ESSENCE is all about capturing the fundamental nature of things in life, distinguishing the core immaterial components of existence. With the ESSENCE exhibition of June fast approaching, it’s an opportune time to discuss with our eight talented artists about their work, creative philosophy, and what makes them the artist that they are.

JOHN AUGER

Artist Bio

John Auger, Born 1978 in Massett, British Columbia, now resides in Barrie, Ontario where he has his home studio. He has been painting for over 20 years but has only recently made a leap jump into the art scene. He engages the viewer through the use of a semi-abstract form of painting. His landscapes and Canadian/Provincial symbols have quickly gathered a dedicated base of collectors.

Artist Statement

"With my latest work I’m trying to take the semi-abstract lines and make them more prominent by adding more definition and making the pieces more complex. The skies and bodies of water are really popping out. The use of lines and light and dark really add a dramatic feel to each piece. I love using Canadian landscapes and nature because I believe that Canada has so much more to offer than most see. I have been all over this country and I am always surprised at what I can find."

“Evolution of the Strawberry,” by John Auger

There is a strong focus on avian subjects in your work. What inspired you to paint birds? Do they represent anything special to you personally?

I decided to paint birds because I painted a theme of Provincial Flowers as well as Provincial Landscapes. The next step was birds. There was no real attachment to the theme but I would have to say that I found it very educational. I paint themes of Canada and the provinces primarily and I feel representation of this country in art is important.

Distinct shapes can be found throughout your brushstrokes. What prompted this artistic stylistic choice, and what do you want the viewership to take away from it?

I am and have always been a fan of Picasso, Cézanna and Braque. I started out by replicating what they painted and then later moved on to painting my own style but I always got "stuck" like I could never find what I was looking for. A good friend of mine and artist assured me I was in the right direction and sort of mentored me to where I am now and I have been "evolving since. I want the viewer to take away what they want. I, in all honesty, paint for myself and whatever the viewer sees or feels about a piece is how they feel. My art is the only thing in my life that I feel I can be selfish about.

Do your paintings represent any reflections of your own perspectives and experiences?

All my paintings reflect where I have been, what I feel about the subject and especially my perspectives. Even the birds were kind of a "next-step" in the provincial paintings but my attachment to this country and its provinces I feel is very deep and spiritual. Every one of my paintings stirs something inside me and I want the same for the viewer. Painting is very emotional for me.

What feelings do you hope to inspire in the viewer?

When a viewer sees one of my pieces I want them to believe that it already belonged to them. I want a memory to instantly become attached, like they have been there or seen that. I want them to have an emotional attachment like I do when I paint it. My art is primarily my memories so I want the viewer to attach my piece to their memories.

CHANTEL BETTENCOURT

Artist Bio

Chantel Bettencourt is an evocative expressionistic painter living in Halton Hills, ON. Primarily focusing on painting landscapes with expressive palette knife techniques with acrylic on wood canvas. She Graduated from Visual and Creative Arts and Sheridan College in Oakville ON.

Her journey into art and mental health began to unfold in January 2021. Not only did painting allow her to express her pent-up emotions, but it also brought her a feeling of inner peace and got her into a meditative state of mind. Her love of art was reinstated. Chantel knew she needed to continue painting, tell her story, and help others feel less alone by seeing their emotions expressed through art.

She is an advocate for mental health and donates 5% of proceeds towards the Canadian Mental Health Association.

Artist Statement

I am delighted to have the opportunity to showcase my artwork as part of the "Essence" art exhibition. As an artist, I draw inspiration from the Canadian landscapes that I visited when I was younger. These landscapes have always held a special place in my heart, and I use my art to capture their beauty and evoke a sense of nostalgia in the viewer.

My featured pieces in this exhibit are an expression of my desire to capture and convey the essence of emotions and experiences that move me deeply. I use a palette knife to create dynamic movement in my paintings, allowing the colors and figures to dance around the canvas in an expressionist style. Each painting is an extension of my soul, and I strive to stay authentic to the feeling of the painting with my unique vision.

