Biography
After a successful career as an illustrator- storyboarding and concept visuals for the Toronto advertising industry, my attention is now focused on fine art. Strong drawing skills, essential in my illustration career, have been a huge help in becoming a representational landscape painter. I’m particularly drawn to costal environments and the wealth of subject matter it provides. As a young boy I was fortunate to enjoy summers in Newfoundland and spent many afternoons sketching in and around the fishing villages of the Avalon Peninsula. No doubt this has left an imprint on me and steers my painting direction, as does my passion for travel. Whether hiking Portugal’s western coastline, the East Coast trail in Newfoundland or the West Highland Way in Scotland, many of my paintings get conceived on these hiking trips and are brought to life back in my studio through field notes, small gouache studies and photographs.
Artist Statement
As a representational landscape painter I try to sort out, analyze and compress all the visual stimuli around me and arrange it on a two dimensional surface. I strive to depict the essence of the scene in front of me as honestly as I see it- I can’t improve on mother nature. I tend to avoid deliberate, exaggerated abstraction. Hopefully the painting process itself imparts a personality to my work that creates both a faithful observation and a unique piece of art. I paint both on location and in the studio and I’m comfortable in a variety of mediums. My larger studio paintings are in oils but I’m also passionate about my travel sketchbooks which I fill with gouache and ink studies.
