The Grey is a beautiful contemporary 30” x 30” oil painting that shows a realistically painted polar bear rising up before us in the Arctic sea. This original painting is inspired by the polar bear’s place in its world of vanishing sea ice.

What's waiting on the horizon for our magnificent polar bear is unclear. The world is warming, the sea ice is vanishing, and the solutions aren’t black and white. So in symbolism I have created a realistic polar bear in a blurred, misty, abstract grey sky and sea.

But the polar bear in this painting remains resilient, His bright eyed face is a portrait of a polar bear who is safe, healthy and at home in his environment.

To learn more about this painting, please visit my Canadian site here or my international site here

Each oil painting of the Dark Water Series vividly depicts a solitary polar bear navigating the quiet, cold darkness of the Arctic sea. Its dense white fur is dramatically illuminated against the inky black backdrop of sea and night sky.

Unique among bears, the polar bear, is a marine mammal. The polar bear’s remarkable size (the biggest bear) and incredible strength, combined with its slightly webbed front paws and highly insulated, buoyant body, make it an exceptional and powerful swimmer.

So each painting in the Dark Water Series is a portrait of a polar bear completely at ease and in its natural element, whether shown gliding above the dark water’s surface or submerged beneath it.

However, the phrase “dark water” carries a deeper, more troubling meaning.

The earth’s bright white polar ice cap, which acts as a massive reflector of the sun’s heat, is rapidly shrinking due to climate change driven by rising carbon emissions.

As polar ice melts, it exposes more dark ocean water, which absorbs far more solar heat than the reflective ice once did.

This reduction in reflective surface and the resulting increase in heat absorption accelerate further ice melt—a dangerous, self-perpetuating cycle known as the ice-albedo feedback loop or the Albedo Effect.

As I mentioned, the polar bear is a marine mammal, but it is the frozen sea it relies on for survival. The sea ice is essential for the polar bear to hunt, travel, rest, feed her young (which cannot nurse in water), and den (critical for the mother bear and her cubs during semi-hibernation and harsh winter storms).

The lengthening period of open water from spring through fall, along with the growing distances between ice floes in winter, severely endangers the polar bear by increasing the risk of starvation, predator attacks, and drowning.

I’ve created the polar bear portraits of the Dark Water Series as a celebration and tribute to this iconic, majestic bear. I hope these heartfelt oil paintings offer you a profound emotional connection to a face that, though not human, embodies intelligence, resilience & beauty as profound as our own.

Of course, they are a cautionary tale, too. The polar bear’s vulnerability to climate change is dependant on how much ice lies just outside the picture frame.

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.

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?

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

Sweetheart Bear (Sold) is a lovely portrait painting in oil of a dear little polar bear cub face on a 12” x 12” wood panel. It is one one of three paintings in my Baby’s Breath Series.

I think this painting about babies, innocence, spring and nature is perfect for The Painting of The Month Special.

The fur on this little cub’s sweet face, inspired by a photo I took of a very real cub, perfectly forms a heart, so the title Sweetheart Bear was a given!

What’s With The Baby’s Breath Flower Crown?

Baby’s Breath (Gypsophila) are lovely little white flowers on delicate stems. This flower represents purity, innocence and everlasting love. These attributes perfectly represent our baby bear. Flower crowns have a long history of being given to those we honour and celebrate. But this crown is also a reminder that our lives - nature’s and humanity’s, are as intertwined as the flowers in the crown.

A Featured Painting Mean’s a Special Price

Once a month in 2025, I will select a painting to be featured, and offer it at special value. (PS Do you know if you sign up for my newsletter to receive the announcement in advance?)

Sweetheart Bear

Original oil painting

12” x 12” x 1.5 “ wood panel

Edges nicely finished in black

Wired and ready to hang

Certificate of Authenticity supplied.

SOLD

Here’s the other paintings in the series -

Triplets is a beautiful, original oil painting with a climate change story to tell. 

It is my Featured Painting of The Month for March 2025 and will be offered at special value until the end of the month . For more info please click HERE.