My paintings are not only a reflection of the landscapes themselves but also symbolize the memories and emotions that they hold. I aim to transport the viewer to a specific moment in time, allowing them to relive their own experiences and memories. Through my art, I hope to promote self-exploration and awareness, as painting is a personal form of meditation and therapy for me.

I am inspired by nature and textures to convey evocative paintings. The use of a palette knife creates a rough texture and thick layers, allowing me to sculpt the paint and create a sense of depth. I strive to incorporate these textures and patterns into each piece to create a unique visual experience.

I believe that art is a powerful tool for communication and connection, and I hope that my pieces in this exhibit will spark a sense of curiosity and contemplation about the fundamental nature of things. I am excited to be a part of this exhibit and share my vision with others.

Thank you for taking the time to view my art, and I hope that my pieces will evoke a sense of nostalgia and wonder in the viewer.

Through working on your paintings, how have you achieved greater self-exploration and meditative reflection?

Grieving is a journey that never really ends, but there's a distinction between "new grieving" and "old grieving." When I'm painting, it's the "old grieving" that comes to the surface. It's bittersweet because it brings up those memories and emotions, but at the same time, it's a way to honour them and feel grateful for the time I had with the people I've lost. It's like a mix of sadness and happiness, all wrapped up in my artwork. It's my way of capturing the ups and downs of life and turning them into something meaningful.

Your work features more muted colours in a lot of places. What inspired the specific colour palettes that you choose?

Using muted colours gives the viewers a chance to project their own emotions onto the painting. It's like they find a space within the artwork to place their feelings and create a sense of peace around them. The colours create this calm and contemplative atmosphere, allowing people to connect with the art in their own unique way. It's pretty cool how colours can evoke such powerful emotions and give us a sense of serenity.

Throughout your paintings, you seem to gravitate towards skies and bodies of water. Do these places hold any particular special meaning to you, and what do you want them to mean to the viewership?

For me, water and the sky hold a special significance that goes beyond their physical presence. These elements have been associated with a wide range of emotions throughout history. On one hand, they can evoke a sense of depth, weight, and even fear. On the other hand, they possess a serene and peaceful quality.

Water and the sky are fascinating because they represent opposing forces in terms of their placement in the world, yet they share similar emotional traits. They both embody the concept of constant change. Just like the viewers themselves, these elements are in a perpetual state of transformation.

By incorporating skies and bodies of water into my paintings, I invite viewers to experience and connect with these emotions. I want the viewership to engage with the ever-changing nature of their own emotions and find solace in the fact that change is a fundamental part of our existence. Whether it's the vastness of the sky or the flowing currents of water, these elements serve as a visual reminder that our emotions are fluid and dynamic.

What inspired the artistic decision to stick with rougher textures and patterns?

By incorporating rough textures and patterns, I aim to create a tactile and visceral experience for the viewers. These elements add depth and character to the artwork, mirroring the diverse textures and patterns we encounter in our own lives. They serve as a visual representation of the complexities, imperfections, and beauty that coexist within our world.

Furthermore, the rough textures and patterns provide a visual language through which viewers can connect with the artwork on a more visceral level. It invites them to explore the layers and nuances, inviting a deeper emotional engagement. It's about embracing the rawness and embracing the imperfections, as they hold a unique beauty that reflects the intricacies of the human experience.

SIMON RASKINA

Artist Bio

Toronto-based artist Simon Raskina creates displays of majestic color through his detailed paintings of familiar and exotic subjects. His work focuses on the enduring natural beauty of landscapes and animals, with applications of kaleidoscopic brushstrokes and smoky textures to produce a picturesque quality. Although working in a realistic style, Raskina's compositions contain an idealized palette that tends towards fantasy and neon opulence. This effect, however, only adds to the naturalistic style and the overall sense of positivity and unrestrained energy in his works. Simon has had the opportunity to exhibit and showcase his paintings in New York, Denver, Toronto and Los Angeles.

