Landscape Paintings by Peter and Catharine Whyte

The Life of a Landscape Artist Scenario Sheet 3: Walter J. (W. J.) Phillips Description: · W.J. Phillips was living in Winnipeg when he decided to make a sketching trip to the Rockies with some artists friends. · They were looking forward to camping and sketching all day, but it rained the whole trip. It rained so much they lost all interest in painting. · Phillips later moved to Banff and taught at the Banff School of Fine Arts for 20 years. · He loved to paint the mountains in and around Banff, especially Mount Rundle. · He paid special attention to the effects of sunlight in his paintings. · Phillips painted in all seasons. When it got very cold he pulled socks over his hands and stuck his pencil through the toe so he could keep his hands warm and still keep drawing. He found heavy gloves too clumsy. · He was friend of Peter and Catharine Whyte. Quotes: "I like to sketch the year round, in summer when conditions are most comfortable, as well as in winter when one is liable to freeze to death. Each season has its charm." -W.J. Phillips "[Mount Rundle is my] 'bread and butter mountain.' I never tire of painting it, for it is never the same. In deep shadow in the morning; it borrows a warm glow from the setting sun at the end of the day. Its colour runs the gamut from orange to cold blue-grey, with overtones of violet and intervals of green." -W.J. Phillips, c. 1940s. "Mountains are spectacular, and the layman imagines they are pictures in themselves, but I have spent many days among the peaks when I have shuddered at the sight of them, when they seemed, even when the sun was shining, devoid of any grace of colour, or even form. But when the light is right - there are golden days that are indescribably beautiful - there are pictures everywhere." -W.J. Phillips "Woolen gloves are clumsy but permit the use of a pencil, but a sock is the best protection of all. It is pulled over the hand and the pencil point thrust through the toe. The fingers thus have full play and will keep warm provided the sock is thick enough. The number of lines drawn depends on the temperature…" -W. J. Phillips "Phillips never feels it necessary to distort (or resort to distortion). He finds in nature, truthfully recorded, all the beauty of form and line needed." -Artist Fred Brigden Possible Characters: · W.J. Phillips · Artist camping companions · Art students and / or other teachers Messages: · Phillips was an artist who paid attention to colour and light in the mountains. · Phillips was an influential artist and teacher in Banff for many years.

Whyte Museum/Familiar Sky