The Train Ride 2013

The date is not always obvious, but this time it says right at the bottom: 2013. The strange thing is that this painting was based on a drawing I did while on a train ride probably back in 2010 or so. I found the drawing while cleaning out a drawer one day and thought it would make a decent painting. The painting recreates the original drawing almost exactly except for the colours which were created afterwards (the original drawing being pen on plain paper). The inspiration was the idea of moving- when I did this painting my apartment was up for sale and a move was imminent! In terms of style this is a classic doodleism technique- strong outlines visible and plenty of whimsical characters, broken skylines, and mind-numbing creativity.

22x15" cold press, Nov/Dec 2013

McGill University, Montreal Canada

McGill University in the winter is very picturesque, with the snow on the ground and the trees in the background. This painting was done from a photograph that was taken I believe in October or Early November when the trees still had a bit of leaves on them. It was quite some time ago that I painted this one because I no longer work from photo very often, and also this painting was done on a very thick type of paper called 300 lb press. These days I use a lighter paper called 180 lb press, mainly because it is inexpensive, easier to store, and I am very used to it after some time. This year in fact marks the 25th year since I began watercolour painting- way back in 1989 when my Mom signed me up for a class in Bolton. It has been a long journey with lot's of twists and turns- I started by painting mainly flowers and then turned to landscapes by early 1990's, and then abstract in the year 2000, with the doodleism technique emerging around 2004. The last decade I have been exploring mostly the doodleism style although the current painting I am working on is more of a free-form abstract. Unfortunately no new art to show because the current painting is on an enormous piece of paper (44x30"). I guess it's time to listen to my Dad's advice and use bigger brushes!

22x20 cold press 300lb.  2005 (?)