Artist Statement

Wildlife and landscape paintings have been a tremendous part of my artistic journey. Capturing a moment in time with my paintbrush and presenting that moment with my own style and bizzare palette is what I do best. When we visit a zoo or a wildlife sanctuary, the animals there mystify us with their beauty. When I return to my studio with my reference photos to paint, I use my technicolor palette to enrich the experience for the viewer. These paintings of purple iguanas, green giraffes and red tigers allow us to fall in love all over again with these majestic creatures viewing them in a new light. I hope to spread awareness of these endangered species and their value to our world. Essence in art is capturing a moment in time with my paintbrush.

There is a cosmic atmosphere incorporated into several of your works. What inspired this artistic choice and what feeling do you hope for viewers to take away from it?

Perhaps one of my favourite series I've painted was titled "Creation". I combined oil pastel along with acrylics to create wondrous galaxies and nebulas intertwined in a surreal imaginative realism animal portrait. I have one painting as part of that series showcasing in the ESSENCE exhibit titled "Wolf Nebula". I have always enjoyed incorporating a fantasy element into my paintings. I grew up admiring fantasy illustrators like Frank Frazetta, Julie Bell & Boris Vajelio. Combining galaxies with these majestic animals creates a sense of awe and mysticism. I hope for viewers to emotionally connect with whichever painting is their "spirit animal".

Your artist statement mentions capturing a moment in time. Can you tell us a bit more about the techniques and choices you make to immortalize these works specifically as singular moments in relation to the chronology of time?

I have always admired the painters and illustrators that would paint a scene or situation precisely the moment before something critical occurs. My painting titled "Prowl" depicts a tiger with glistening and attentive eyes ready to pounce on its prey any minute. I want viewers to take the time to create a narrative for these beautiful creatures. My references I either create using multiple photos or take myself at Toronto Zoo must always have a proud and grand presence to them.

What process do you go through to decide on which theme color to use for specific animals?

As an artist you are forever learning how to see. Sometimes the animal itself gives me a warm or cool feeling which translates to the color choices. I have painted green elephants, purple elephants and blue elephants. But never red. Colours mean something different to each person. The colour purple to me is royal, rich and majestic. Sometimes the pose of the animal also helps me decide the colour palette as well.

You manage to make the animals quite distinct despite using similar colors for both the subject and the background. What is the thought process and technique behind this?

I love creating paintings that are almost completely monochromatic except for a few contrasting highlights to accentuate areas for a focal point. I begin my paintings with different values of the same color and do not introduce complimentary or different colours until the end. Once I have found all of my shadows and created the form of the subject, then it's time to jazz up the subject with an explosion of colour. I always want a balance between abstraction and controlled painting.

ALANA PANCYR

Artist Bio

Alana Pancyr is an Actress and a Multimedia Artist from Saskatoon Saskatchewan, now living in Toronto, Ontario. As seen in 'The Handmaid's Tale' as OfWyatt and 'Murdoch Mysteries' and works in social media content creation. Grossing over 100k on Instagram alone. Her works cover mediums from digital, acrylic to oil painting. She is known for her forest collections and isolation series, which she created during the COVID lockdown. Her works are an ever changing expression of her environments and emotions.

Artist Statement

A lot of the enjoyment of a forest, or being in nature, is the feeling it gives you. I love focusing on the feeling I get from nature and how that moves from me onto the canvas. I am excited to be showing in 'Essence' as that is what my work embodies, an essence, rather than an exact portrayal of a landscape. The places you see depicted don't really exist, they are a collaboration of images from my mind and photos to create the landscapes shown. It's important to me to convert something true and deconstruct it a little. I love the idea that a painting should represent something but not spell it out exactly, leaving the interpretation to the viewer. Playing unconventional colours helps me push the feelings of the work versus a direct image.

What do I want to say with my art? I want the viewer to be free to interpret how it makes them feel. May they find solace in the ponds, comfort under the brands and experience all their own feelings they have felt in nature again in my work. Feel the light through the leaves and be left with the impression you could walk right into the painting and into your own little world.

Your approach to encouraging viewer interpretation is fascinating as people bring their own lived experiences and perspectives into how they digest a work of art. As for you personally, what feeling does being in a forest inspire in you, and how does this translate into your desire to open your work up to a multiverse of takeaways?

