People often ask me what my “painting style” is.   To this day I have never come up with a good answer.   Sometimes I say “off the wall”, or “stylized figures”, always “colourful”, sometimes “with a touch of humour”.   

 

When I graduated from the Ontario College of Art in 1989, I was painting quite realistically, with oils and always using reference, which can sometimes be restricting.   It was in the next few years that I realized the beauty and the freedom of imagination.   I started to stylize my figures and their surroundings, often making up stories to go with them.  It helped that I’d majored in Editorial Illustration at school.   I also found the beauty of acrylic paints which really work for my style of painting.  

 

I’m frequently asked where I get my ideas.   I do a lot of sketching, playing with ideas, taking my ideas a step or two or more away from reality.  Because you can do that with creativity.  You can do anything you want.  And what can be more wonderful than that?