sun, Oil on canvas, 2014

Journey, Oil on masonite, Approximately 18 x 48, 2014

Wellington Street, Ottawa, Ontario, Oil on canvas, 2014

Crow on the river, Oil on canvas, 2014

Boats on the Gatineau, Oil on canvas, 2014

Billy Blue, 20 x 24, Oil on canvas SOLD

Frog Two, Oil on canvas, 8 x 10, 2009

Gatineau Golden, Oil on canvas, 2014 SOLD

Odyssey, Oil on canvas, 16 x 20, 2009

Hydrangeas and Red Pears, Oil on masonite, 16 x 20, 2009

Wild Irises, 16 x 20 on masonite, 2009 SOLD

On the Way, Oil on masonite, 16 x 20, 2009

During the Tour, 2009, 16 x 20, Oil on masonite, SOLD

Agatha and Bear, From the series "a day in the life of a couch" 2009, Pencil drawing

True Love, From the series "a day in the life of a couch" 2009, Pencil Drawing

Why on earth did I take in those kittens? From the series "a day in the life of a couch" 2009

George in Winter, From the series "a day in the life of a couch" 2009

Agatha Asleep, From the series "a day in the life of a couch" 2009

Sumac, Oil on Canvas, 18 x 24, 2014

After Cullen, Oil on Canvas, 24 x 36, 2009 SOLD

Hollow Hills, Oil on masonite, 18 x 24, 2009

Sunflowers, Oil on canvas, 20 x 20, 2008

Journey, 18 x 48 approximately
Oil on masonite

McAfee, Canada's painter

Occasionally, without rhyme nor reason, a person arrives into the world to change things. Sometimes a wide open field once fallow now grows ripe and luscious in a sun lit by genius. And genius is what Canadian painter Robert McAffee has wrought. In the midst of the seemingly banal, the painfully repetitive and the sometimes shockingly deceptive world of Canada's present lauded painters, McAffee. a banker turned painter has given Canadians back what they had lost long ago, the landscape they have always loved and the likes of which have been not seen since the Group of Seven.

In the hills of the Gatineau, in the little town of Chelsea, people are coming. Not for the coffee or the brew or the little shops or the wildlife trails necessarily, but to catch a glimpse of this man's paintings, now featured at l'Oree du Bois restaurant. The shimmering sun on a lake, the sweep of trees on a sky, the drama of an autumn walk in the woods; the quintessential Canadian landscape is awe-inspiring, filling the soul really. Anyone can recognize it when standing there. Words pale.

It is no false praise. The landscape featured below, a dyptic called "Stillness of evening" sold within several days of its unveiling for an astonishing $24,000. And as astonishing as this might be, it is not McAffee's benchmark: An Ontario collector in 2012 purchased "Changing Seasons" for $32,000. High prices indeed to be realized by a painter within their lifetime.

Why Chelsea, Quebec of all places? What is more remarkable than the paintings themselves is the inspired coupling of a cause with a visionary painter. If you do not understand why you must protect the Meech Lake and the Gatineau Park, then it takes an artist to explain it. Look at the paintings. Can you not see the soft light of morning there in the clearing? catching at the trees, sleeping in the shadows? In "Memories", McAffee's use of neutrals and warm yellows and slate blues drifts easily across the canvas as if the world was now still and this was all there was. And standing there, that really is, all there is. The paintings are not haunting. They are filling. A fresh drink of water after a long hike. An ancient memory even, reflecting back on itself. McAffee's paintings force you to rediscover what you may have lost along the way. Protecting what is left of our wilderness goes beyond politics, petty neighbourhood differences, selfish indulgences, legal machinations and pig-headedness. It speaks to the spirit of what makes us humans in the landscape. And it is what we will give to our children, a gift more precious than we can know.

McAffee has been busy canoeing, hiking and painting the Gatineau Park now for a short while. He can't seem to get enough of it, making the long drive now regularly from Whitby, Ontario (where he lives with his wife and three children), not just to replace sold paintings but more so he can lose himself in what he calls the endless depth and rich beauty of Gatineau Park. Comparisons of McAffee to the Group of Seven is often made and rightfully so; he is the nephew of Jack Reid, CSPWC, Order of Canada whose paintings grace the Royal Collection in Buckingham Palace. He learned to paint at the side of his uncle and then immersed himself into the art of some of North America's icons such as Marc Rothko, Jackson Pollock, Tom Thompson and Lawren Harris. Throwing away his work as a banker five years ago, McAffee relentlessly, diligently, fervently dedicated himself to what he felt was his higher purpose. Surely, he felt, he could only improve. And if times were tough, they are not now. There are many who can dedicate their lives to painting but as is often said, some people are born to the right time and place. They have no choice but to be who they were meant to be. McAffee is recognized as one of Canada's greatest landscape painters. His early work was heavily influenced by the Group of Seven but the more he painted, every day, he began abstracting from the Group of Seven and developing his own strokes and palette.

If you live in Chelsea or nearby, do not forgo the opportunity to see these works. They will not last long.