Kat’s Gallery was putting together it’s very first show of original artworks. It had been years since I have shown in this area, so I made sure that I was part of this show. It went quite well, several pieces sold, and I learned a few of the strange quirks of the custom-framing industry, and how regional tastes vary greatly. A reporter for the local paper came by and photographed each of the artists. Unfortunately, I didn’t stay in town long enough to see if the story made it to print or not.

Untitled, 16″ X 20″, acrylic on canvas, 2009.

Untitled, 13″ X 9″, acrylic on canvas, 2010.

Untitled, 10″ X 10″, acrylic on canvas, 2010.

Untitled, 11″ X 9″, acrylic on canvas, 2010.

Untitled, 9 3/4″ X 9 3/4″, acrylic on canvas, 2010.

Untitled, 10 1/2″ X 10 1/2″, acrylic on canvas, 2010.

Untitled, 12″ X 16″, acrylic on canvas, 2010.

Untitled, 16″ X 25″, acrylic on canvas, 2010.

Untitled, 16″ X 25″, acrylic on canvas, 2010.

Untitled, 24″ X 36″, acrylic on canvas, 2010.

I was invited to display some paintings on the walls of Connors Music. I enjoyed going back to an older style I hadn’t used in several years. Luckily, I keep pretty good notes of my sketches; I had no trouble at all re-creating the desired colours and textures.

The jewel-like surface quality of these paintings can not be fully captured on a computer screen. Transparent, opaque, iridescent, and metallic pigments are layered and glazed on top of one another, creating the illusion of physical depth, as well as some very pronounced colour shifting as the angle of light hitting the surface changes. What looks red and blue from one angle suddenly becomes green and gold from another.

For this particular series, I knew well in advance that it would be displayed at a music store, so introducing some sort of a music-inspired imagery was a no-brainer. I added some images of music score by using a gesso/toner transfer technique, which I had been wanting to play with for a while.

Untitled, 6″ X 9″, acrylic and toner on wood panel, 2010.

Untitled, 6″ X 9″, acrylic and toner on wood panel, 2010.

Untitled, 6″ X 9″, acrylic and toner on wood panel, 2010.

Untitled, 6″ X 9″, acrylic and toner on wood panel, 2010.

Untitled, 6″ X 9″, acrylic and toner on wood panel, 2010.

Untitled, 6″ X 9″, acrylic and toner on wood panel, 2010.

Untitled, 6″ X 9″, acrylic and toner on wood panel, 2010.

Untitled, 6″ X 9″, acrylic and toner on wood panel, 2010.

Untitled, 6″ X 9″, acrylic and toner on wood panel, 2010.

Untitled, 6″ X 9″, acrylic and toner on wood panel, 2010.

Untitled, 6″ X 9″, acrylic and toner on wood panel, 2010.

Untitled, 6″ X 9″, acrylic and toner on wood panel, 2010.

Untitled, 6″ X 9″, acrylic and toner on wood panel, 2010.

Untitled, 6″ X 9″, acrylic and toner on wood panel, 2010.

Untitled, 6″ X 9″, acrylic and toner on wood panel, 2010.

Untitled, 6″ X 9″, acrylic and toner on wood panel, 2010.

Untitled, 6″ X 9″, acrylic and toner on wood panel, 2010.

Untitled, 6″ X 9″, acrylic and toner on wood panel, 2010.

Untitled, 6″ X 9″, acrylic and toner on wood panel, 2010.

Untitled, 6″ X 9″, acrylic and toner on wood panel, 2010.

Untitled, 6″ X 9″, acrylic and toner on wood panel, 2010.

Untitled, 6″ X 9″, acrylic and toner on wood panel, 2010.

Untitled, 6″ X 9″, acrylic and toner on wood panel, 2010.

Untitled, 6″ X 9″, acrylic and toner on wood panel, 2010.

Untitled, 6″ X 9″, acrylic and toner on wood panel, 2010.

Untitled, 6″ X 9″, acrylic and toner on wood panel, 2010.

Untitled, 6″ X 9″, acrylic and toner on wood panel, 2010.

Untitled, 6″ X 9″, acrylic and toner on wood panel, 2010.

Untitled, 6″ X 9″, acrylic and toner on wood panel, 2010.

Untitled, 6″ X 9″, acrylic and toner on wood panel, 2010.

