David Lidbetter Biography

Born in 1962, David Lidbetter developed an early appreciation for the Canadian wilderness.

As a child the times spent traveling with his family through scenic provinces became the catalyst for his future painting career and an intensive art studio program in his formative teenage years solidified his love for art.

After many years of exploring various mediums and subject matter, Lidbetter has spent the last 10 painting highly identifiable and unquestionably Canadian landscapes in oil.

He works close to his home and studio in Ottawa, Canada in areas like Temagami, Gatineau and Algonquin Park. It is no coincidence that his work is reminiscent to the vistas explored by other landscape painters like Tom Thompson and The Group of Seven.

In fact David’s work has been recognized as highly collectable and described as “contemporary feeling Group of Seven scenes pared down to their essentials. [Where] mood seems more important than the actual details of forests, rivers and skies.”

David will spend hours and sometimes days in local forests and nearby lakes photographing, studying, sketching and absorbing the information he will later turn into larger paintings. He works primarily in oil on board and most recently has introduced casein and watercolours.

He says of his ever-evolving work “The scenes that capture me are often the ones that would immediately be overlooked by others. Something usually catches my eye, such as a change of light or a strong contrast of colour and shapes”


Selected Solo Exhibitions
2008 Natural Silence, Terence Robert Gallery, Ottawa, Ontario
2006 Stimulus, Rothwell Gallery , Ottawa, Ontario
2005 Point of View, Galerie du Parc, Chelsea, Quebec
2004 Natural Expression, Galerie Old Chelsea, Chelsea, Quebec
2004 Local Colour, Rothwell Gallery, Ottawa, Ontario


Selected Group Exhibitions
2009 The New Art Festival, Ottawa, Ontario
2007 Art in the Park , Ottawa, Ontario
2005 Ottawa Art Gallery, Ottawa, Ontario
2005 Elmwood Art Fair, Ottawa, Ontario
2005 Ottawa Art Festival, Ottawa, Ontario
2004 Elmwood Home & Art Fair, Ottawa, Ontario
2004 Art in the Garden, Ottawa, Ontario
2004 Ottawa Art Festival, Ottawa, Ontario