Spring, summer and fall are wonderful. And the birth to death cycle, a tad linear in its plodding progression does lead us to winter. Winter, takes my breath away. Chaotic, unpredictable, repeatedly trying to overwhelmingly please by dressing up all night in white to show off come magical morning.

The landscapes are meditative in so far that our underlying and connecting commitment to Nature through them is all about light and water, neither of which can be painted directly. Treating light as pure source the paintings are an expression/realization of its effects; water being transparent, always different, lets us explore/express it through the very reflections that try to confine it._ You will find something more in woods than in books._ Trees and stones will teach you that which you can never learn from masters. _ ~Saint Bernard (1090 - 1153), Epistle__ To purchase any works in the online gallery please contact us at micheal@zarowsky.net

Never one to be contained by any medium, we have over the years made continuous leaps forward to take the watercolour medium in new directions opening new possibilities, and have once again done so here. For over a year now, I have now been painting with watercolours directly on gessoed norwegian birch panels. Working on gessoed panels isn’t much fun, being akin to painting on kitchen counter top with every stroke beading up streaking, smearing, misbehaving like so much split coloured water, but I am dazzled by the new textures, the strength, immediacy and directness that results, (and my work on paper is strong).The paintings are finished by painting around the edges and as such can be hung without a frame or floated in a float frame. To secure the watercolour I lightly apply 2 coats of spray fixative, and once dry, lay on 2 coats of matt varnish, just as any oil or acrylic, to seal it permanently against the elements. Having scoured the internet for anyone else working in the same way, & unable to find a soul painting watercolours directly onto gessoed panels, I find myself, for a brief moment anyways, in a unique position creating something never been done before.

The pines, watchtower graceful, unlimitedly stretching dancers groovin’ high with the wind edges whistling forever

Zarowsky’s shared experience is what opens up on these webpages; his ability to lose one’s edges, to become one with nature, as evidenced by his natural gift of, ability for, natural, original, unique composition expressed thru painting offers up and places one in contact with a much needed rediscovery of Canadian wilderness, direct /immediate, not seen since the early days of Tom Thomson and a natural progression from Thomson’s works.