John Webster & Valerie Roos Webster WHAT Painters WHERE Touch of Sky Studio, Burnstown, 432-8406, <touchofsky@sympatico.ca>, <www3.sympatico.ca/touchofsky> Bittersweet Gallery, Burnstown, 432-5254 Philip K. Wood Gallery, Almonte, 256-6133 WHEN Wallack Galleries, 203 Bank St., Ottawa (235-4339), October 22 to Nov. 5 WHY John: "I love to do it and it's all I know how to do." Valerie: "Art is like meditation; it makes me happy." See samples of their work

Previous Artist Trading Cards

John Webster and Valerie Roos Webster - A Harmonious Duet
By Sally Hansen

In 1995 Corel Corporation presented a generous Award for Excellence in Fine Arts. Valerie Roos Webster received the award. John Webster was runner up. I loved their responses to my teasing query as to whether this had created any tension between the duo who have been married for many years, and who share studio space in their idyllic rural setting in Burnstown. Valerie immediately suggested that there had been a "female bias" among the judges, and John refuted her statement, proclaiming that she had "won it fair and square."

The harmony that exists between them seems to permeate all aspects of their closely twined lives. Both knew from an early age that they wanted to be artists. Valerie yielded to parental and societal pressure and acquired and used secretarial skills. Atypically, it was only when her daughter was born in 1974 during her first marriage that she found the time and conviction to leverage her lifelong talent for sketching to teach herself to become a painter. Her work appeared in an Ottawa School of Art juried exhibit in 1978, and at the York Gallery in Ottawa in 1979. By 1982 she had a major exhibition at the Robertson Galleries in Ottawa.

John laughed ruefully when he told me that he initially pursued a degree in political science with an eye to becoming a diplomat. "I'm not very good with people," he confided, and he loves the peacefulness of their remote country home. At the end of his third year at Carleton University he transferred to Mount Allison University in New Brunswick where he graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1972, but completed his B.A. in Political Science as well. He has supported himself from the sale of his art since 1973. His first solo exhibition was in 1974 at the Robertson Galleries.

Ruth Freiman, former owner and director of Robertson Galleries and now Vice-Chairperson to the Board of Directors of the National Gallery of Canada, introduced the couple at a group exhibit after ascertaining that John liked Valerie's work. Fortunately, Valerie liked John's too. At that time both artists were painting landscapes, and when they began showing their works together, "initially you couldn't be sure whether it was John's work or mine," Valerie recalled.

As Ye Sow… and Saw
Today the couple's respective bodies of work reflect a gradual co-evolution in subject matter and media. Valerie abandoned portrait painting after discovering that "it was too stressful. Trees were much easier to please." Her focus has sharpened since they started their garden at their current home in Burnstown in 1989. Now a member of the American Society of Botanical Artists, she renders exquisitely beautiful portraits of irises, peonies, roses, and occasional other star bloomers from their extensive gardens. She credits her grandmothers with her inordinate passion for flowers. "They were both gardeners. One was a perennial gardener (in both senses of the word), and my maternal grandma was a midwife and knew all about herbal remedies." Valerie currently works in acrylic and transparent watercolour.

John's artistic focus seems to have been influenced by his primary "avocation" too - restoration and renovation of rural buildings. The majority of his acrylic paintings are of façades of buildings that attract his interest. "I'm drawn to the patterns and shapes and the way the light plays on the architectural repetition," he explains. He captures that play of light on a two-dimensional canvas in an incredibly three-dimensional fashion. Viewers constantly reach out to touch the surface of his paintings, unable to believe their eyes. In his newest works he is exploring nightscapes; again fascinated by the interplay of light on the human-engineered landscape.

His attention to architectural detail is highly honed. The first "fixer-upper" house he tackled in Winchester was so challenging that the best feature the listing agent could advertise was that it had a double stainless steel sink. "It didn't," Valerie told me. "It only had a single sink!" After gutting that house, they moved to an easier fix-up in White Lake, where they also ran a craft shop. He has been working on their current home near Burnstown since 1989, and it is gorgeous. John did the framing, the trim, built the kitchen, laid hardwood floors, and is still making improvements.

So Shall You Reap
It was a genuine pleasure and privilege to meet John and Valerie Roos Webster in the fullness of a warm summer afternoon and observe the fruits of their labours. Throughout the years they have each received awards, had numerous major exhibitions and group shows, and seen their works acquired for corporate and private collections. The demand for Valerie's stunning portrayals of irises eventually led her to offer a select few as gicleé prints.

But their paintings are only one spectacular manifestation of the care and love and talent they pour into every aspect of their lives. I haven't mentioned the extraordinary goldfish that swim contentedly in indoor tanks, or the lovely water lilies that bloom in the water garden near the front door. But I am encouraging you to find an opportunity to experience the artistic outpouring of their love's labours. They certainly weren't lost on me.

Visit their website at <www3.sympatico.ca/touchofsky>; click here; and make plans to visit the local galleries that represent them - Bittersweet Gallery in Burnstown (432-5254), and Philip K. Wood Gallery in Almonte (256-6133). By all means attend their next exhibition at Wallack Galleries (235-4339) at 203 Bank St. in Ottawa from October 22 to November 5. For more information, contact them at <touchofsky@sympatico.ca>, or by phone at 432-8406.