My name is Patrick LaMontagne, and I’m a cartoonist and digital painter. I’ve lived in the Bow Valley of the Canadian Rockies with my wife, Shonna, for over 30 years, first in Banff and now Canmore: different towns, same community.
I never went to art school or planned to have this creative life, but there’s nothing I would rather do. I’ve been drawing and painting digitally since the late 90s, beginning with one of the first available Wacom tablets.
At the beginning of my art career, I was an editorial cartoonist, first locally, then syndicated with several dozen newspaper clients across Canada. As the newspaper business fades, so does that part of my work. Change is inevitable. Thankfully, as a fun experiment in 2009, I painted a grizzly bear, in what has become my signature style, and the work I love most.
Of the more than 100 whimsical wildlife pieces I’ve painted since then, there are more bears in my catalog than any other animal. I’m a sucker for grizzlies.
People often say my award-winning animal paintings are ‘cartoony, but real’ or they ‘have so much personality.’
A gallery owner once told me that no matter how good my artwork, he wouldn’t have been interested if I was painting animals as they look in real life because “that’s what everybody else is doing.”
Whenever I can, I take my own reference pictures, and my wildlife photos often inspire the art that follows. But I use no photographs or AI in my paintings. It’s all brushwork, each piece beginning on a blank digital canvas, followed by hours painting little hairs on muzzles, freckles on noses, and smiles and smirks on bright-eyed faces.
People hire me to paint their pets in my style, too. And some of my favourite paintings have been commissions.
I sell my art on paper, canvas, and metal prints, as well as vinyl stickers and postcards, to individual collectors and wholesale customers. My art has also been licensed by several companies for a myriad of products worldwide. Here are just some of my past and current clients.
I’m at my best in the early morning, with a fresh cup of coffee, tunes playing in the earbuds, spending hours painting the details in a furry face, waiting for the personality to show up. Second to that is when I’m able to share my work in person, often at the Calgary Expo each year or the Banff Christmas Markets, where I get to see my art make people smile. That they don’t even realize it’s happening makes it one of my favourite things in life.
While you’re here, please check out my portfolio, read an entry on the blog, or visit the store to find a unique gift or to start your own collection. Sign up for A Wilder View, my regular email where I share new paintings, works-in-progress and the stories behind the art.
Questions and comments are welcome; drop me a line anytime. And if you’d like to license my work or become a wholesale client, I’m happy to begin that conversation.
Stay as long as you like, look around, and discover which critters make you smile.
Cheers,
Patrick
Email: patrick@nulllamontagneart.com
