I just wanted to wish you all a Happy New Year! Hot of the presses, I just received this Jan. 1st, 2012 photo of my url www.christinemontague.com from Matt Cook and Sorin Mihailovici, the "dart guys" from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

Matt and Sorin, are presently in Svalbard, an archipelago in the arctic that makes up the northernmost part of Norway and where there are more polar bears than humans. It has been 2012 there for a few hours!

So why are these two adventurers (who I don't know) holding a poster with my web site markered on it up at Norway's North Pole?

Matt and Sorin are fundraising for the polar bear in a very unique, highly creative and fun way . Go to www.polarfaith.com to learn more and to follow their journey. You'll find out why they are called the "dart guys, too!

And, If you're like me, you'll ~~envy them ,~~ ...um, offer a bit of financial support to their very worthy cause.

Wishing you all two thumbs up for 2012 from here in southern Ontario . Not quite as exciting as one thumb up from Norway, but the wish is sincere all the same.

Dart thrown at map becomes polar bear mission (ctv.ca)

"Polar Bear Portrait 1" is an 8" x 8" head on portrait of Inukshuk, the male polar bear at the Toronto Zoo.

It is the first of four studies in my new miniature oil paintings series of polar bear portraits. By painting this little canvases, I' ve improved my understanding of the polar bear face and head.

Polar bear eyes are brown, close-set and face forward. I've learned that their eyesight is similar to our own, and that they are fortunate to have a protective membrane over their eyes may shield them from ultraviolet light. No snow blindness for them.

The polar bear 's rounded ears lie flat against his head when underwater.

And the polar bear does not, as I believed , hide that terrific black nose,with either his left paw (or the right one) when hunting. You can learn more about polar bear myths and misconceptions at this Polar Bears International page.

Don't you just love the mighty Inukshuk's great big, handsome, snuggly toy of a face? Don't you just want to hug him? But I'm not fooled. I know in Inukshuk's eyes, I'm just a Tim Hortons timbit in waiting. Better make that a Boston Creme.

Alert! Mini Portrait of a Big Bear (christinemontagueart.wordpress.com)
Polar Bear Dreams: Swimming in the Night (christinemontagueart.wordpress.com)
Canada has put Polar Bears on a “Special Concern” list. Here is the Toronto Star article http://bit.ly/s9FZGu

Painting Bears Artist Blog

by Christine Montague

Hi! I’m a portrait painter & figurative landscape painter whose passion for polar bears & raising awareness about their vulnerability to climate change has changed my career to that of polar bear artist!

Welcome to my blog about my polar bear art & its relationship to climate change. I also offer a Painting of the Month Special. There’s an occasional look into my artist life, both in & out the studio. -Some visits to the arctic (Kinngait , formerly Cape Dorset, Nunavut) & subarctic polar bear capital of the world, Churchill, Manitoba, are there too.

I work out of my home studio in the Greater Toronto Area (ON, Canada) & sell my art through my online gallery & internationally through Saatchi Art.

But for years I had my own open studio & gallery at Beaux- Arts Brampton (Brampton, ON), & the Williams Mill Creative Centre in Glen Williams (Georgetown, ON). I was passionate about getting such venue in Mississauga & wrote a lot about that and The Small Arms Building.

There’s a handy search bar below. And by signing up to my newsletter you’ll receive advance notice of my monthly specials.