In this painting, we catch a glimpse into the darkness and security of a polar bear den where a mother bear and her three cubs snuggle. It is rare three cubs are born, and when I was last in Churchill in 2Fall 023, all visitors were on excited lookout for the mama and three cubs spotted in the area.

March is the time of year, the polar bear mother and cubs leave the den for the first time, but in this painting, the bear family have not yet stepped out the into the cold. These little bears are still a little too small to do the arduous journey to the coast. So they happily play in their dark little home.

There is a hidden message in this painting. If hung vertically, the glowing light becomes water-like, symbolizing the bear's vulnerability to our warming planet and sea ice loss. One of the cubs is in the shadows, a sign of the foreboding that may lie in ahead.

More About Triplets

• oil on canvas

• 30" wide x 20" high x 1.5" deep

• Edges are painted black. 

• Wired, ready to hang vertically or horizontally. 

• Certificate of Authenticity

• 900 Cad Regularly $1200 CAD valid until March 31st, 2025 11:59 pm EST

• Shipping to Canada is free

And January was long enough.

But this little bear oil painting, painted with a little more spontaneity than is my usual after I had just completed a series, exudes that freedom I felt. No pressure to create, it was just for fun. I think it’s one of the happiest paintings, the brushstrokes are free and confident and that brightness and lightness of spirit shines through. Don’t you think so, too?

Freedom Bear (Green Ribbon)

Regular price $300

Special $250

Shipping free to Canada & USA. Prices are in Canadian dollars.

Valid until February 28, 11:59 pm EST

This painting was originally called Green Ribbon ( the stylized northern lights in the background) but I have since renamed it Freedom Bear.

Because polar bears certainly are symbols of living free aren’t they?! In Freedom Bear, we see a happy looking polar bear on its solitary journey through the arctic night. The northern lights, fluttering like a lime green ribbon, light his way.

As with all my polar bear art, this is created in in tribute to the beautiful polar bear, the Arctic and to raise awareness of the vulnerability of both to climate change.

The painting is signed in front, and has a unique work completion number on the back. It is wired and ready to hang. The painting continues around the edge to give a nicely finished look. A Certificate of Authenticity is supplied.

It is 12” wide x 6” high x .75”deep oil painting on canvas

Most of you visit this site from Canada, USA and the UK. For those of us in Canada and the US , we are about to have some big changes in leadership, aren’t we, and who knows what lies ahead for us all?

What Lies Ahead just happens to be the title of the painting below.

This lovely polar bear stands on an icy peak, the aurora borealis lighting the path forward.

Our magnificent bear is smart and resilient and she will steadfastly carry on with her (or his) journey through the arctic night.

Wishing you the strength and resilience of the polar bear & much hope, good health and safe travel in your 2025 journey!

A Little Bit More About What Lies Ahead

This is a 12” x 12” by 1.5” acrylic painting on canvas.

The portrait and northern lights are painted using metallic acrylic paints. The brightness symbolizes the stunning northern lights.

The edges of the painting are red. This symbolizes our love for the bear, the arctic, nature and our lifeline connection to it all. It is part of the Wonder and Warning Series.

Although I usually paint in oils, I like to take a break now and then to play with acrylics. I enjoy revisting my Polar Bear King theme, and creating new stories about the polars bear’s majesty in black, gold and acrylic paint. I impose some pretty human feelings to these little portraits, but, that’s the human way, isn’t it?! But no matter the scene, our mighty hero is always in his rightful place of apex figure of the North.

The gold paint represents the treasure our polar bear is. The stylized sun, and its position in relation to the bear, speaks to the suns power and our warming climate.

Each painting is 6”h x 12” w black, white and metallic gold on canvas. Wired and Ready to hang.

Introducing -

The Polar Bear King Dreams. To learn more of this polar bear king’s story, please click here. (opens in new window)

One of the great joys of being an artist who sells online, is that I actually get to have some contact with those who collect my art. Galleries are great, but most galleries keep the collectors names to themselves (rightfully so as their mailing list is their business). It is always a pleasant surprise when I receive a collector’s thoughts on why they purchased one of my polar bear paintings or receive a photo of the painting in situ in their home.