For me the forests and landscapes come from a certain relaxing place in my mind. I find a lot of comfort under trees and in nature. I think with any art it's important to stay open to interpretation, we are all so different in our thought processes so there is some magic in that. I think as an actor I was taught to create and let go of the end result so that happens a lot in my art also, the audience is their own chapter in the creative process.

You play around with very different colour palettes and styles in your work. What motivates you to incorporate such a diverse range into your work?

Honestly I don't have the best answer for that, I guess that is where 'style' comes into play and the recognizable features of an artist. My friends recognize my work from my brush strokes and the fact that my palettes lean blue. My first landscape ever was just using a lot of blues, again it's almost not on purpose even, just a lot of my work ends up like that. Blue isn't even my favourite color but it's hugely used in my work so that's somewhat comical. There must be something about it for me but I haven't found the true meaning even for myself. I think it's also about adding my own interpretation of things and letting go, like if I wanted a picture of a forest I'd take one but I want artwork, I want to recognize the forest even as something less exact.

On the matter of taking something real and present and deconstructing it, how do you make use of various techniques and stylistic choices to deconstruct and represent a reality into a feeling?

I think I follow impressionists in that way, I love that you don't need a lot of detail for something to be recognizable, or exact colours. I find it more playful and exciting to allow myself to interpret how I see things, what I consider beautiful. I use a lot of play of colour and larger brushes to allow for that.

There is strong usage of fairly defined lines in your work. What inspired this artistic choice and how does it play into the message you want to convey?

I grew up working a lot in a more cartoon/comic style so I think that's why I am so line heavy. I like the division of light and space and that takes something to create that divide. Also nature, plains, treas, branches, I just see a lot of lines and nature and use that to reflect the subject in my work.

SARAH MATTINSON

Sarah Mattinson

Artist Bio

Sarah Mattinson is a local Canadian Artist who grew up in barrie and has always lived within the GTA. Starting out making artworks for family and friends she did her first festival in 2019 and grew her art career from there! During covid she was featured in virtual galleries and launched a website and an etsy store. Zoom forward to today and at 28 specializes in nature inspired abstract and landscape works. With a love for high contrasts and inspiring powerful scenes from nature.

With an educational background in Anthropology prior to finding her passion as a painter she had the opportunity to study the evolution of man and the beauty that cultures around the world have to offer. This same beauty found worldwide is the same essence that is intended to be captured within these pieces.

Artist Statement

As an artist, my passion is to share the beauty of nature and my abstract creations with the world. I believe that art has the power to transform spaces and bring joy to people's lives. My paintings are a reflection of my connection to nature, and I strive to capture its beauty and complexity in my work. Each piece I create is a unique expression of my love for the beauty the world has to offer, and I pour my heart and soul into every brushstroke. Please enjoy.

Could you tell us more about how you incorporate temperature into your work?

Typically in the past I have catered to cooler tones in my pieces but recently have started choosing a colour of the year and incorporating that in all my works. This year is a Deep Navy Blue called Annapolis blue and has brought a very deep cool tone to my works that I have been thoroughly enjoying. In the future I am excited to work around warmer tones as well and am enjoying the process or exploring each thoroughly.

You have chosen a focus on more wintry subjects. What draws you to this sort of winter-esque atmosphere?

Growing up in a Northern climate you tend to see the beauty winter has to offer and I try to bring that serenity into my nature work. The Wintery scenes seamlessly blend with my navy blue art theme for this year's collection of works, I also find myself irresistibly drawn to the allure of snow capped mountain peaks! I'll be trying to take advantage of as many navy aesthetic mountain or seascape inspirations I can before I move on to a new colour theme for 2024.

Your artist statement says that your paintings are a reflection of your connection to nature. How do you make use of certain techniques and artistic aspects to reflect the essence of this connection as a reflection of something that is personal to you?

I strive to capture the personable and intuitive connection we all share with nature in my paintings. My Goal is to evoke that uplifting and energizing feeling of being away from urban life, surrounded by the beauty of the natural world. I believe many nature lovers seek that same sensation when they explore the outdoors. Through my art, I aim to bring a piece of that experience into peoples homes allowing buyers a chance to enjoy and cherish everyday.

