Collections - Public Speaking - Prints
Brian Croft is a former fighter pilot with the Canadian Forces. Today he is a widely recognized artist whose work emanates from the beautiful locales surrounding Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. He has introduced a historical and heritage perspective into his work and this has become the trademark and theme of his various collections. Brian’s works were rendered initially as watercolour paintings; more recently his major works are acrylic on canvas. His meticulous research and paint process continues to produce highly detailed and evocative paintings of our past. He resides in Langley, B.C. and has created over 380 works.
Collections:
The Langleys Collection is Brian’s cornerstone watercolour collection. It includes images of the pioneering days in the local B.C. towns of Langley Prairie, Milner, Fort Langley and Murrayville. Other smaller collections are:
The Steveston Collection, The Sunshine Coast Collection, and The Canadian Skies Collection
In late 2003 Brian transitioned onto canvas; this resulted in:
The Streetcars of Vancouver or BCElectric Collections.These paintings chronicle the colourful, romantic and dynamic history of the B.C. Electric Company’s electrified streetcar and interurban service, which commenced in 1890. Over time this direction widened to include more contemporary images of British Columbia's history.
The Night Lights and Christmas Collections are arranged works for convenient viewing on this website.
MY PASSION FOR HISTORY AND AVIATION
I'd like to mention I am writing a book about the early years of aviation in British Columbia. This work has been ongoing for a few years now and I mention it in case any of you are interested in our aviation history. The book is entirely focused on events prior to 1931 which was the year that the city of Vancouver opened its second airport on Sea Island. Feel free to contact me if you have any information or photgraphs that you think might be of interest; just click on the "CONTACT BRIAN" link on the far left of the screen. Brian
Public Speaking Engagements:
Brian presents a compelling, colourful and sequential visual tour of his artistic journey. He speaks of the evolving direction of his work with a special emphasis on the intriguing nature of the historical research required to render each canvas as a legitimate portrayal of our past. He also introduces each painting in a way that lets the viewer to step into warm and sensitive scenes of our past and the past-lives of our ancestors in Vancouver and British Columbia.
About my Giclee prints:
My fascination with painting history resulted in the creation of hundreds of images. Over time I found that I truly regretted parting with my original work, when it was sold at galleries. It seemed to me that all my research and brushwork was simply disappearing into private collections where it was not available for the rest of us to see. Because of this, I decided to make my work more widely available in the form of both limited edition and open edition prints.
Initially I printed and published limited edition lithographic prints on paper. As the new printing process called giclee' arrived I also produced giclee' prints on watercolour paper and more recently giclee’ prints on canvas. It is the canvas giclee’ print that now represents most of my current work. Any of my painting may be offered as either a lithographic print, watercolour paper giclee print or canvas giclee' print or even in all three of these formats.
About my Limited Edition Prints. - Printed by Hemlock Printers
Over the past decades I have used several printing-company providers but eventually selected Hemlock Printers in Burnaby to create my giclee prints. Hemlock Printers is a fine establishment with exceptional capabilities that are precisely what a serious artist needs. Hemlock's extraordinary proofing capabilities result in canvas prints of the highest quality, with accurate fidelity in colour and detail. To ensure that each image will be precisely duplicated whenever I need them for the marketplace, Hemlock Printers archives each of my proofs for future reference.
My limited edition print- runs are limited by me in that I specify and control the total number that will be created. Using the example of a run of 95 signed-numbered prints, this "limit" is documented in promotional literature as (SN95). In addition I create a very limited number of Publisher Proofs (PP) which will not exceed 5% of the SN total. I also create Artist Proofs (AP) which will not exceed 10% of the SN total. In this example case of a (SN95, AP10, PP5) limited edition run, a total of 110 prints will be created.
Each limited edition print is accompanied with a numbered certificate of authenticity. The certificate also contains a summary of the history of the image as well as a few artistic comments.
With some variations, I generally produce canvas giclee prints in the following standard sizes which are specified in promotional literature:
20" x 32" this is my Regular sized print,
28" x 44" this is my Large sized print (available in most print titles),
34" x 54" this is my Super-Size print (available on a few print titles only).
Regardless of the the variety of sizes that I print within a particular limited edition run, the total of all the prints created within that run will not exceed the stated (SN plus AP plus PP) total; which in the case above would be a total of 110 prints of various sizes.
Brian