Winchester Galleries  in Victoria, B.C. has great openings–live music, good food and (sometimes!) wine.  It’s always fun to wander through…where else can you hear live harp music on a Saturday afternoon?

This month’s show is headlined by Tad Suzuki, and Ronald Markham, but it was Tristram Landsdowne’s  work that caught my eye, and held my attention.  The watercolours and the etchings are beautifully rendered.  It’s obvious he’s inherited some of  Fenwick Landsdowne’s talents.  His subject matter, however,  differs greatly from his father’s avian and wildlife images.  Tristram creates architectural constructs that seem to hover or float.  In his compositions, a mostly representational structure is placed in an unlikely and/or impossible setting.

The work is gorgeous, and intriguing.  It’s no surprise he was a finalist in the RBC Painting Competition in 2011.  It’s great to hear he had work purchased by the National Gallery of Canada.