About Canada

If you have been to Banff you will know that one of the most common birds is the raven. The raven is a fairly tame but shrewd bird that mates with the same partner for life.

We have a new print from, award winning cartoonist, Patrick LaMontagne which depicts the raven. To me you can just see the mischief in his eyes!.

Do you like it?.

          

This week we have received a new Marianna Mikhaylyan painting.. Born in Russia and trained in ballet, figure skating and art Marianna Mikhaylyan is a Canadian artist from Quebec.

The latest piece is called Happy Birthday and uses acrylic paint on canvas in her usual style.

Adam Volk of the Ottawa Xpress when describing her work said “Graceful… figures glide amid swirling colours, with sharp, textured layers of paint lending a sense of movement. They are paintings in which the figures seem to be moving of their own accord, a style which Mikhaylyan has playfully nicknamed ’Movementalism’.” . I think that describes it really well.

Let me know what you think of this work.

          

For the horse lovers we have taken in a new print from Larry Guterson. Called Spirit Of the West and printed on dibond (a form of aluminum) its a neat horse print with a very modern look, and at 36×36 inches it would make a great centerpiece.

          

Faith Harckham has delivered another of her lovely bears. This time its a mother and cub. This is another of Faith’s watercolour on canvas.

I love her work, it uses simple lines but catches the essence of the bear, let us know if you like it too.

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This week at About Canada, in Banff we have taken a lovely vibrant new line from Renee Bovet, from Quebec.

With the exception of her Banff Springs piece.

Its not really “Banff”, but to me it is has such a vivacity and joie de vivre that its quite the tonic as the winter drags on. I am torn between longing to lounge on the deck at a cabin.

Or wander the streets of a town in Provence, France.

Let us know how you like this line.

Click on the link to go to the product in store

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So its the end of another year in Banff. Its been a strange year from a business aspect, as we struggle to escape the effects of recession, but another great one because I live in Banff.

I have a new years resolution. If I am going in the right direction I have decided to offer lifts to visitors that seem to be struggling as they make their way down Banff Avenue with their ski gear. I started today and it made their day. If all the locals did that regularly we would have lifelong fans and ambassadors in those we help.

Do you have a plan to make peoples lives better, in some small way, this year. If so we would love to hear it.

In the meantime Happy New Year from us at About Canada.

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At About Canada, Banff , we now have a range of archival images of banff, these come from Alberta’s Provincial Archive Department.

My favourite is Banff Avenue 1883. The street is so quiet, it must have been another recession!.

I think these are neat, do you like them – which is your favourite??

          

I hope that you found the Christmas gift ideas series helpful. If you can not get into the store then the only way now of receiving goods for Christmas is by Express Post. So for our final idea we can give you the postage for free.

Gift Idea number 10

The final gift idea is our gift card this can be used in store or online at About Canada. Which makes it an ideal gift whether you are in Alberta or the Netherlands.

As an extra bonus we are giving free Express Post shipping if you order a gift card worth $100 or more before midday (Mountain time) on Friday.

Click on the link to go to the product in store

So that concludes this years Christmas gift series, I enjoyed bringing it to you. Let us know if you liked it.

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Sunday night saw the Christmas Train come to Banff. It comes every two years as a fund raiser for the food bank.

It’s a neat sight and lots of folk turn out to watch.

          

The time slips away and now it’s only five weeks to Christmas. The Christmas gift ideas continue.

Gift Idea number 5

Its November the snow is here and the ski season draws near and our anticipation builds. A really neat work we have in the gallery is the piece “Dream Day” by BC artist Cori Ross

Click on the link to go to the product in store

To me this says it all, do you like it?.

As you can see, if you go online this comes as both a limited edition and a smaller open edition print – making it suitable as a big present or a stocking filler.

I am counting down to getting my skis on, there are some runs open, with Sunshine opening tomorrow, have you been out yet this year?

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