I came from a poor, blue-collar family, so there were not many other things to do. I can’t remember exactly why I fell in love with art…I must have been very bored one day and just started drawing and found it to be fun. I always received high praise, and that made me feel like I was accomplishing something. Reading Mad Magazine was a bright spot for me growing up and they are filled with great art. This helped me develop an appreciation.

Yes, I have worked on several different projects. After art school, I had no idea what to do with my life. So, with art being my strength, I made sure any job I took was art-related. I started off as an illustrator. During this period, I learned how to run a business, how to paint, how to suffer, and discipline. This went on for nine years, until I was offered an animation job working on computer games. This was a period of intense learning…I think just was before windows 95 OS came out. I probably did mediocre work in this field as I was never called back after half a year.
After a few years of drifting, I got an offer to work on a movie project as a texture mapper (torture). Here I learned about Maya and Photoshop. The movie was never completed and I was released after eight months. It was not long before I got a job doing vector art for internet cartoons. This job lasted seven months. Though these were extremely hard times, they influenced the work I do today in positive ways, both technically and socially.

Knowing that I did not want to be an animator, illustrator, texture mapper or a company man, left me only one thing to try for: fine art. I made guidelines for myself, acquired an art studio and threw caution to the wind. It was a great move and I have never looked back. My life has changed for the better by allowing me to paint my own ideas and make a decent living. I decide how much I want to produce on my own terms. Also, I have made a lot of friends along the way.

I didn’t know it at the time, but I tend to like paintings known as ‘narrative’. Conflict in stories and art is interesting. After painting robots off and on for four years, I grew bored of it and stopped altogether. After idling for a month, I had an epiphany while watching the movie Pleasantville. There is a scene in it where the Jeff Daniels character paints a still-life of donuts. What does my imagery mean to me personally? It means a lot! It is the best way that I can myself and by doing so, fulfills an intellectual need thus keeping me sane.

My influences come from all over. My thoughts wander quite a bit, hour to hour, let alone over the course of the year that I spend on each new body of work. I like David Hockney’s work as well as Grant Wood and N.C. Wyeth. So, I made homages to these three painters. For the other paintings in the show, I was trying to capture a certain feeling and ideas using some old figures from advertising and kids shows such as Bumbles from a 1960s Christmas holiday show, Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer, The Wizard of Oz’s from Campbell’s Soup, Voltron, Frosty the Snowman, Barbie, The Yeti, Wampa and others.

For composition, I try to have balance and a path for the eye to take, and a place for the eye to rest. I work from sketches, research, vinyl figures composed on the computer. The painting is basic oil painting: starting with the drawing and then the shadows. Then painting from the farthest point in the background to the midground, then foreground. Starting out with thin oil paint and gradually getting thicker. I use traditional oils mixed with alkyd oils. Linseed oil is used for fine detail.

Yes, I think we are all products of our experiences to a certain extent. It definitely helps to be able to feel that certain something in order to convey it – in all the arts. I do feel close to the messages I convey.

I suppose it would be ok to be trapped with either Scarlett Johansson, Kate Upton, Natalie Portman or Megan Fox. I think they are great actors and could help me come out of my shell.

I am doing way too much cooking and cleaning now. I did buy a Roomba though, and it helps a lot. Living alone with no personal social interaction with anyone except the occasional masked grocery store clerk should have an effect on me. Whether it’s good or bad, I don’t know. I don’t feel particularly happy lately. I’m not concerned though as I will move to shake things up if need be. Maybe out of state or to the mountains.

I think that until there is a vaccine for coronavirus (1 year?), it is going to be very boring. Maybe shows where masks and gloves are the required dress code. In one year and a half, everything should be back to where they were before the plague. Galleries will come and go, as they always have.

I am in low gear at the moment but do need to start two paintings this week. One is for the university of Ottawa and the other for a personal project that is a collaboration of sorts – a robot maker sent me a robot as a gift, so I want to do a painting of it. Other than that, I’d like to do some outer space paintings.