2260 Oak Bay Avenue

Preview Saturday, December 1, 2007 10 am - 5:30 pm

(work subject to prior sale)

Opening Reception Sunday, December 2, 2007 1:00 pm - 5:00 pm

Artist in attendance

Elizabeth Ely, harpist; Karel Roessingh, piano

Exhibition continues until December 20, 2007

Since about the age of five, Fenwick Lansdowne has studied birds every day. At age six, in response to his mother's enthusiasm for birds, he began sketching, drawing and painting them. Though self-trained, by age ten, he was committed to a career of drawing and painting as many different birds as possible. In his twenties he was confident enough of his chosen path that he purchased a large collection of excellent Italian Fabriano watercolour paper that, fifty years later, he still uses. Today, Fenwick Lansdowne is among the world's most important delineators of birds.

This display of about twenty current and older portraits of birds will be Lansdowne's first solo exhibition at Winchester Galleries in Oak Bay in many years. Lansdowne has never painted more than about ten paintings a year; assembling enough new and unsold watercolours for a solo exhibition is difficult. For the first time, this presentation will include numerous quick pen sketches and detailed pencil studies toward his final paintings. As well, there will also be a collection of photographs of the many stages in the development and production of his art.