Sparks Street, Ottawa, looking down Metcalfe Street towards the Parliament building.
Anna-Liisa (anna) Jalava was born 1926 in Helsinki, Finland. She married Mauri Jalava in 1945 and the couple emigrated to Canada in 1952. In 1954 they settled in Toronto and the artist would travel about the surrounding Muskoka and Georgian Bay regions painting the scenery. Eventually, the family decided to buy a place by Mill Lake, near Parry Sound in 1962. Anna studied art at the Institute de Allende in San Miguel de Allende in Mexico in the late 1960s. She taught art classes in Parry Sound from 1971 to 1974 and in her downtown Sudbury studio in 1975 while her husband attended Laurentian University.
In 1980 the couple moved to Ottawa where she painted the city’s local landmarks. Her works were very popular with tourists visiting the city looking for mementos of their trip. In 1982 Koyman Galleries of Ottawa started selling her original paintings and reproduction prints.
Painting on masonite measures approximately 9” x 12” and the original frame is about 17 5/8” x 20 5/8”. Frame has some minor scrape marks.