1. Cloudy Reflections, Feltzen South
Reflections on Nova Scotia, England and India
A Virtual Exhibition by Mary Brownless (1926-2020)
All 48 paintings from her exhibition in the Lunenburg Art Gallery, Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, July 26 - August 28, 2005
The paintings by Mary
Brownless of Lunenburg, Nova Scotia are reminiscences of the three
areas of the world where she lived: India, England and Nova Scotia,
Canada.
India was the greatest challenge - she was born in Bangalore (Bengalaru) and her teenage years were spent in the colourful south. In hot Madras (Chennai) there were beautiful beaches and she remembered especially the minarets silhouetted against the orange-red skies at sunset. A little cog-railway (Nilgiri Mountain Railway) took her and her brothers up the 6000 feet to their boarding school in Lovedale (now called the The Lawrence School) in the Nilgiri Hills or Blue Mountains. The trees changed colour throughout the year and were a mosaic of green, red and yellow. Old sepia photos and memory were used for these paintings.
Returning to England after the war, she painted water-colours in Devon, especially in Topsham. Here Dutch-syle houses abound; wooden ship builders from Holland lived here and the famous painting "The Fighting Temeraire" was painted by Turner on the estuary of the River Exe. She then spent some time in Norfolk, followed by Oxfordshire and Herefordshire. In 2004 she spent 2 months visiting old haunts in the south while getting ideas for these pictures. Memories of England bring to mind yellow thatch, green fields, daffodils in March, purple heather on the cliffs, tiny harbours, lovely churches, quaint villages, great cathedrals and castles. It was hard to decide on subjects.
After emigrating to Nova Scotia in 1970, she painted all over the province, which has its own beauty. Her work was done in a traditional English style, using a limited palette of only 4 to 5 colours for each scene, thus setting the tone and atmosphere and providing variety. Various rag papers gave different effects.
India was the greatest challenge - she was born in Bangalore (Bengalaru) and her teenage years were spent in the colourful south. In hot Madras (Chennai) there were beautiful beaches and she remembered especially the minarets silhouetted against the orange-red skies at sunset. A little cog-railway (Nilgiri Mountain Railway) took her and her brothers up the 6000 feet to their boarding school in Lovedale (now called the The Lawrence School) in the Nilgiri Hills or Blue Mountains. The trees changed colour throughout the year and were a mosaic of green, red and yellow. Old sepia photos and memory were used for these paintings.
Returning to England after the war, she painted water-colours in Devon, especially in Topsham. Here Dutch-syle houses abound; wooden ship builders from Holland lived here and the famous painting "The Fighting Temeraire" was painted by Turner on the estuary of the River Exe. She then spent some time in Norfolk, followed by Oxfordshire and Herefordshire. In 2004 she spent 2 months visiting old haunts in the south while getting ideas for these pictures. Memories of England bring to mind yellow thatch, green fields, daffodils in March, purple heather on the cliffs, tiny harbours, lovely churches, quaint villages, great cathedrals and castles. It was hard to decide on subjects.
After emigrating to Nova Scotia in 1970, she painted all over the province, which has its own beauty. Her work was done in a traditional English style, using a limited palette of only 4 to 5 colours for each scene, thus setting the tone and atmosphere and providing variety. Various rag papers gave different effects.
Page 1. Pictures of Nova Scotia 1
Page 2. Pictures of Nova Scotia 2
Page 3. Pictures of Nova Scotia 3
Page 4. Pictures of England 1
Page 5. Pictures of England 2
Page 6. Pictures of India