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I am a painter. The urge is self-realization. I am interested in the mystery of Being; being me, being her, being him, being it, being free to let creation come through me unfettered by attempts to impress, compete, attract, seduce, sell. I am fortunate to be in a position wherein this is possible. The freedom is sometimes agony or despair of the black hole variety but I struggle on. During the act of painting I lose myself and join my ancestry of painters. Later, the same day, when I look AT the work, the devils, Accidie and the live-in self-destructive critic come to the fore, and it is only with years of experience that I turn and run, instead of immediately trashing the work. It takes time for the painting to become separate from me and only then can I look at it as itself. I do not have an image in my mind that I am going for; I want to see what emerges.
This does not mean that I leave the new painting stumbling or sagging or cracking down the centre if this is the way that it transpired; rather, I gaze and gaze at the image and then if I feel moved, make adjustments and changes that call out from the painting to me. I lead, then it leads, the dance.
I graduated from Emily Carr University [then ECIAD] in 1981 and have been painting for 30 years. After graduating I set up a studio on the 3rd floor of 901 Main Street with a fellow graduate and then in 1985 I moved on my own to my present studio. The solitude and privacy were important to my development. I had some showings of my work, solo, and with other painters but the effects of the process of showing interrupted and confused my attempts at self-realization: I was pulled off centre and unable to paint for many months before and after any public show.
Occasionally I have shows from my home, inviting interested friends and people to see what I have been doing and to purchase if they are moved to do so, and I thought that this website would be a way to show the work and not get disrupted and derailed.
I work on canvas or linen using oil paints. Occasionally I will employ other materials such as graphite, paper, silk, material, dust, spit.
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