Recently I received these thoughtful reflections from a first time collector of my art that I think capture a lot of what I try to say with my painting. I am not bilingual, but these comments were written to me in French and so I wanted to include them in the language written.

Do you see what this person sees in my art? Id love to know in the comments below.

Reverence 1:   

It calls me to live with love and gentleness for others, because I do not know what they are going through, but everyone needs to feel respected, recognized, and loved. The beauty of the sky in the background gives me hope for a new day that dawns with the determination to do my part to stop the deterioration of the natural world and maintain hope for a better world since despair and resignation cannot benefits only those who exploit the world and others.

Elle m’appelle à vivre avec amour et douceur pour autrui, car je ne sais pas ce qu’ils vivent, par compte tous ont besoin de se sentir respecter, reconnue, et aimer. La beauté du ciel en arrière plan me donne l’espérance d’un jour nouveau qui se lève avec la determination de faire ma part pour cesser la détérioration du monde naturelle et garder l’espérance pour un monde meilleur puisque le désespoir et la résignation ne bénéficie que ceux qui exploite le monde et l’autrui. 

- F. D. Vancouver, B.C., Canada

Reverence 3:

I feel a lot of the same emotions with this piece, and by juxtaposing them I see the same bear, but in a different state. Sometimes I interpret his roar symbolizing anger towards an environment that is malicious, unhealthy, aggressive, and hostile. Sometimes it seems to me like a cry of anguish, not knowing how else to respond to this new world. A world dedicated to destroying its existence.

Je ressent beaucoup des mêmes émotions avec cette pièce, et en les juxtaposant je vois le même ours, mais dans un état différent. Des fois j’interprète son rugissement symbolisant une colère envers un environnement qui lui est malveillant, malsain, agressif, et hostile. Des fois ça me semble un cri d’angoisse, ne sachant pas comment répondre à ce nouveau monde autrement. Un monde vouer à détruire son existence. 

- F.D. Vancouver, B.C., Canada

If you enjoy my Reverence Series, there are other square foot paintings still available in the series. You can peruse these polar bear and northern lights paintings in Shop Original Art.

at the Fireside Gallery at Art Gallery of Burlington June 28 - July 9, 2023

If you live in the Burlington, Ontario area I’m delighted to invite you to my solo show show of recent polar bear paintings.

The show is a series of work paying tribute to the magnificent polar bear on its solitary journey through the arctic night. But in each painting, evidence of climate change and vanishing sea ice awaits.

More Info on Polar Bear Wonder and Warning Show

Location : Fireside Gallery at Art Gallery of Burlington, Ontario. 1333 Lakeshore Rd., Burlington, ON, L7S 1A9

Please phone the gallery 905 632 7796 to ensure Fireside gallery is open.

Hours: The gallery is closed Mondays. But is open Tues. & Wed. 10 am - 9 pm. Thurs.,Fri., Sat., & Sun. 10 am - 5 pm

Entry: Free, but donations are appreciated.

Parking: Paid parking is available behind the gallery. Free after 6 pm.

All Proceeds Go to The Canada-Ukraine Foundation to be used where needed most. Make a Polar Bear Yours & Help the Ukraine, too

Bidding begins … NOW until April 14th, 2022. https://www.waddingtons.ca/auction/auction-for-ukraine-apr-14-2022/gallery/lot/107/

I wanted to help in some way with my art and wasn’t sure how. When this opportunity to donate came up I jumped at the chance. All proceeds from the auction will go The Canada-Ukraine Foundation. Waddington’s is a well revered, prestigious auction house (read more here. )They are generously waiving any of the fees normally associated with an auction.

So which polar bear painting can be yours?

A Light in the Darkness is a perfect title and symbol for this cause. Goodness and hope will shine even brighter in the darkness of evil. This beautiful bear rises up out of the dark sea, to face the future with strength, intelligence and resilience. Please bid here

Please bid for this important cause! You will have the fun of bidding from the comfort of your home, the triumph of winning art at good value and helping those who need it in the Ukraine. Please bid here

THANK YOU! GOOD LUCK!

