Percy Ritchie: Sketches & Studies

“Pacific No. 1” P.M. Ritchie 1983

Never-Before-Seen watercolour studies by Percy Ritchie, on display in our Front Gallery this summer.

We are delighted to show these lovely watercolour sketches that Percy Ritchie did as preparatory studies for her large paintings on canvas. Here she works with colours and contours, elements that she scales back in many of her paintings, leaving shadows, imprints, and suggestions.

The small paintings here are a meditation on landscapes that were familiar and meaningful to Percy and her family. Trips to the West Coast, “The Spit”, and Schooner’s Cove.

“106 ° Kamloops Hills” P.M. Ritchie 1972

She has also played with contours in the hills above Kamloops, and a flattened perspective of an orchard.

Percival Ritchie (nee MacKenzie) was born on July 9, 1917 at Pointe-au-Pic in Quebec’s Charlevoix region. During her formative teen years she studied at an all girls private school called “The Study” under Ethel Seath, who was also part of the Beaver Hall Group of painters. 

“Orchard” P.M. Ritchie 1971

At nineteen, (now the mid 1930’s), Percival set out to study art in Paris, where she studied academic drawing at Atelier Miguet. Two years later, she was back in Montreal studying at the Art Association of Montreal. There, she studied under several influential instructors, the most notable being Goodrich Roberts and Edwin Holgate. She would later go on to study with Arthur Lismer of the Group of Seven.

“Schooner Cove Pacific” P.M. Ritchie, drawing for painting n.d.

By 1942, Percy was already a respected artist when she married Fred Ritchie. She and her husband shared the dream of living a rural lifestyle and in 1956, together with their 4 children, the family moved to Naramata, BC and realized their dream when they bought a mixed fruit orchard.

Percy and Fred flourished in Naramata,  and each left their enduring mark on the village; Percy leaving behind murals both in the local community church and at the Naramata Centre.