I grew up and until recently lived in the valley town of Dundas Ontario. Dundas was a charming place to grow up with the escarpment and large expanses of wilderness parkland. I developed a love of the outdoors at a very young age and as an avid camper and canoe tripper I continue to cherish time spent outside exploring new places or revisiting old.
I have taken many art classes and workshops over the years at the Dundas Valley School of Art, The Haliburton School of Art and Design and Gallery on the Lake. I have been taught and inspired by many artists starting with Rob Roi who was my grade 7/8 art teacher. Katherine MacDonald taught me the joys of painting portraits. Catherine Gibbon and Laurie Wonfor Nolan taught me the joys of painting outside and I became hooked.
I painted in watercolours for years but when I started painting outdoors I switched to oils because my water would freeze in the winter. I loved the buttery feel of oil paint however it is impractical for travel and canoe trips. I decided that I had to learn to use acrylics and after much frustration I now love using them. I can paint thickly much like with oil paint and use the fast drying to allow me to push and pull a painting using combinations of multiple layers of thick paint and thin glazes.
My wife, Debbie and I recently made the decision to purchase and move into my parents home on Paudash Lake and I cannot wait to get settled enough to get out painting more. My parents bought a cottage here in 1966 and I have spent much of my spare time since at the lake. To now be living in what was, for most of my life, my happy place is surrealistic.
While I miss my numerous artistic friends in southern Ontario I have joined a wonderful artist co-op called "A Place for the Arts" and I am looking forward to meeting artists and making new friends in this area. Bancroft has a thriving artist community and I am looking forward to becoming a part of it. Dundas was an outdoor painters paradise but I think that this area kicks it up a notch.
I am excited about what I have accomplished and can't wait to see where my art will take me next.
I have taken many art classes and workshops over the years at the Dundas Valley School of Art, The Haliburton School of Art and Design and Gallery on the Lake. I have been taught and inspired by many artists starting with Rob Roi who was my grade 7/8 art teacher. Katherine MacDonald taught me the joys of painting portraits. Catherine Gibbon and Laurie Wonfor Nolan taught me the joys of painting outside and I became hooked.
I painted in watercolours for years but when I started painting outdoors I switched to oils because my water would freeze in the winter. I loved the buttery feel of oil paint however it is impractical for travel and canoe trips. I decided that I had to learn to use acrylics and after much frustration I now love using them. I can paint thickly much like with oil paint and use the fast drying to allow me to push and pull a painting using combinations of multiple layers of thick paint and thin glazes.
My wife, Debbie and I recently made the decision to purchase and move into my parents home on Paudash Lake and I cannot wait to get settled enough to get out painting more. My parents bought a cottage here in 1966 and I have spent much of my spare time since at the lake. To now be living in what was, for most of my life, my happy place is surrealistic.
While I miss my numerous artistic friends in southern Ontario I have joined a wonderful artist co-op called "A Place for the Arts" and I am looking forward to meeting artists and making new friends in this area. Bancroft has a thriving artist community and I am looking forward to becoming a part of it. Dundas was an outdoor painters paradise but I think that this area kicks it up a notch.
I am excited about what I have accomplished and can't wait to see where my art will take me next.