Maritime landscapes and seascapes
Resides in Lakeside, Nova Scotia
When Pat began to paint in earnest, the sources of her imagination were near at hand. Her father, Douglas Brewer, was a craftsman, a cabinet-maker, and a builder with an acute sense of architectural rightness. He built houses and, in his youth in Newfoundland, he built boats. His daughter has sharp girlhood memories of drawing pictures of boats in the landscape. Those memories go back to the early 40s, in Halifax.
Fascination with line, colour, and form became part of life. To kindle it into work, encouragement was needed. It came from family friend and Maritime artist, Anthony Law. He was Pat's principal mentor in the ensuing years. His workshops were supplemented by painting instruction from Jean Edmonds Hancock, John Cook, and Robert Percival and watercolour sessions with Roger Savage and Jane Shaw.
Pat has painted almost exclusively in watercolour since 1985, when injuries from a horse-riding accident made the labours associated with the use of oils impossible. Recently, she has returned to oils enjoying the freedom and skills to paint in whatever medium the subject inspires.
In 1985, The Chief and Petty Officers'/Warrant Officers' and Sergeants' Mess at Windsor Park sought the perfect gift to honour the retirement of Rear-Admiral Fred Crickard. They found it in their commission to Pat to paint a portrait of HMCS Sackville, the last corvette surviving from the Second World War. Since the HMCS Sackville commission, Ms. Burstall has become the most prominent painter of Canadian navy ships. In 1989, on the recommendation of its curator, Ms. Marilyn Gurney, the Maritime Command Museum appointed Ms. Burstall as Artist-in-Residence, a position she still holds. You may view and purchase prints of this marvellous collection on Pat's web site at www.hmcsnavyships.com/index.html
Pat's work is in many private and public collections. The 24 original watercolours for the suite "Lost in Action" adorn the walls of The McKee Room at Windsor Park in Halifax. The Maritime Command Museum has a collection of the prints and a collection of watercolours of military houses on permanent exhibition.Teaching less than in the past, she nevertheless continues the mentoring tradition by leading a fully-subscribed monthly watercolour class.
This May, Pat received news of a web site dedicated to the HMCS Alberni by an American, Lewis Bartholomew . While taking one of his many trips from Seattle, Washington to Courtenay, British Columbia, Lewis took the ferry Queen of Alberni. While pacing the decks of Queen of Alberni he noticed a painting that was hanging on the wall. It was the painting you see below by Pat Burstall. The site, www.alberniproject.org/burstallenglish.html, has become a public project designed for the education and preservation of documents and stories of the HMCS Alberni and her crew, as well as stories from Canadians (and their families) who served in the Royal Canadian Forces during WWI, WWII, Korea, Viet Nam, Yugoslavia, the war in Afghanistan and Peace Keeping missions around the world by using multi-media and hands on exhibits. "All this", as Lewis states, "because of one painting, one ship and 59 lives."
Most recently, in February 2005, Pat was honoured by an invitation to join the Canadian Society of Marine Artists, a society dedicated to Canadian artists who have been inspired by Canada's oceans, lakes, ships and those who sail in them. She will be participating in their annual exhibitions held in the society’s Picton, Ontario art gallery.
Lakeside, Nova Scotia
e-mail: burstall@hmcsnavyships.com