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Item Name: Painting
Title: Okanagan Valley
Maker: George Campbell Tinning
Year: 1948
Country: Canadian
Materials: watercolour and ink on paper
Measurements: overall: 54.3 cm x 75 cm
ID Number: PC83.1.90
Legal Status: PERMANENT COLLECTION


Extended Label Info: There is a freshness of colour and a strong sense of light in this landscape by Campbell Tinning. It evokes the heat of summer, as if we were standing beside him on the mountain, watching him paint. To achieve this sense of place, Tinning spent many hours at the location, sketching and painting. The tools for painting watercolours are easily portable, which makes it a good medium for painting on site. The challenge of watercolour is the precision needed to build an image up from the lightest colours to dark, and to use the whiteness of the paper to achieve areas of highlight. Once the paint is applied, it cannot be removed easily, so Tinning had to work with control over his medium. George Campbell (Cam) Tinning, RCA (1910 – 1996) was a painter, graphic designer, and muralist. Born in Saskatoon, Tinning studied at the Regina College, and internationally at the Art Students’ League in New York. Tinning was an early member of the Canadian Society of Painters in Water Colour along with Frank Carmichael, Arthur Lismer, and CW Jeffries. In World War II Tinning enlisted with the Black Watch Royal Highland Regiment, and in 1943 was appointed an official war artist. After the war, Tinning established his studio in Montreal, and as travel illustrator, painted in every Canadian province, the United States, Jamaica, Italy, France, England, and Scotland. His artwork is held in numerous public and private collections, including an extensive set of over 500 watercolours in the Canadian War Museum.