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About Me
Background
My interest in painting began more than 20-years ago when I found myself travelling frequently on business. Many an evening was spent walking to historic sites and parks where people I met introduced me to some of the lesser known attractions in their community. I would always have a camera and began to think to myself "I'd love to be able to capture these experiences in more than just a picture." It was shortly thereafter that I began to travel with a small watercolor set, savouring the opportunity to paint in the evening in my hotel room.
Creating a Vivid Depiction in Watercolor Is Not Possible, Or is It?
I have threatened to quit painting in watercolor on many occasions - it is a tempermental medium: the substrate dries quickly when wetted, the colors always appear more rich wet than when they dry and making a mistake with a darker color placement guarantees one outcome: the color is there to stay no matter what you do. But, I've determined to continue to experiment, striving to better 'pre-plan' my watercolor paintings with the colors to be applied in multiple steps while preserving enough 'white-space' to ensure a certain luminescence that watercolors seem to lack when compared to oils and acrylics. Perhaps it is others telling me they gave up on watercolors because they were not vibrant enough that has continued to drive me to want to keep trying to improve. I'm glad to report: I'm still trying!
Painting Interests
Living in a mountain environment there is no shortage of towering peaks, streams and wildflower meadows upon which to draw creative inspiration. I find a lot of my curiosity these days, however, coming from the obscure at places I've visited: discolouring buoys hanging from a window that tell a tale of fathers and sons fishing; a retired, rusting boat unable to speak about the important passengers and cargo it once carried; and, an abandoned train station that once drew smiles from returning and departing travellers. I often set out in search of a specific landmark or location when I'm in the mood to paint something, but very seldom is that what ends up getting painted: its usually something 'unexpected' I see along the way that becomes a source of inspiration.