!Upcoming Portrait Class Alert! 

I will be teaching a Portrait Painting and Drawing Class at the MacEwan Continuing Education Faculty ("Portraits in Colour").
Class runs for 4 Saturdays in a row, starting October 18th through November 8th, 10 am - 1 pm.

Space is limited, so please click here to register!

Hope to see you there:)

"George", 9x12" oil on linen

World Vision Canada

Painted this little picture for the upcoming World Vision Canada event  

8x10", oil on linen

Learning and Teaching

A couple of weeks ago I returned from NYC where I had the enormous pleasure of taking a drawing workshop with Will St. John, at the Grand Central Academy. The beautiful Shay sat in the same pose for 5 days, and we drew her portrait in tri-color.

Using Prismacolor Color-erase pencils: brown, terra cotta red, black, and Generals White (Chalk). Paper is Fabriano Artistico. I really loved the experience of drawing with color.

Here's a quick progression of the drawing:

I also just had the pleasure of teaching a portrait painting workshop at The Paint Spot , organized by the Society of Western Canadian Artists. Despite the summer heating things up in the workshop, we persevered and great portraits were made! Here's a snapshot of the work by student Clara Cheung:

The Drawing Room

It has been a long cold winter, and the little studio space I rent at The Drawing Room has often been too cold to inhabit. However, the artists I share the space with there are full of warmth and passion for what they do, so please check them out. The Drawing Room is a vibrant work/exhibition venue that I'm proud to be a part of.

And here's hoping that Spring will eventually find its way to the Great White North!

As a quick side note, some of you may have seen a painting I completed not long ago of a fellow artist. He recently shared with me an image of this painting framed and hung, which is a rare treat. Looks like it found its grand home, indeed! Thank you, Edmund.

Fun-draising for Dance!

Just finished this little piece for the Brian Webb Dance Company Art Auction:

"Determined to Ride Together", 9x12" mixed media on wood

Always a pleasure to contribute to a good cause!

Dog Day Afternoon in the Dead of Winter

Recently, I've had the pleasure of spending some quality time at my easel with a couple canines.
"Loved Ones" really do come in all shapes and sizes and degrees of fury-ness.
It was quite fun to work on these commissions, and I've been told that Jilly (the pug) even barked at her own painted portrait. A true compliment, indeed!

 "Jilly", oil on linen, 11x14"

"Yawn", oil on canvas, 12x12"

Art Refined

Late September I got involved in a little project with a little oil company called Shell.

Shell put out a call to artists to capture the moment at an oil refinery as it goes through a 'turn around' (or a proverbial house cleaning).
From those artists who answered the call, 10 were selected and invited to spend a day at the Shell Scotford Refinery, site to one of the most modern and efficient refineries in North America.

Just a year prior to this call I desperately (and unsuccessfully) tried to gain access to an actual oil refinery site. I learned quickly that getting on a rig site is not easy for an artist with a camera and a vision of painting portraits of the workers. When this call from Shell surfaced, I jumped at the chance to get involved.

After passing a safety and security orientation, I donned coveralls, a hard hat, steel toed boots, an H2S detector, ear plugs, safety goggles and gloves. I quickly became 'one of many' and was now ready to tour the site (in the company of a designated Shell staff member, of course).

Hobbling in my big boots amidst the clanging noises of the refinery, climbing the towering scaffolding built up around a myriad of pipes and wires and tubes... I felt like a martian. I've never been to Mars, but I imagine that it bears resemblance to this place. Ironically, what impressed me the most was the human element amongst all the heavy equipment and mechanical noise. There were happy hard working faces, peaking out from a welding helmet, waiving from the window of a truck. Smiling gregarious characters met my camera, and were eager to share their story.

The image below is of the four I chose to paint. From a brief interaction, I learned that they're pipe fitters who have been working together for 30 years. They still seemed to genuinely like each other.

One lesson learned from working with Shell is that things move quickly in the oil and gas business: we only had 3 weeks to complete our work (which is a far cry from how long I would normally spend on a painting). Though I'm not terribly happy with the finished product, the visit to Shell Scotford was a genuine adventure.

This picture, along with the work of other artists made in response to their site visit, will be at the Alberta Gallery of Art for the month of December.

(24x30", oil on linen, 2013)