What Do Poppies Have To Do With A Polar Bear

Fuzzball and The Pink Poppies

I’m excited to announce Fuzzball and The Pink Poppies, a beautiful polar bear cub portrait is my Painting of The Month SPECIAL for August. In this original oil painting (24” x 24”), we see a full portrait of a pretty but somewhat scruffy looking little polar bear cub, set against a patterned background of of pink poppies. We know she’s an intelligent little bear as her bright eyes look out at us inquisitively.

Special Price: Fuzzball and The Pink Poppies is my Painting of The Month Special Offer August 2025

No Dark Water Here

Most of my polar bear paintings are about climate change awareness, too. Vanishing sea ice and dark water (Albedo Effect) and our warming planet are a threat to our beautiful polar bear’s survival.

But in Fuzzball and The Pink Poppies, the clean light green and blue painted background represents the clean sky, ice and water.

Why The Pink Poppies?

Detail of Fuzzball and The Pink Poppies with artist signature.

The colour pink is associated with innocence, sweetness, and femininity. The baby polar bear cub, cozy in its den, with mom to protect, amuse and feed it, is very innocent of the tough road of survival ahead.

Pink poppies represent beauty, peace, love and spiritual connection. And I realize that there are a lot of pink flowers (e.g. pink roses and pink daisies) that have similar symbolism.

But this sweet little face is inspired by my photos of Juno, a very real female polar bear cub born at the Toronto Zoo (Toronto, Ontario, Canada). Born on Remembrance Day, she is named after Juno Beach.

So the baby pink poppy, (the red poppy is the Remembrance Day symbol), just seemed the appropriate flower to symbolize this dear little bear.

And don’t you find it fun , the poppy’s black centre, mirrors Juno’s round black nose?

Save now : Fuzzball and The Pink Poppies is my Painting The Month Special Value Offer for August 2025

Fuzzball and The Pink Poppies (detail) ©Christine Montague

Here's December 20 Polar Bear Art Advent Calendar

We’re All in This Together

Today's Polar Bear has a couple of titles - one of which We Are All In This Together. And whether climate change issues (what this was created for with its crown of Canadian provincial & territorial flowers ) or the pandemic, we most certainly are, aren't we? Enjoy your December 20th, may you be safe and well.

To learn more about this available 30” x 30” painting, please click here. Do you know I actually will consider any reasonable offer on larger art? Please contact me here

An Invitation to Bring Feel Good Summertime Memories Into Your Home

I’m pleased to announce that my painting Hydrangea Blues has been awarded first prize in the Kefi Art Gallery “Summertime Memories” online juried fine art exhibit in a virtual gallery . I am honoured that a detail of the painting is is used on the invitation below. To read more about this summer artwork, please scroll down.

To see the complete painting , and enjoy a walk through a virtual gallery, please click Kefi Art Gallery (opens in a new window)

Invitation to Kefi Art Gallery Summertime Memories . This is a detail of Hydrangea Blues. Please scroll down to view the complete painting.

Hydrangea Blues is a 60" wide by 20" high oil painting on canvas.

My oil paintings of summer offer escape into days at the cottage or by the lake. They are about the promise of contented, quiet, and mindful moments alone, often before the day begins, or when it is done. They are about solitude without loneliness.  They are meant to invoke memories and emotions - good ones - but  will probably stir up longing for carefree days and warmer weather, too. 

My scenic figurative artworks are mostly inspired by the Canadian locales I vacation at and am fond of, usually in Ontario. Hydrangea Blues, could be easily be in Ontario, and is meant to be universal in mood, but in truth, it is inspired by the beautiful blue hydrangeas that surrounded the century old cottage I stayed at in Chappaquiddick, Mass., USA.  

In Hydrangea Blues, a young woman, a girl really,  sits in the shade of the cottage. She is lost in thought, her feet resting on the cool flagstone path.  She is probably relieved to not only be out of the heat, but to be away from parents and siblings. Whether she misses her friends or her phone, we don’t know. Her thoughts are hidden, as she almost is, amongst the gentle blue hydrangeas. 

This painting is one of the most ambitious artworks I have created. A lot of intricate work went into making sure the overlapping leaves and flowers took the eye up and around the figure, across the canvas, then down to zig zag along the path and up the legs and arms to the subject’s face.  The brush strokes in her hair point to a branch in the bush, and so our trip around the canvas begins again. 

Like most of the world, I love the colour blue, and enjoy using it in my art. It is a popular colour because we equate it to nature , especially sky and water.  

It actually makes one feel good to look at a blue painting, and this one is no different. All those beautiful blue flowers, set amongst the fresh green of the leaves, were a joy to paint as well as to look upon. 

This  painting is created in a slightly more graphic style than what I usually use. There is a lot of an outline to the shapes and the colours are more selective. But I feel this works as  there is a brightness and youthfulness in this, that suits both the young model and the subject matter. 

Hydrangea Blues. ©Christine Montague 20” x 60” x 1.5” oil painting on canvas.