Gwen Ramsay: Portraits

Gwen Ramsay recently contacted me and introduced me to her amazing art work. Gwen is a London based artist who has been honored with number of awards and featured in several publications. She makes amazing portraits focusing mainly on 19th and 20th century immigrants to Canada. She uses immigrants' photographs as inspiration for her work and surrounds the subject with wildlife and nature "to create depictions that are both realistic and magical."

Her current series of portraits uses photographs of Canadian women immigrants with owls. Artist's Statement: "Surrounded by owls that are both tame and wonderfully wild, owls are symbolic of the ways in which animals exist in contemporary society. Animals are at once representative of idyllic nature and at the same time a threat to be controlled. An almost mythical creature, owls are becoming ever rarer as their habitats are threatened." Gwen can be contacted through her website for inquiries about her paintings and prints.