In pandemic times , all my portrait commissions are from photos supplied to me from the client. Although I work directly from these photos, I always strive to make the portrait more than that image sent me, that the spirit and character of the subject shines through brighter. 

Recently, I was commissioned to paint a portrait of a house as a surprise Christmas gift for the client’s spouse. The house was the spouse’s childhood home in the UK.   The client wondered if there was a way to show that the spouse’s father, who had recently passed, was at home, and working in his second floor office. 

I was moved by this thoughtful, loving idea of a portrait. 

The reference photo (i.e. the photo I was to work from) was in focus. I could clearly see the shape and colour of the brickwork and roof. 

But it taken on a very grey day, which subdued all colour and contrast. The windows and doorway were dark.

A garage and car that did not belong to the homeowners was predominant in the lower left of the photo. The planters were empty. 

It was a snapshot of a house but not the story of the home.

So how to make the painting more than simply a copy of the photo supplied? 

Creating a Mood

I have not lived near any of my family since my youth. I understand the emotion of returning home, what it is like to pull into the driveway of a well lit home, the knowledge of the people you love and who you know love you excitedly waiting inside. 

So how to insert this emotion into the painting? 

Plus also place emphasis on the centre window on the second floor which was the Father’s office? 

The simple solution to bring attention to the study window was to make the scene a night painting, and “turn on” the light in the room. 

I personally enjoy looking at night scenes paintings, but I was sensitive to the fact that the loss of the parent was too recent, and a dark scene , even in beautiful blues, could be perceived as too mournful. 

But by creating a sunset painting , I could still the house with lights on.

A sunset painting is overflowing with the symbolism of beauty, life, reflection, the end of the day, and the promise of tomorrow. 

What better sky for this portrait painting?! 

Introducing Colour 

Now that the scene was to be a sunset painting,  I could introduce a new warm palette of pinks, gold, and mauve to the image. Warm colours are inviting, appealing and bring energy to an artwork.

The bricks of the house, although in a brown considered on the warm side, were actually glazed over in a cool blue as the front of the house was basically backlit and in shadow. 

This  contrast of warm sky and cool house front added dimension to the painting and added emphasis to the lit up window.

Drawing You Eye to the Office Window

I used the brightest colours on the office window. The white was clean and bright and so was the yellow.

The bricks around the office window are lighter than elsewhere, the illusion light was escaping from the space.

On the left of the painting, I toned down the attached garage of the neighbour and and omitted their car.

I set the house a bit further back than it was in the photo so that the viewer could follow the path up to the house. 

The other windows of the house reflect the sky and  create a frame for the office window.

The darkness on the pathway rail takes the viewer’s eye to the hanging flowers on the right of the door and jump up the line of the darkest bricks up to the office windows.

Portraits are about Likeness, Love, Memory and Tribute

And I think this portrait of a house fits these parameters. But much more importantly, the recipient did, too. 

The British philosopher Sir Bernard Williams said  “It is almost impossible to watch a sunset and not dream”. 

How true for us all. I am very grateful to the clients that they entrusted me with this poignant portrait .

Here's polar bear face #23! A sweetheart of a bear for December 23rd! Enjoy your day!

Do you know that all my polar bear portraits are inspired either from photos I have taken of polar bears or are from my imagination. In this case this furry little face is inspired by a photo I took of the email bear, Juno, who was born @thetorontozoo , spent a while at the @assiniboineparkzoo and then returned pre pandemic to the Toronto Zoo again. Learn more about Sweetheart Polar Bear (on special) here

Today's addition to the Polar Bear Art Advent Calendar is very late because we had a wonderful early Christmas celebration with the new little cub in our family! It seemed appropriate that a baby bear should be the art for today. (To see Fuzzball & The Poppies in its entirety & to learn its symbolism , please click here). I hope your December 22 is (was ) a good one!