Throughout 2007/2008, I was living in South Korea. I knew this was too good of an opportunity to pass up, so I picked up some paint, found a space, and put on a little show. This was my second time exhibiting internationally, and my first time showing in Asia

Seoul, 21″ X 31″ Watercolours on paper, 2008
This was my first time using watercolours in about nine years. I was using the kind of composition that would normally use for acrylic while using a different medium. While I am happy with the end result, the process itself was not great; it felt like I was fighting the paint the whole time, trying to force my materials to do what I wanted them to do.
I made a YouTube video documenting my experience creating this painting, which can be viewed here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wr4-a-X0NBo 

Busan, 21″ X 31″ Watercolours on paper, 2008
This is the second watercolour painting I made while living in Korea, and I had a much better time with this one. Rather than forcing the watercolours to work the way I like my acrylics to work, I loosened up, and let the paint do what it wanted to do. It was looser, faster, and far more fun.
I also made a little YouTube video showing the creation of this piece: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5fWyQHEIgA 

Chonan #1, 21″ X 31″ Watercolours on paper, 2008
When I first set foot in Chonan, I knew I had found a special place. It might have been the giant hot pink dinosaur just steps away from the subway, or it might have been the food and wider streets, but this city just had great vibes, and I fell in love with it. I am very happy with how this painting turned out. This image was on the home page of this website for a number of years, and it was printed on the back of my last batch of business cards. And, like with the last two, I made video showing the process behind the making of this piece: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uzt-AhOWTMA 

Chonan #2, 21″ X 31″ Watercolours on paper, 2008
I wanted to make a painting of each major Korean city, but I liked Chonan so much, I painted it again. This time, I focused on interior shots rather than exteriors. This was a bit of a new direction for me to take for source material.
Here is a link to the video showing the creation of this piece: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yi-LPYYMJzQ 

Tom takes a closer look.

Tom and Sylvia looking at my work

Installation shot

Korean refreshments.

New Landscapes was a sort of going away show for me. I had signed the contract for my overseas teaching job, and the flight had been scheduled. This would be my last art show for a long time. Canada has a strong history of landscape painting, and I wanted to head off on a distinctively Canadian note.

Y.O. Media Gallery had represented me since 2004, but it had recently closed it’s doors, and I was without a proper gallery. I managed to find a great space: a daycare centre. The large white walls were perfect for displaying art, and they wanted something colour to display. It was a perfect match.

I was trying to expand my skill-set, and I really wanted to emphasize the thickness of the paint gobs I was squeezing on to these. I picked up an air brush, because paint that has been spray-applied is perhaps the flattest and least-textural application technique. I thouht this would provide a nice contrast to the more painterly areas.

This was the very first painting in the New Landscapes Series.

I wanted to incorporate several of the techniques from my Urban Landscapes series into my landscape paintings. Playing with outline and negative space seemed like a good idea, and I am very happy with that cloud. I wanted the image to be fairly representation in the centre, but break apart into abstraction near the edges. I believe I achieved those qualities in this piece, so I was motivated to continue with this series.

I will always think of this painting as the highlight of this show. I’m really happy with how it turned out.

                                         
Victoria Fenninger gave me a bunch of tiny old wooden frames. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do with them, I normally paint much larger than 6″ X 6″, but I stretched canvas over them and used the frames for this series. I took a more minimal approach to this series, and I think it paid off. There are a lot of landscape painters out there, but I haven’t seen any that paint like this.

             
I almost never use oil paint, but it’s always a good idea to try out an old technique in a new medium, so I gave it a shot.

I had a lot of small wood scraps left over from The Texture Series. I was planning on assembling them into a large support for an abstract painting, but something about painting landscapes on pieces of wood seemed oddly appropriate.

The Essential Evening of Music series was a number of shows put on by David Connors. They combined art and music, and encouraged people from the two circles to mingle and share ideas. I believe this was the last show in this series.

This was a very eclectic show for me. I had very little notice, so I had to throw something together in the limited amount of time I had available. My work was going to be scattered across several different walls in different rooms, so I treated this show like three mini-shows, with each section having a certain theme. If people didn’t know me, they would think that this was the work of three separate artists. The venue was very well suited for showing The Body Room, so I gave it the best spot, and arranged everything else around it.

The Body Room

The Body Room series was inspired by the cold storage room in the basement of a house I was renting back in 2004-2005. While the rest of the house was rather nice, this one room had a very dark, menacing atmosphere. It felt like a crime scene, or something out of a horror movie. Among my friends, this strange room eventually became known as ‘the body room’

I wanted to capture the feeling and atmosphere of ‘the body room’ in an art series. To create these works, I started by photographing every square inch of the room, and capturing each object from as many angles as possible. Using a combination of Photoshop, and acrylic paint on the images, the textures and tone of the body room was transferred to these images.

Landscapes

Abstract

These abstract pieces are kind of random. I just threw these on the wall because there was some blank space left over, and I figured, “why not fill it”. These are probably three of my favourite early abstract pieces. I was really happy with how each of these turned out. Each one represented a major learning curve or achievement for me.

I spent two years working on this piece. I kept thinking that it was done, so I would show it. Then I’d notice something that had to be changed, so I’d get really embarrassed, and repaint it after the show was down. I probably have more hours in this one piece than any other painting.

Event

Dave not only had to set up much of the music gear, he also helped me unpack and install the art.

 
 

Hanging paintings on a curved wall presented some novel challenges.

After the concert was over, people took the time to stop and look at my art a second time.

Dave helped me unpack and install the art.