Charles Spratt
1938 -

Charles Spratt has been painting seriously for 30 years. The masterful brushwork and artistic interpretation, so immediately recognizable in his work, can be seen in the many hundreds of paintings that have found their way into corporate boardrooms, institutions and private collections. With more than 25 major solo exhibitions in galleries in Calgary, Toronto and Ottawa, there is a steady demand for his work.

Originally trained in oils, the artist now paints exclusively in watercolour and acrylics. In 1999 at the Algonquin Park Visitor Centre, his solo exhibition, Northern Legacy - the culmination of 3 year's work in the Park, was a major success with sales to buyers from Canada, USA and Europe.

Over the years, Charles has taught both portrait and landscape painting for numerous Ontario collages and has given workshops across Canada, sharing his passion for painting. He has appeared on television on numerous occasions to discuss his techniques and demonstrate his skills as a painter. He is a co-founder of the successful Ottawa Fine Art Festival and, with a painting partner, organized outdoor painting trips to Quebec for more than 10 years.

The artist is a past president of the Manotick Art Association and the Ottawa Watercolour Society. He was elected to fellowship in the Canadian Society of Painters in Watercolour (CSPWC) in 1996.

Now fully retired from a family business, Charles enjoys more time to focus on his painting. His home and studio are located in Manotick (Ottawa). Along with his passion for art, he shares his enjoyment of outdoor recreation and playing jazz with his wife and partner of many years.
 

Artist’s Statement

As you look at my work, it is important to me that you understand that these paintings are part of an artistic journey that has been going on for nearly thirty years. They are the result of years of painting on location, study and practice, and the experience of more than 20 solo exhibitions.

I do not sell reproductions of my work. With the exception of very large studio pieces, most works are painted directly on location and later finished at my studio in Manotick. Painting, to my mind, is all about feeling and sensing and less about detail. That is why painting from photographs, for example, is of little interest to me.

I prefer to stop painting when my story has unfolded, and let a bit of each painting be completed in the viewer’s eye. The result, I trust, will be a three-way dialogue between myself as the artist, my painting and the viewer, where the viewer is drawn to explore his or her own interpretation. Hopefully, my paintings reflect the depth of my absorption in the wonder and beauty of the world around me.

The change to watercolour, when an acquired allergy prevented me from further painting in oils, taught me that I must never stop looking for better ways to express my feelings in art and that struggling to more fully understand myself is as much a part of art as the painting process. This philosophy runs through every workshop that I teach.

My work has changed over the years and, hopefully, it will continue to evolve as I strive to improve expressing my feelings. I believe that a common thread running through my work is, firstly, a style that has progressed naturally over the many years that I have been painting and, secondly, that each painting I exhibit is the result of a lot of love and care, representing the very best that I can do at the time it is created.