The style in which you paint is well-defined and pinpointable. How does this play into your desired artistic message and what you hope for the viewer to take away?

Thank you for noticing the well-defined and pinpointable style in my paintings. This is a deliberate choice in an attempt to convey the same essense between my paintings. By Developing a consistent style I aim to establish a visual identity that sets my work apart and sparks curiosity in the viewer. I want them to recognize my paintings and immediately associate them with my artistic vision. Through my style, I hope to create a lasting impression that resonates with viewers, evoking emotions, and ultimately leaving them with a meaningful memorable experience.

MARY PERKINS

Artist Bio

Mary Perkins is a self-taught artist born and raised in North Toronto. Her love for the outdoors is exhibited in her oil painting nature landscapes, inspired by her recurring time in Toronto, Ottawa, Huntsville and Brampton. Mary’s approach is simply that of capturing what she feels when she gets in front of her canvas. Much like the landscapes that inspire her, her style conveys nature’s power, emotions and beauty with elegance and realism.

Artist Statement

Natural spaces hold immense soothing, healing and restorative powers and immersing ourselves in said spaces helps us find connections to the landscape and experience the varied emotions evoked from their beauty. Nature is a source of inspiration, relaxation, reflection and rejuvenation and my landscape vignettes are an expression of those essences.

Your work has a very heavy emphasis on blues and dark colours. Can you tell us what draws you to this specific colour palette?

Since childhood I've always been drawn in by blues of any hue, it has simply always been my favourite colour. As an oil painter, I find blues, especially dark blues, such a joy to create and connect with as they allow me to create an atmosphere that is quite palpable to me, as well as the viewer. Indigo is simply a staple and go-to in my often limited palette. I gravitate to it time and time again.

You mention wanting to evoke a varied range of emotions, including those that are relaxing and rejuvenating. Could you elaborate on what sort of artistic choices you make in the process of coaxing such an emotional takeaway?

When I sit in front of my canvas I usually have no plan as to what I am going paint. I do not use reference photos, nor sketch onto the canvas. What I create often depends on my mood and sometimes the mood I'd like to arrive at on that day. A feeling or memory is what I try to capture on the canvas. I find nature scenes, particularly nocturnes, can beckon the viewer to get lost in the vista and connect with nature in its simplicity, its quiet, it stillness, its sounds, and at the same time be acutely aware of nature's constant movement. In our lives we can identity with serene moments in nature, just as we can relate to the ferocious ones.

There is an incorporation of heavy shadows in your work. What do these mean to you and what do you want them to convey?

Shadows. So much happens under the cover of night. The perhaps heard, but unseen goings on in natural spaces. Watchful eyes upon us we don't even know are there. Shadows may also occupy our thoughts. Darkness can envelop us in so many ways, physically and emotionally, and I'm attracted to exploring dark moments which can hold beauty and pain concurrently. Examining the dark moments truly allows us to appreciate the light that does break through.

The skies you make have a complex, textured feel to them. How does this play into your desired message?

Our skies hold so much, some days clear as a bell, others an absolute turmoil, roilling above our heads. I love the movement we find in the sky above us - slow and quick moving clouds, moonlight that can seem like a beacon, simply its vastness. We often find ourselves looking up at the sky, sometimes in exasperation, sometimes to quiet our mind or simply to just take in its beauty. Sometimes we just need to lose ourselves in that sky above us.

KATHERINE POLACK

Artist Bio

Katherine Polack is a Peruvian-Canadian mixed media marine life artist who resides in Clarington, Ontario surrounded by nature and infinite inspiration.

The years she spent during her childhood along the Pacific Coast in Lima, Peru are at the root of her artwork. Her work is inspired by both ocean conservation initiatives and her travel adventures focused on marine life exploration.

Her work has been published in Artist Talk Magazine and EAST Magazine. Katherine’s paintings have been juried into multiple exhibitions by the Federation of Canadian Artists, Summer & Grace Gallery, the Robert McLaughlin Gallery, Camelback Gallery and Propeller Art Gallery.

