Now Represented by Grid Art Gallery in Nelson, BC

Over the summer holidays, while I was in my hometown, Nelson, British-Columbia, I connected with a lovely new gallery there, the Grid Art Gallery. It's run by Michael Graham and Shayne Brandel and I am excited that I am now represented by them. The Grid Art Gallery is a new addition to Nelson's already thriving art scene. Nelson has often been ranked as the number one small arts town in the book "The 100 Best Small Arts Towns in America," and has long needed a good gallery to reflects its vibrant culture. You can see some of the work I have in their gallery at this link or by visiting the gallery at 351-B Baker Street (Lane Entrance) Nelson B.C. For questions you can email them at gridartgallery@gmail.com or call them at 1-888-446-9390.

My Painting's in Carol Little's Poetry Book

Carol Little has recently published a book of poetry, "A Study in Love," in which she paired some of my paintings with her poems about love. I just got my copy of it in the mail when I returned from Italy and it looks great! It's 7.5" x 7.5," 67 pages long and 14 of my paintings are printed in full colour in it. You can order copies of it online HERE.

Painting Expedition in Utah with Jeremy Lipking

I just got back from the most amazing painting expedition with Jeremy Lipking, Logan Hagege and a bunch of other artist friends. It started in LA, where me, Jeremy, and Logan started our journey to the Maynard Dixon Country Show in Utah. We got there a few days early, and met up with Scott Burdick, Josh Elliott and Glenn Dean to paint the Utah countryside. It was beautiful down there, and painting alongside these guys was truly inspiring. The extreme heat almost killed me at first, and I had to periodically take air-conditioning breaks in Jeremy’s truck. Luckily as the days went by it actually cooled down a bit, and I got acclimatized a little, so ya, I had a really great time. Here are a few photos from the trip, as well as some of the studies that I did while we were there.

















Jeremy Lipking, Scott Burdick and my painting box

















Logan Hagege, Scott Burdick, me, Josh Elliott, and Glenn Dean painting in Capitol Reef in Utah

















"Torrey Cliffs, Utah," oil on canvas, 5"x 7"



















"Capitol Reef, Utah," oil on canvas, 6"x 8"

















"Boulder Mountain, Utah," oil on canvas, 5"x 7"




















"Summer Sky," oil on canvas, 10"x 12"

New Commissions

Well, I'm back in Canada now! It's crazy to be back, everything looks new to me! I haven't seen Canada in almost a year, so it's like seeing it for the first time or something. I'm just getting ready to deliver a couple commissions to people this week, so I thought I'd show them to you.





















"Steph Pregnant," oil on canvas, 21.5" x 18"























"Lew and Hélène West," oil on linen, 20" x 16"

Florence is so Inspiring!

Here are some more of the paintings that I've done here in Florence. I did some of them as studies, to get a sense of how I liked a certain concepts before committing to doing large-scale versions, and some of them are final paintings.





















Me joking around beside my self-portrait, "Who am I? The Performance of Everyday Life," oil on canvas, 80" x 50,"
at the exhibition here in Florence, "In Bocca al Lupo." Unfortunately I didn't get a chance to properly photograph this painting before shipping it back to Canada, but this gives you an idea of how it turned out, and I'll post a proper photo of it when I return home soon!
















"Left and Leaving," oil on panel, 6" x 8"
This painting was done during a very difficult time in my life. It embodies the Buddhist philosophy that the way to contentment is to release the five cravings, which are sex, wealth, fame, lots of sleep, and fancy food. This is an image of me walking away from the five cravings, which are personified here as female water nymphs. I learned here in Florence that female figures are often used to represent abstract ideas and concepts, so I liked the idea of using them here to represent the five cravings. My sister, Jessica Gordon, was kind enough to pose for me for the water nymphs. The title is from the Winnipeg-based band, the Weakerthans, album name, which I was listening to a lot when I did this painting. This is a very small, painterly study. I am pleased with the overall effect, so I intend to paint it full-scale at a later date.

















"Self-reflection," oil on panel, 6" x 8"
This is an idea that I had for a twist on the Narcissus theme awhile ago. It's me looking into the water and seeing my reflection. It's a small study to get an idea of how I liked it before moving onto a larger one. Although I do kind of like it, I actually think I found it to be a little "sweet" for my tastes, and probably won't be doing a larger version of it. Still, it was fun to do!






















"Piedistallo," oil on panel, 14" x 6.5"
This is a painting that I did at the Bardini Museum here in Florence. It was so fun to go there and have the opportunity to paint pieces of their collection from life, so my friend Kevin Columbus and I went there regularly to paint together!






















"Transformation," oil on panel, 7" x 4.5"
This is a self portrait of me holding a poppy. Poppies in art often represent sleeping or dying, so it expresses the way I’ve felt lately, and the title hints towards a change taking place within me. I may paint this painting full size in the future.

Masks and Armour

Hey guys! Thought I would post some of the paintings I've done on the themes of masks and armour since I've been here in Florence. I have become very interested in the influence that culture has on our own life experiences, and living in Italy this past year has given me a deeper understanding of its impact. In both cultures, people develop mechanisms for masking their anxiety, but they do it in very different ways. The cultural observations that I’ve made here have led me towards exploring the themes of personal armour and masks in my work. These themes personify the layers of protection that we build up around ourselves, in the hopes of protecting ourselves. However our personal armour and masks in fact only prevent us from truly experiencing and enjoying our lives. “Sometimes the only way to open a path to soul is the negative way-by noting ways in which we are unconsciously protecting ourselves from the sting of life’s intentions.” (from: Thomas Moore. SoulMates. New York: HarperCollins, 1994.)

I did several studies of myself in armour, after studying the Armour they had at the Bardini Museum, and my favorite is "Self-portrait in Armour IV." It's not the tightest one rendering-wise, but it's my favorite compositionally, so I plan to paint it up larger in the future.






















Self-portrait in Armour I," oil on panel, 12" x 8"























Self-portrait in Armour II," oil on panel, 6" x 4"























"Self-portrait in Armour III," oil on canvas, 9" x 7"























"Self-portrait in Armour IV," oil on canvas, 6" x 4"























"Study for Who Am I? The Performance of Everyday Life"
6” x 4,” oil on canvas

This is a self-portrait of myself in holding two masks, a happy one and a sad one. It expresses the changeability in the way that we present ourselves in the world, and the influence that our surroundings have on the self that we show. I actually painted this one up really big as well (80" x 50," but sadly didn't get a good photo of it before shipping it back to Toronto, so I'll post one when I return home this summer!























"The Grownup," oil on panel, 12" x 8"

This subject interested me because I liked the humour in it. My friends here in Florence had come home one night with this strange, pseudo-batman mask, and when I saw it hanging on their wall, I had my friend put it on. He thought he was taking a hero pose, but I like that it reads as scared and protective. I liked the contrast between his defensive stance and the fierce mask, as well as the childlike quality of the mask. This painting embodies the idea that we bring childhood pain and defense mechanisms into our adult experiences, without even knowing that we're doing it.

I'll post more paintings soon!!

Some new paintings

Here are a couple new paintings that I recently finished.

My friend and I have been going to the Bardini Museum and painting in there. It's sooper fun to be allowed to actually paint in a museum! They're all really friendly there, and they pretty much all know us now too, so I don't even feel that weird doing it (anymore;)

"Armour at the Bardini," oil on panel, 12"x 8"





















Me working on my next painting in the Bardini
















Also, here's a commission I recently finished for a friend.
"Giovanni," oil on panel, 8"x 8"