Jasper vs. Banff

What a difference three years can make in the evolution of an artist. Both of these paintings are Alberta’s Rocky Mountains in the summer. The first one is Jasper (2015), the second one is Banff (2018).

These will be hanging side by side at the Trent Hills Public Library in Campbellford from May 3 – Aug 15.

THE EVOLUTION OF AN ARTIST

After my December show “Canada: The Provinces and Territories” and painting 13 canvases all the same size, I knew I wanted to try something large scale. By the end of December I had purchased two large gallery canvases (30 x 30 inches), with two ideas: An Ontario landscape and another Rocky Mountain landscape.

As challenging as these have been, when I see the Jasper painting beside the Banff painting, it makes my heart happy. I can see the difference in the quality of the work from 2015 to now.

After my Jasper series was completed in 2015/16, I visited a fellow Steven who owned “Engine Gallery” in Port Hope. Right away he noticed three things, that helped me improve the quality of my work. First, he noted the low quality of paint that I was using (acrylic “basics”). Second, he said it looks like I was painting right from the tube (which mostly I was), so there was no depth to the colours and very little blending. Third, he observed “it looks like you only used two paint brushes.” Which, I had only used 3. In summary, I needed to buy higher quality paint (I only use Golden Acrylics now), I needed to explore colours and blending, and I needed to buy some new brushes. What blew my mind, was painting became easier as I started working with higher quality products; and my work has definitely improved due to his suggestions. To this day I’m so grateful for his words of wisdom, without them who knows what direction my work could have taken.

Since conquering “Rocky Mountains, Banff” I am excited to see how my work continues to progress. I feel like I have tapped into a new level of work and creation. Here’s a sneak peak into the works in progress for July 28th:

Paintings inspired by Lake Ontario, Monk’s Cove, Rice Lake, Petroglyphs Provincial Park, and Georgian Bay’s Killarney. Let’s see how these unfold over the next two months…