Roger Arndt

“First I begin with music, then I imagine myself in a place…and then I paint.”

Canadian landscape artist Roger D. Arndt began to see the world through an artistic eye at the age of twelve. In the early 1970’s, at the age of fourteen, Arndt became inspired by the art of Loren D. Adams, Jr., a well-known seascape artist who was working out of Vancouver’s Granville Island district. Arndt became an apprentice to Adams and through careful observation and Adams mentoring, Arndt nurtured his own talent.

Over the next few decades, through a passion for exploration and academic study, Arndt’s love of nature sent him off exploring all the landscapes of the Canadian West including; the Alberta Rocky Mountains, Lake Louise, Jasper, and Athabasca regions hiking and camping at the base of towering mountains and ancient glaciers. Arndt also began to draw inspiration from the wilderness of childhood memories, from family camping excursions to British Columbia’s Manning Park.

Roger D. Arndt’s first solo art exhibition at Vancouver’s PNE was followed by a series of traveling shows with Paul Thomas Exhibitions. In these years, Roger focused mainly on seascapes of the Canadian West Coast including Long Beach on Vancouver Island.

Through his explorations of the west coast of Canada, Roger became fascinated with Pacific Northwest Coast aboriginal artists, the Haida, and their impressive totem poles carved from posts of mostly red cedar trees. He wanted to add structure to his paintings, and after studying the history of totems at the University of British Columbia, he began to incorporate them into his ocean paintings. Roger began to introduce gardens into his paintings in the mid-1990’s. He found inspiration in his own gardening experiences at his Okanagan home.

Roger Arndt lives and works from his studio homestead on his family-owned and operated tree fruit orchard, Arndt Orchards, in beautiful Kelowna, British Columbia. Arndt is currently focused on exploring the areas of the Kitlope, the largest intact coastal temperate rainforest on Earth, as well as continuing to paint the mountains of BC and Alberta.

Roger Arndt has exhibited at the Calgary Stampede’s Western Art Showcase for 25 years. He is one of the founding members of the Western Lights Artists Group which he travelled and exhibited with for over 24 years. Every year, Arndt holds at least two major exhibitions, and takes field trips into Canada’s West, mountains and forests to gather new material. When he is not painting, Arndt enjoys camping, fly fishing, horseback riding, and gardening.

Roger feels a powerful connection to his natural surroundings. He draws on nature, music and poetry; setting the tone and mood for each painting.

Source: rogerarndt.ca