An artist for all seasons-oils his forte
Painting the landscape in oils is the forte of Kanata artist, John Mlacak. His en plein air paintings take you on a journey through the magnificent Gatineau Park, Rivière Rouge and Charlevoix areas of Québec. Other paintings reflect scenes in Ottawa-Carleton and travel in the Maritimes, New England and Europe.



Recently, John has been creating large oil canvases of stone terraces, flower-filled gardens, porches and impressionistic scenes of yesteryear. In the last several years, he has had an enthusiastic response to his oil miniatures.

John, a passionate outdoor painter, works mainly in oils but he also paints in watercolours and pastels. His work picks up the bold, dramatic colours of the Canadian seasons and the vibrant red and green roofs of Québec farm buildings and towns. He is fascinated by the play of light and shade weaving through the trees and over the white torrent of waterfalls and rapids. John has been painting for over twenty years and is a full-time artist. His work is exhibited in local galleries and is represented in private and corporate collections in Canada, the United States, Europe, Australia, Korea and Indonesia.

SOS Children's Villages Canada selected John as a 1997 featured Canadian artist and reproduced his oil painting, "Ste-Marie-de-Charlevoix" as a Christmas card. The card proved to be very popular and SOS made it available again in 1998 and 1999.