Quinn's of Tweed Fine Art Gallery

Audrey Ross

Of the many talented visual artists in the Tweed area, Audrey Ross might perhaps be considered the dean of local painters. Her work, particularly her watercolours, have drawn growing praise and admiration. She is a fellow and past president of the Ottawa Watercolour Society and over the years has held many exhibits and won numerous awards for her work. 

“I was born in Moose Jaw and moved East in 1945,” says Ross as she recounts a career that took her to Ottawa, where she married, and then to Toronto, Edmonton, Quebec and eventually back to Ottawa before she settled in Tweed. “I started painting here in 1975 (where she studied at the Schneider School of Fine Arts) and moved to Tweed in 1985.” 

Ross' work is quietly arresting and calming, with subtle structuring and balance and a muted but colourful luminosity that shines through her watercolours which mainly deal with landscapes and rural features such as rivers, dams, forests and farms. Audrey likes to employ various methods to achieve a look including submerging a finished painting in hot water and letting the colors blossom.