My transition from highly stylized figurative paintings to abstraction had its roots in a casual conversation at Pharos Pizza, near where I lived in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada around 1980. The point of the conversation was painting products and I learned about an industrial paint product used in extreme conditions, such as high wear and exposure to acids and bases. One if its attributes was its clarity, or lack of the milkiness common with layers of the clear acrylics of that time. Eventually I settled into a form factor that exploited the character of both medium and pigment. I worked on stretched canvas around six feet in length and on Arches art paper. Of the two surfaces, the paper proved to be the most versatile. The forms depicted in these works relate to my experiences in a seasonal job as a camera operator doing aerial survey and mapping. The greatest proportion of that time was spent overflying northern Canada from Manitoba to the Yukon between latitudes 53 and 67 degrees north. I watched the landscape unfold underneath me for countless hours. These images are echoes to those landforms.
About the Author: The world presents itself and occasionally, I take the time to observe. There are times when the observation takes on the form of obsession, at other times it is the casual encounter. These moments become photographs. Believing that the normal needs to be elevated by exaggeration or simplification, I apply my skills to interpret these instances. My work, since 1998, has focused on computer manipulated photographs. I've exhibited in group and one person shows since 1969; exhibiting photographs, painting and prints. The prints have been exhibited extensively through 147 exhibitions, primarily in US University, College, and Community galleries. The exhibitions have been in; BC, Alberta, Ontario and in 31 American States. Also an exhibitor in 12 virtual web galleries, associated with academic conferences focused on digital imaging in Australia, China, Thailand, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States. In 2006, I began publishing my completed projects as books, and have completed sixteen books with this title, with others in development. Born and educated in Alberta, I have been living in Victoria, on Canada's West Coast, since 1984.