My Story
Hi! I am Linda Ross Gallagher, a contemporary Canadian painter in oil, acrylic and water-colour, based in Ontario, Canada.
Perhaps during your childhood you had the opportunity to explore the outdoors? As a child immersed in nature in the Saguenay Region of Quebec, I spent hours wandering forest trails down to the river, collecting and pressing wildflowers and playing in a frog pond with the family canoe. A family friend introduced me to the idea of plein air watercolours then, which I used to record these things.
Working alongside Western landscape painters in the 90’s at the Leighton Foundation in Calgary, in Grand Prairie, Alberta, and Emma Lake, Saskatchewan fostered a deep passion for plein air painting, which is the foundation of my work today.
What arises in you when you surround yourself with a forest of tall trees? … or if you lean into the wind and breathe the fresh air on a wide open beach?
“Deep Blue Swamp”
Anywhere, painting from life is the foundation of my work, no matter the subject. It has been my way to truly see; it’s a spontaneous diary, not only through sight, but of all the senses: the feeling of breezes and summer sun, the buzzing of insects; the exhilaration of feet and fingers tingling with cold in mid winter as a plein air painting is completed. Colours develop before my eyes that cannot be captured on film or noticed in the hurry scurry of life. Somehow, subconsciously, all this makes its way into my painting and eventually into studio work.
At the impressionable age of 8, I was privileged to watch over the shoulder of a visiting artist from New York City as he painted. I was definitely hooked when we did one together.
When I was 10, my evening art teacher, Tony Akkerman, showed me his “real” transparent watercolours and stretched linen rag papers. To his wife, he simply said, “She’s worth it!” Those three little words propelled me forward and still carry a lot of weight.
Plaster cast and my studio at Mount Allison University revisited, 2008.
Growing up in a community of engineers, chemists and geologists with a science-heavy high school program, I was very hungry to learn about art. Mount Allison University in Sackville, New Brunswick offered a hands on, practical fine arts program and fine arts scholarships which took care of my tuition for the four years. This gave me a solid grounding in classical drawing and painting, for which I am extremely grateful, and a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1973.
Although my first love is Nature, my many moves across the continent over the last 50 years have encompassed a vast array of experiences and subjects, Nature being foremost, from rural life, to buzzing metropolis of the East and West Coasts of North America and everything in between: Big Sky on the prairie … closed in forests of the East …. reflection of light in glass architecture …. the interactions of people in close circumstances …. chickens scratching in the yard. The possibilities have been endless.
Currently I am involved with the Fine Arts Society of Milton; Credit Valley Artisans in Georgetown; the Oakville Arts Society; and Norval Studios & Gallery in Norval, Ontario.
When I am not painting, you may find me feeding chickens, hiking with my husband on the Escarpment or practising Sunday’s hymns on the piano.
Municipal collection
Private collection.
I invite you to join me in feeling deep connections, peace and sanctuary through my art.
“Dancing Trees”
“I feel very much at home with it. It is just me. We are kindred spirits in nature. I really love that one.”
Annalee —Bothwell
“Clarity … it is and it isn’t like a photograph, because there’s a feeling about it; there’s a mystery about it. They make me feel I’m glad I bought them. These are part of my refuge. The ‘York & Adelaide’ painting is totally different from the others. I can’t say why I like it, but I really, really LOVE it. There’s something about the city that grabs me.”
Brian — Toronto
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