Garth Armstrong

About Garth

“All my paintings are based on something I have seen, and it may be an amalgamation of ideas or scenes. I do a lot of observing, sketching and traveling outdoors. All of this is in my paintings. I also study many great and not so great painters work, and this also influences my ideas when thinking about how I will paint something. However, it is all finally distilled down into a single thought about the subject, and how it will be painted. I consider the painting finished when it is a reflection of the original idea. I am not looking for a particular pattern of brushstrokes, style, or any other technical aspects in a final painting. I am looking for a feeling when I look at it that says it is a complete idea. I understand that it could always be better. But I have   never liked perfect things.”

~ Garth Armstrong

 

Native to Toronto, Garth Armstrong studied at the Ontario College of Art in the communication and design program where he graduated 1983. Garth pursued a career in graphic design, and is an experienced art director and marketing executive. In his early stages of painting mainly focused on the use of watercolours to create his ever-present rural landscapes. Garth switched his medium and began working in oils on wood panels and canvas, exploring a more impressionistic style and palette in his landscapes and portraits.

An avid outdoorsman, Garth spends much of his time walking in the steps of the Group of Seven, hiking, canoeing, and painting “en plein air”. He captures the essence of his subject through his own style, enabling him to capture his subjects’ tranquility in a manner that creates a mood not attainable in other ways. Garth is often inspired by his own children, and the rural settings of Canada.

In 2006, Garth’s painting “Winter Wonderland” was chosen as the feature piece for the Hospital for Sick Children annual Holiday/Christmas card. Garth was  accepted as a member into the Ontario Society of Artists, Canada’s longest continuing art society, in 2012. He is also a member of the  Oil Painters of  America.

In 2016 Garth presented a new series of paintings created along the Bruce Trail in Ontario. The Bruce Trail, Canada’s oldest and longest marked footpath, provides the only continuous public access to the magnificent Niagara Escarpment, a UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve. Running along the Escarpment from Niagara to Tobermory, it spans more than 890 km of main Trail and over 400 km of associated side trails. To accompany the exhibit he published “Trails: The Bruce Trail and Other Places”, with a portion of all sales going to support the Bruce Trail Conservancy, a charitable organization committed to securing the Bruce Trail within a permanently protected natural corridor along the Niagara Escarpment.

 

Garth’s work is included in many prominent private and corporate collections including:

Lundin Mining Corporation

Ford Village Dentistry

Enbridge Corporate Offices

Canadian Canoe Museum