I studied art at Nova Scotia College of Art and Design (NSCAD) in Halifax from 1977-78 with New York figure painter Eric Fischl and Dutch artist Jan Andriesse. This exposure continues to influence and inform my work to the present. I worked with renowned Church Architect the late Fr. Toby McIvern for two years in Montreal at the firm Desmarais and Robitaille as Liturgical Design Apprentice.
The main focus of my work over the past several years has been figurative and landscape acylics on canvas. The majority of my painting has been commissioned murals and paintings until the past few years when I have focused more on his personal muse. For me, painting is a great adventure, as it takes me to places that can be unexpected and unbidden. My best work happens when I 'let go' of inhibitions to enter an almost trance-like state where I experience the sensation of dancing with the paint, when the brushes take over and I go with the intuition of the moment. This is when I go on auto-pilot and allow the process to drive itself, launched by the million brush strokes that came before.
I have lived and worked at the Resort Village of Manitou Beach in Central SK for almost 20 years where I currently co-own and operate G-G's Gallery & Gifts with my partner Sharon Gibson. This business has afforded me the opportunity to paint full-time in an exploration of my 'glazing' technique in acrylics that is derived from my study of the classic old European oils technique for rich, deep colors that appear to be almost jewel-like as a finished result.
I have designed and painted over sixty large-scale murals across Canada with a focus in Western Canada for the past thirty years. Prominent examples include A Green Broadway and Nine-Figure Sports Homage in Saskatoon. My most ambitious mural project to date is March of Trinity that covers the 1000 square-foot sanctuary wall of Sacred Heart Chaldean Catholic Church in Saskatoon, which was unveiled on March 3rd, 2011.