As a portion of every sale goes toward ocean conservation, every collector can select one of three Canadian ocean conservation institutes (Canadian Sea Turtle Network, Oceana Canada, or Canadian Whale Institute), when purchasing one of Katherine’s pieces.

Artist Statement

Tranquil art to connect our feelings of love, security, and inner peace with the purity of marine life and the power of the ocean.

In this exhibition, I invite you to immerse yourself in the soul-stirring beauty of the ocean and contemplate its essential nature.

My art focuses on highlighting the beauty of the sea and the purity of marine life as a reminder of the responsibility that we have toward our ocean.

At the core of my art practice, I aim to evoke a sense of joy and tranquility and help you to connect with a feeling of love, security, and inner peace.

Using calming blue hues and smooth gradients to evoke a sense of tranquility while simultaneously channeling the brightness of my cultural upbringing through bold and vibrant colours, I ultimately hope to create a conversation where we can explore the positive impact that nature has on us.

What inspired you to gravitate towards water and marine life as your primary subject matter?

I’ve always felt a deep connection with the ocean even before I could put it into words. The ocean is at the core of my soul and art is how I am able to channel it. Art has always been a part of me before I understood the power of what that meant in my life. I’ve always felt an admiration and joy toward sea turtles and it was the second animal I ever painted back in 2016 (penguins were the first). The strong gravitation toward marine life as the focus of my artwork however, didn’t begin until January 2021 when I was quarantined at home for a few weeks with Covid but ill for much longer. I lost my voice and could only write or nod at my husband who was also sick and quarantined with me. When I finally regained the strength to move around, all I wanted to do was paint.

So I walked into my home studio with a paintbrush and no voice and came back full circle as I painted a family of penguins swimming underwater in search for their next meal “Gone Fishing” (15 x 30” acrylic on canvas). My very first painting in 2016 was actually a group of three penguins which still hangs proudly on my living room wall!

The synchronicity of these events and the five year gap between the penguin paintings has always felt like a nudge from the universe. After that painting I began to develop an insatiable appetite for painting marine life and using visual storytelling to bring awareness to the beauty of our ocean along with the positive impact that nature has on us.

How have your own lived experiences and perspectives influenced your painting process and artistic choices?

I spent part of my childhood years along the Pacific Coast in Lima, Peru where I would spend the majority of my summers at the beach with my family. When we moved to Canada in the spring of the year 2000, my passion for sketching and painting came to halt by the end of that summer.

18 years later, I was standing in the middle of my apartment staring at an empty living room wall and had the wild idea of going all out and creating a 30 x 40” large painting of three penguins after not having picked up a paintbrush since childhood. Little did I know, this was the beginning of a new path.

The following year, my husband and I traveled to Australia and my memories of the sea came flooding back to reignite my deep rooted connection with the ocean. Since then, I have experimented with resin, acrylic pours, wood working, acrylics, and now oils. I try not to question why a certain medium speaks to me but I trust that it is for a reason. I’ve been on a self love and self healing journey and the smoothness of oils is what pulled me in. It’s helping me reconnect with myself in ways I couldn’t imagine so I know to trust the process and continue listening to my soul.

The colors of your works blend in very smoothly, rather than being more roughly textured. What inspired you to do this and how do your techniques as an artist play into this tranquil smoothness?

I have always been drawn to soft, calming, and peaceful experiences. The colours I use and the smooth gradients you can notice in my backgrounds aim to evoke a sense of peace and tranquility with calming hues of blue using wide synthetic brushes. Every piece that I create teaches me to be more patient and compassionate toward myself; I could blend my backgrounds for hours and it has become a different meditative process than with the intricacy of the details of marine life like the fins or shell of a turtle or even the barnacles of a whale.

You note that tranquility, love, and purity are among your themes of focus with regards to the emotions you wish to express. Can you tell us a bit more about why you chose these specific emotions and themes?

Absolutely. The three core values I hold closely are love, security, and inner peace because if you lead with love, you create a safe space for others which then invites inner peace. Once that triangle is established, I have found that tranquility can then enter freely.

