As a contemporary watercolour and acrylic mixed media painter, my work is a conscious play of mood, light and colour, but as a naturalist raised and rooted in the diverse landscape abstracts of Scotland, Mexico and British Columbia, a painting means more than that to me.
Each location is an encounter with the land, the trees, and water that have always given me a sense of connection and order. When a location intrigues and inspires me, I will paint the scene into a series using a range of themes, experimenting and searching to learn more about the natural threads that tie the painting together with colour, composition, complexity, subtlety, feeling and, balance.
I look for new ways to express spatial relationships and distance with layers of paint, brushwork, gradations, collage and diffusions of light and shadow. I strive for understanding in my study of the landscape in both abstract and representational paintings to bring me closer to an intriguing translation as I place concept, colour and. value into new compositions to continue to communicate the emotional connection I feel, with my public and environment.
In the tradition of the Impressionists, I mostly paint my watercolour paintings of landscapes en plein air. My paintings focus on light and shadow, filtering through the trees in the landscapes on the West Coast of British Columbia, Oregon, and Vancouver Island.
I like to create an idea of the moment when immersed in seeing the landscape unfold, as though I was seeing it for the first time. The whole process of perception allows a stronger focus on what I see in the landscape.
Thus, the formation of this vision provides me with a structure to explore the properties of aquamedia, composition, transparency, and juxtaposition of colours. My landscapes are colourful and distinct.
I particularly enjoy en plein air painting; where it is possible to experience the weather, light, colour and the big and little people who are curious about what I am doing.
I am a retired architect, now an artist, married with three children, and three grandchildren. My wife Mary Ann and I live at UBC, Vancouver, BC.
