The Philosophy of the Artist

Is there a philosophy to my art.  Of course, and every artist who paints will paint differently because they see the world differently.  I grew up in Canada and fell in love with the nature that I saw here.  I grew up with a strong faith in God and believed that he created all that we see for our enjoyment, not to be abused, but to be taken care of.  What better way to care for the environment than by idealizing it through art.   I want people to appreciate all that there is and although we may not have perfect understanding of it to at least try to live harmoniously with it as caretakers and not tyrants.

I love colour and form for me is secondary.  I want to create images that give you an emotional response.  The funny thing is I am not always aware of the emotion that I am putting into the piece, only after do I realise that there was a joy, an anger, a sadness that came forth as I created it.  I want to create paintings that raise people to a higher place, that edify them and build them up or that gives them hope.  Yet sometimes my paintings can display a fear or a panic or a sadness.  We are complex beings and don’t always understand the complexity of who we are.

I remember the day I decided I could be an artist.   I wasn’t a spring chicken.  I was 32 years of age.  I had already decided on a career as an analyst in government.  I always loved art.  I drew images with charcoal when I was a teenager.  I spent many hours alone in my room trying to capture faces of people I knew or of faces I found interesting.  I probably created 30 or 40 pieces in those days.  I carried those drawings to every house I lived in for the next 15 years.

I moved to Ottawa when I was 29 years old and loved going to the National Art Gallery of Canada.  On one occasion there was a Tom Thomson exhibit.  He was an amazing artist and is associated with the Group of Seven Painters.  For those who are not Canadian they are the royalty of art in our nation.  They impressionistic painters influenced by French in the early 20th century.  I remember being in his exhibit and having an epiphany moment.  His colours and subject were amazing.  I said to myself, “I can paint like this…”

I had no reason to think this at all.  I had never painted.  I had never picked up a brush, but in that moment, I decided I was going to be an artist.  His paintings burned inside of me as did many of the Group of Seven artist, and Van Gogh and Monet.  These are the influences that have helped me the most.

As I have traveled the world, I have encountered amazing artist in many places.  I have learned from incredible people and places.  I have studied art in a way that many have not been able to, but being in the places where the artist lives and seeing the things that inspired them.  I have been to some great museums and seen many wonderful pieces.  Picasso is also an influence.  I just recently was in the museum dedicated in him in Barcelona, Spain.

I spent time with many artists who taught me to paint the way that I do.  I have been trained by artist in their homes and studios and through conversations.  I didn’t go to school, but I have been trained, nonetheless.  Art is something you have a passion for, or you do not.  Training just aids what is inside of you already.  As a young man it never entered my mind that you could have a career as an artist, so I studied to have a career, but left that career many years ago to pursue my passions.

I estimate that I have painted 3800 paintings and I have sold most of them, but not through art galleries but to friends that I meet along the way.  I have paintings all over the world in more than 20 nations.  I paint what I see as I go.  It has been a good life, and I am thankful for it.