Throughout July and August, the Café comes alive with Summer Breezes, a vibrant group exhibition celebrating the sights, colours, and quiet sun magic of the season.
Featuring nine local artists from the Pontiac alongside talented creators from across the Ottawa Valley, the exhibition captures the essence of summer through sun-drenched cottages, shimmering lakes, flourishing landscapes, and the region’s remarkable wildlife.
Spanning a rich variety of artistic styles and mediums, each work offers a unique perspective while sharing a common thread—the experiences, memories, and emotions that make summer unforgettable. Feel the warmth of golden light on the dock, hear the distant call of loons at dusk, and rediscover the simple freedom of long days spent by the water.
Whether bold and expressive or quiet and contemplative, Summer Breezes is an invitation to slow down, reconnect with nature, and celebrate the landscapes, stories, and moments that define Canadian summer. Come experience the season through the eyes of our region’s artists.
Featured Artists
- Shane Lucas Bailey
- Cheryl Beillard
- Dinah Devine
- Sharron Doherty
- Katharine Fletcher
- Catherine Gutsche
- Robin Knox
- Anita Schlarb
- Anne Warburton
Artist Biographies & Profiles
Shane Lucas Bailey
An oil painter and educator based in Ladysmith, Quebec, Shane was born in Australia and lived in Spain, the UK, and Hong Kong prior to moving to Canada. Here he has found his true creative anchor in the visceral, changing seasons of the Canadian countryside. Drawing upon his Celtic heritage and a deep, intuitive “listening” to the land, he translates the whispers of nature into rich, textural oil paintings. In this show he has put together a series of botanical paintings celebrating the varieties of wild orchids found in Canada’s boreal forest.
Cheryl Beillard
A printmaker and painter who also works in coloured pencil, Cheryl has recently concluded a show of some of the reference photographs of the upper Ottawa Valley that she uses in her art practice. For this show she has selected those she feels best reflect the colours, light and patterns of spring and summer. They offer glimpses into life in the meadows and streams, forest and marshland which provide sanctuary for birds and wildlife that largely inspire her art practice.
Dinah Devine
Self-taught artist Dinah Devine finds inspiration in the beauty and light of the natural world. Influenced by the landscapes of Constance Bay, the Ottawa Valley, and Gatineau Park, as well as her family roots in the Pontiac, her paintings reflect a love of nature, gardening, and time spent with her grandchildren. Through her work, Dinah shares her appreciation for the places and moments that inspire her. Each painting is an invitation to see the world through her eyes.
Sharron Doherty
Inspired by the vibrant landscapes and cultures of Mexico, New Orleans, Newfoundland, and South America, this Ottawa artist creates bold acrylic paintings filled with colour, movement, and emotion. Drawing inspiration from memorable travels and a love of the natural world, each work captures moments of beauty—from glowing sunrises over the ocean to quiet expressions of love beneath swirling skies inspired by the timeless artistry of Vincent van Gogh. Her paintings invite viewers to experience the joy, warmth, and wonder found in life’s most unforgettable moments.
Katharine Fletcher
Katharine is a fanciful dreamer who interprets the magic and mystery she perceives amid nature in her art. Her prints and mixed-media art ask us to consider, cherish and protect Earth’s biodiversity. She is deeply interested in Nature’s Alchemy – the process of transformation which occurs when printing with botanicals on Gelli-plates or when creating eco-dyed monoprints. Her work is highly experimental, drawing on the textures, light and forms found in Nature and she frequently incorporates ferns, grasses, bark, and leaves into her work. Additionally, she is a mark-maker where she embellishes her paintings with asemic writing and “scribbles” using a variety of tools.
Catherine Gutsche
Born and raised in Toronto, with a Bachelor of Fine Art degree from York University, Catherine creates intricate abstracted compositions on paper, wood panels and canvas alluding to forms in nature, ambient sound, and light. Freed from representational limits, her interest is in colour, line, rhythm and texture. She worked with acrylic paints for over two decades but in recent years has delved into combining oil with cold wax to play with texture. Regardless of scale, the momentum of her body informs the outcome. She uses a variety of tools, including brushes, palette knives, skewers, branches, and objects like metal spikes to gouge the surface she is working on which shapes the final product in surprising ways.
Robin Knox
Robin’s vibrant paintings celebrate the beauty found in everyday moments—from golden trees beneath dramatic skies to the textures of beloved animals and the quiet joy of painting alongside friends in nature. Working instinctively in watercolour, oil, pastel, pencil, and mixed media, she embraces the spontaneity of each medium, allowing colour and light to guide every brushstroke. A largely self-taught artist inspired by the words of Claude Monet, “I want to paint like the birds sing,” Robin has earned recognition including Prince Rupert’s first Outstanding Artist of the Year award, multiple juried exhibition honours, and continues to share her passion by teaching and inspiring fellow artists in her community.
Anita Schlarb
Anita Schlarb is a Canadian photographer interested in capturing images of colorful and unusual birds, wild, domestic, and aquatic animals, nature, and scenic landscapes, that she discovers in her travels. Starting in 2014, she decided to sell her nature photography, taken in the Caribbean, in several countries of Europe, and in many American states and Canadian provinces. She particularly loves bright colors, reflections, abstracts, birds and butterflies.
Anne Warburton
Inspired by the philosophy of wabi-sabi and the ever-changing cycles of nature, Anne creates contemporary fibre art that explores the relationship between natural and synthetic materials. Combining mono-printed Tyvek with layers of new and repurposed textiles, she transforms discarded materials into richly textured works that celebrate renewal, imperfection, and sustainability. A passionate educator and advocate for fibre arts, Anne also leads creative workshops and has played a key role in fostering Ottawa’s fibre art community through leadership and collaboration.
