Painting is an adventure full of risk, unknowns, challenges, discoveries, disappointments and rewards. For me, there is no other experience like it. It is an essential part of who I am.

From an early age, Art has played a major role in my life. As a child, I joined my father (a professional photographer and long serving member of the Arts and Letters Club in Toronto, Canada) as he frequented the homes of artist friends, including that of prominent Group of Seven artist A.J. Casson. Art was constituent to life; it was what people did.

It was a natural transition for me to enroll in a Fine Art Program and explore Art’s diverse disciplines. While studying Art History at Queen’s University, I discovered the Nabis and was compelled to be a painter. I still love to look at the works of Bonnard and Vuillard. 

My work has always been driven by a desire to capture colour with paint. I am well versed in the theory of colour but rely on my instincts and natural response when painting. Spontaneity and improvisation are more important to me than predetermined executions.  I begin a painting with a vague concept of the finished piece. The ambiguity of the working process is what I enjoy. It transforms the act of painting into an adventure: rife with risk and unknowns, challenges and discoveries. I like being on the edge; can I make this painting work?

In the last few years, water reflections and what I refer to as 'Colourscapes' have been the most constant theme in my work. Whether painting the natural elements of my immediate surroundings or being inspired by travels, my constant motivation is the excitement I experience when observing a scene through colours, shapes and atmosphere. Being a painter has resulted in my heightened sensitivity to the world around me  through observation and this in turn makes me a better painter. The two feed off each other.

Painting is a spiritual experience for me. When I am lost in my painting, mixing colour and applying brush strokes, I am in my element.


What I wish to show when I paint is the way I see things with my eyes and my heart. - Raoul Dufy