The Artwork Page

ARTWORKS

 

I have always enjoyed being creative and in my younger years took a number of evening art courses. Alas, life gets busy and so much of my creativity began to be channeled into service preparation while I was a pastor and chaplain. Although writing is the form I most want to invest in at this stage of life, I do hope that art will again be something I can engage in.

 

 I have always found a connection with the paintings of Canadian Group of Seven artist, Lawren Harris. Growing up in Toronto, the McMichael Art Gallery in Kleinburg was always a special treat to visit. I have also been able to see Harris’s works at the National Gallery in Ottawa, Toronto’s Art Gallery of Ontario and the Vancouver Art Gallery. His depiction of Canadian landscape from the Rockies to the Arctic are phenomenal, but here I have attempted a copy of an old street scene in Toronto that I thought was quite charming.

 

 

I can’t recall now why I only have a black and white photo of this painting of a similar street scene in Vancouver. I painted it while attending seminary, when my wife and I lived in a basement suite in a heritage house near Fraser and 13^th. The owner bought it from me, making it the only artwork I have ever sold.

 

 

 I worked for the Vancouver Foodbank for 2 ½ years in the ‘90’s. My job was to Robin Hood prepared foods from bakeries, school programs, hospitals, etc. and then redistribute it to agencies and missions in the notorious downtown eastside. One day while driving the van painted by Joe Average, I came across this piece of rusted, twisted metal at a site in Gastown that was being prepared for development (was it Bryan Adams’ new studio?) I was captivated by its elemental nature, straddling the line between manmade manufactured item and natural ore. For a while it hung on the wall behind my desk at the foodbank.

The stylized art of Italian painter Amedeo Modigliani was quite influence on me in my twenties. This was my attempt to capture a girlfriend in Toronto days in that style.

 

 

  

 

 

 

This was another effort, painted in Montreal for some friends who recently reminded me that they still had it.

 

A small watercolour of Mount Royal In Montreal, a favourite haunt of mine. For a short time I worked in an office tower in Place Ville Marie downtown (the towers to the left), but for me Montreal was a terrific spiritual battle, where I could have easily gone off the rails, yet was aided by the wonderful Christians I met at St. Stephen’s Anglican church in Westmount. The lit cross atop Mount Royal often illuminated my nights there.

 

 

For my 40th, my dear wife enrolled me in a week-long watercolour class at nearby Tekarra Lodge by renowned artist, Gregg Johnson. This is what came of it - my best watercolour work. It hangs in my parent's home and because it is under glass the photograph shows some reflection.

I made this for my brother using acrylics and a Lawren Harris treatment of this peak in Jasper's Tonquin valley backcountry.

 

 

I believe that this somewhat disturbing piece was after I broke up with my fiancé in Toronto. While I was the editor of our undergraduate paper we had a wonderful illustrator for a year, Linda, and I have a feeling that she painted the eye and nose which I then added to.

 

 

 

 

 

 When my family moved to Vancouver they purchased an amazing house in Tsawwassen overlooking Boundary bay and in the distance, Mt. Baker, WA.

We often did excursions to this wonderful Cascade volcano, whether to picnic in the Summer or ski in the Winter. From a viewpoint up there I had begun this painting but then let it languish for several years until I saw a way of reviving it.

After we were married, I took a carving course and turned this scene from a recent hike up the Fraser Valley to Mount Bardeon into this piece. I also made a painting of it, but, honestly, neither are all that good.

The piece below decorated the front of a pine blanket box that my friend made as a wedding gift. It was based on a Lawren Harris painting.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

An early twenty-something angst self-portrait in watercolour. My life was unkempt, my focus was uncertain, and I had aspirations both for the holy life and for the flesh. These matters are more settled now, but the dynamics persist. (I still sometimes grow my hair out!)

 

 

 

 

For a number of years, while he was going through a difficult time, a friend of mine from Tyndale in Toronto, who was also involved in the undergraduate paper, made frequent visits after I moved to the coast. He was pursuing a law degree and wrestling with spiritual matters. One day he commissioned me to paint something for him and this painting came as a result of a dream I had about him. It was a vivid, brief image of a vulture atop of a set of keys, with a fiery glow behind. I was a little intimidated to paint the image, as I felt it was a challenging image to present to my friend, believing that some dark spiritual forces were keeping him from grabbing hold of the keys to Life. He did appreciate the painting, but a few years later he turned his back completely on God and on me, so maybe there was something prophetic about this image.

 

 

When I left Montreal for Vancouver I joined my mother, aunt and uncle on a hike to Cheakamus Lake, near Whistler. I carried some art material with me and made a hasty sketch, dabbing in the oil paint and somehow managing to hike this out without smearing it. I gave it to my parents in appreciation for all the ways they have helped me over the years.

 

This palette knife oil painting was also the product of a dream about introspection. While living in NDG in Montreal and receiving some counselling while employed as the chauffeur for the mayor of Westmount, I was faced with some difficult situations. This painting came about in an hour, and though it may deserve a better treatment, I was grateful for the quick and therapeutic nature of this image coming to life.

 

 

 

 

 

Another Montreal painting, after I left the Christian community house that I had been part of, to go it alone in apartment furnished by found items, like the wonderful wooden crate that stayed with me for a number of years. I still have the same classical guitar and have used part of this study for my Soul Soothers YouTube channel logo.

 

A depiction of Vancouver’s The Lions, from a photograph taken on a hike to the base of these peaks. I re-worked the image until stylized hybrid image was born.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A so-so result of a commission that my father made for a painted version of a photograph he took on a trip to Mount Denali, in Alaska.

 

 

 

 

 

 

A sadly low resolution of a watercolour to encourage a Korean pastor friend who moved from Jasper to Kelowna.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A large watercolour looking from Nigel Pass, JNP south to Cascade Pass from a hike a friend and I took too early in the Spring, slogging through far too much snow. I would like to try doing this one again, but am intimidated. So rusty!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I made this copy of one of my most important paintings for a Christmas present for my parents and it came off better than the original.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The original painting of the small turquoise lake wedged between Manx Peak and Terminal Mountain, a hike along the back of Indian Ridge that a friend and I did.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A painting from a photograph taken while on a three day hike along the Continental Divide Trail with a good hiking buddy. Cascade Pass looking north. We hiked from the Icefields to Sunset pass near Pinto Lake. I saw spiritual significance in the little streamlets having to pass through the valley of the shadow before flowing to the peaks of splendour in the distance.

A return to rust found-art! My children and I rescued these corroded pieces of metal from the woods in Jasper, formerly metal drums. Our intention was to be good stewards of our national park, but I began to see possibilities and decided to replace the gold painted wooden cross at the front of the church with this more eye-catching cross. It wasn’t a hit with everyone, but I was gratified after a summer service to hear a couple from France speculate on how such a small church could have purchased such an extraordinary piece of art!

 

 

My father has been one of my biggest fans and has commissioned a few pieces to keep my brushes wet. A few years ago, he asked if I could turn this photo from our trip to Zion National Park into a painting. I tried acrylics on a wooden block, and we were both pleased with the result.

  

I found these wooden architectural pieces in the basement of the old manse that I was living in in Montreal. I was given permission to have them and then paint the autumnal scene on the interior panels. They hang in  my wife's office at work.