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Olaf has new workshops listed on his website.

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For stunning realism, though, nobody surpasses Olaf Schneider, a master of the genre. His closeups of colourful glass objects are every bit as sensuous as his red canoes in wilderness settings.  www.olaf.ca

February 27, 2012 00:02:00
His realist painting of the sun casting a warm glow on two wooden Adirondack chairs as a blue lake laps around an Algonquin dock became a heartfelt thank you from Olaf Schneider to his father.

It is also one of 13 paintings chosen for wetlands conservation charity Ducks Unlimited Canada's (DUC) 2012 National Art Portfolio.

Auction bid sales of high quality, limited-edition lithographic prints of the original artworks framed in Canadian-made solid wood frames at 3,000 locations across Canada fund the charity's wetland conservation initiatives.

This is the Etobicoke fine artist's fourth painting to be selected for the charity's annual National Art Portfolio.

Schneider took a break from painting this year's work 'Dad's Favourite Place' of his friends the Wilsons' dock for his weekly coffee visit with his Dad. That's when the painting's name and purpose struck.

"Have you ever tried to make amends with someone and asked for their forgiveness?" Schneider asked. "Well, after completing this painting, I made my dad a Father's Day card and printed this image on the front. Inside the card I thanked him for all the things I could remember that he has done with me and for me."

Not realizing a message was inside, Schneider's emotional father called him later to say thank you.

"I sincerely thanked him for being my Dad, for always, always being there," Schneider recalled. "He's very non-judgmental, kind and giving of himself. His gift is time. He has given me time. When you spell time, it's really LOVE. That's the greatest gift you can give."

'Dad's Favourite Place' is Schneider's favourite among his now four National Art Portfolio paintings: Primary Colours (2007), Morning Coffee (2010) and Upon Awakening (2011).

"The National Art Portfolio is a unique program that not only promotes our country's outstanding nature artists, but the growing need to conserve the natural areas that inspire their work," Loraine Nyokong, DUC's national director of fundraising and membership said in a statement.

DUC gives artists extra prints, which they can sell themselves a year later.

Penny Burns runs the National Art Portfolio at DUC. She discovered Schneider and his paintings one August day several years ago at the annual Buckhorn Fine Art Festival north of Peterborough, Ont. She encouraged him to enter his work in the program.

"I was very taken, honoured that they liked my work," Schneider said.

So popular was Schneider's 2010 print Morning Coffee that buyers purchased all 2,500 copies he signed. DUC then printed more, Schneider said.

Schneider gained his artist training at the Ontario College of Art, Sheridan College and the Toronto Academy of Realist Art. His paintings are exhibited throughout North America, Italy, Denmark and Germany.

He paints landscapes on trips to Algonquin every few months, portraits, still life and murals.

He calls his life-like style "representational art". He uses colour, light and brushwork to create harmony in his pieces. He captures movement of water and clarity of sunlight, which seems to dance on his surfaces.

Many of Schneider's paintings look like photographs.

"I like to bring you there because it was so compelling for me when I was there (viewing what he painted). It's so overwhelming. I'm fascinated by many, many things. When I'm at that top level, I'm like, 'Oh my God. Look at that!' I want the viewer to share that experience. It's like explaining to someone, 'This is a really great book or you need to watch this movie.' You just want to give them the book or the DVD. I say, 'Here's the image. Here's what I saw.'"

He particularly loves to paint colourful marbles in glass containers. He doesn't use regular marbles, which he said are machine-made. Instead, he sourced a man in Boston, Mass. who creates marbles by hand.

"I love the marbles!" Schneider said, laughing. "It's so much fun to look at them. They're all hand-made. It's fascinating to look at all the colours inside. It's my version of abstract."

Schneider got his start painting murals for billboard advertising until companies learned it was cheaper to print an image and install it in hours than to hire an artist to paint an original over weeks.

Haven on the Queensway is the site of his most recent mural. It is hands holding a nest full of eggs. The eggs represent clients in need of help, the nest is Haven while the hands are those offering support, he explained.

Run by the congregation of the former Queensway Cathedral now known as Church on The Queensway, Haven offers a program called Safe Light that reaches out to sex-trade workers. The site of Haven is a former strip club.

Currently, Schneider's paintings are exhibited at Westmount Gallery, 88 Advance Rd. north of Norseman Street just west of Islington Avenue.

The Queensway resident works out of a studio nearby in the Dundas Street West and Islington Avenue area.

His originals of varying sizes sell anywhere from $500 to $14,000. Prints may be available on request. He also paints commissioned work.

As for the exposure the DUC Portfolio gives artists, Schneider said he is grateful. But he leaves his life in bigger hands.

"I don't know. I leave it up to God. I'm doing it for Him. He takes care of me."

See how Olaf painted the mural on the side of the wall at Haven on the Queensway