The feeling of purity ended up surfacing when I turned my focus toward painting marine life versus seascapes. The connection I feel toward animals and specifically marine life is one that I cannot fully explain rather I can feel. It’s a combination of the way marine animals glide through the water, protect their kind, and show a sense of ease and comfortability in their home.

ROBERT SCOTT

Artist Bio

Born and raised in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Robert Charles Bruce Scott has followed his lifelong passion for art. Rob focused on art studies throughout his high school years and spent two years studying a wide variety of art forms and techniques at Ontario College of Art (now OCAD). Shifting to business, Rob put his artistic skills to work while practicing marketing and business communications for several large Canadian and global organizations for almost 40 years. During this time, Rob continued to paint and draw for his personal enjoyment, while also completing numerous freelance art projects for business clients - logo design, letterheads, presentation illustrations and meeting themes. At the beginning of 2019, Rob shifted to full-time artist, naming his creative studio Charles Bruce Art. The subject matter of Rob’s art is focused largely on landscapes and various still life images, as well as neon signs, old buildings and interesting urban settings. Preferred art media are painting in oil and pencil drawing in both graphite and colour. Today, Rob lives in Mississauga, a suburb of Toronto, where he continues to explore new art themes and ideas.

Artist Statement

“If you look closely, art subjects are everywhere. Nature provides powerful visual references for my art; I want audiences of my landscapes to almost feel the sandy beach around their buried toes or imagine the spray from a rolling wave hitting the shore. Nothing is more dramatic than an angry, black sky or an early morning golden sunrise - I like using oil paint’s vivid depth of colour to record nature’s endless palette. Even the bark of a mature tree reminds me of an elder’s weathered skin that I can present as an abstract image of light and dark shadows and textures with graphite pencil on paper. No matter where you live, experiencing nature is universal and I strive to realistically capture images that people can relate to and appreciate.”

You play around with realistic depictions and pixelated imagery. What inspired this artistic choice and what do you hope to convey with it?

I have always been fascinated by pixelized images - how your brain processes various images so effortlessly. For a small series of flower paintings, I created a very traditional painting style and inserted half of the image as pixels. I was excited to see the juxtaposition of old and new styles in the same painting. Where I can, I look for ways to add a creative surprise in my artwork.

There is a strong focus on bodies of water in much of your work. What draws you to this particular subject and why?

Before I started painting full-time, I was focusing on subject matter like old buildings, neon signs/letters and still-life images for my art. Once I painted or drew daily, my subjects expanded - I started seeing art everywhere. I got hooked with my first landscape painting of a dramatic nearby lakeshore. The awesome skies and water imagery provide interesting colour, shadows and movement that sometimes feels very abstract. I must like painting water, skies and nature - my first series with a significant amount of related artwork is my Lakeshore-themed paintings. I’ll do more moving forward.

How do your personal lived experiences and perspectives play a role in influencing your choice of subject matter and how you portray them?

I think every artist pours their personal views of the world into their art. Selfishly, we create art that we love first, and then hopefully other viewers will too. Taking my little toddler twin grandsons to the beach inspired me to start painting lakeshores. My love of quirky objects like old typewriters and old cameras inspired still-life paintings. A healthy coffee addiction turned into paintings of cups of coffee - like I said, art is everywhere… if you look for it. After a long corporate career full of endless deadlines and deliverables, I take a very selfish approach to creating art. I don’t have to do anything I don’t want to do - I will not accept art commissions and I’m just starting to sell my art now. My goal is to fulfill my passion for creating art that interests me with no stress or drama while striving for improvement and exploring new creative ideas.

Why did you decide to gravitate towards realism?

Every artist has a unique, fingerprint-like style for creating art that is a reflection of their personality. I love most types of painting styles; I just love art in general. I would love to create bold, unconstrained painterly art. I have consciously tried to create loose paintings and I always gravitate to more realism in the results. I have come to grips with the fact that no matter how much I think about adopting another style, my precise painting style prevails. So, I didn’t decide to gravitate to realism…I decided to stop fighting my natural tendency towards realism as my painting style. So far, most people seem to like the results, thankfully!

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