Local artist shows off his many talents

The Bushfire Gallery will be alight again this weekend, on Feb. 28 and Mar. 1, with a new breed of art by Alan Butler, who is showing off some of his work of portraits, fantastical creatures and Spanish dancers.

A renowned Jasper landscape painter, Alan Butler hasn’t picked up a paintbrush in more than six months and instead has been lending his artistic abilities to the new realm of digital technology.

“I was a bit burnt out doing landscapes,” said Butler who has been drawing fantasy creatures since he was a young boy.

“It’s something I’ve always done all my life, growing up in England with Robin Hood and that kind of thing and I’ve always drawn so I did things like that just to sort of create my own little world.”

Butler has found a new realm of creativity by taking his pencil sketches of fantastical creatures, sometimes lightly shaded or coloured, and scanning them into this computer. He can then digitally edit them to please his eye, developing a range of fantasy based images this way.

Also on display were some of Butlers works that used jazz musicians and tango dancers as the subject, a dramatic change from the Canadian Rockies landscapes that have become his trademark.

“It’s something most people don’t know I do, but something I’ve drawn for a long, long, time,” said the artist.

“I’ve always enjoyed drawing the human form and I like trying to capture the expressions. It’s a way of keeping fresh. When Ray (Syrja) and I teach classes we often tell students, ‘If you can draw the human form, you can pretty much draw anything, because it covers all aspects of what you’re dealing with in nature’.”

While the latest exhibit shows a step away from the landscapes, the Jasperite hasn’t moved on permanently. “I haven’t given up on landscapes. I will go back to them for sure,” he said.

The wealth of creative talent enjoyed by the local Jasperite is evident as he speaks passionately about his creative writing. The artist is currently working on an adult comic book as well as an adult fantasy about fairies, dragons and wizards, both featuring some of the fantastical creatures he has created.

Unfortunately, Ray Syrja was unable to take part in the exhibit for personal reasons.