John Christie Art
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John Christie photo
I grew up and until recently lived in the valley town of Dundas Ontario. Dundas was a charming place to grow up with the escarpment and large expanses of wilderness parkland. I developed a love of the outdoors at a very young age and as an avid camper and canoe tripper I continue to cherish time spent outside exploring new places or revisiting old.

I have taken many art classes and workshops over the years at the Dundas Valley School of Art, The Haliburton School of Art and Design and Gallery on the Lake.  I have been taught and inspired by many artists starting with Rob Roi who was my grade 7/8 art teacher.  Katherine MacDonald taught me the joys of painting portraits.  Catherine Gibbon and Laurie Wonfor Nolan taught me the joys of painting outside and I became hooked.

I painted in watercolours for years but when I started painting outdoors I switched to oils because my water would freeze in the winter.  I loved the buttery feel of oil paint however it is impractical for travel and canoe trips.  I decided that I had to learn to use acrylics and after much frustration I now love using them.  I can paint thickly much like with oil paint and use the fast drying to allow me to push and pull a painting using combinations of multiple layers of thick paint and thin glazes.

My wife, Debbie and I made the decision to purchase and move into my parents home on Paudash Lake and we are loving it here.  My parents bought a cottage here in 1966 and I have spent much of my spare time since at the lake.  To now be living in what was, for most of my life, my happy place is surrealistic. 

While I miss my numerous artistic friends in southern Ontario I have joined a wonderful artist co-op called "A Place for the Arts" and I am again working with many talented artists and making new friends in this area.  Bancroft, and area, has a thriving artist community and I am proud to be a part of it.  Dundas was an outdoor painters paradise but I think that this area kicks it up a notch. 

I am excited about what I have accomplished and can't wait to see where my art will take me next.