Oooh... paint by number!

A couple of times now, I have had people comment on social media that my work is just like paint by number.  

While at the outset, this may be the only point of reference from people's art appreciation, and I would like to highlight the differences. 

My work is far from a paint by number.  

​What is a paint by number?

As you can see this lovely kit gives you everything you need to complete the painting that you purchased.  You simply grab the numbered paint pot and paint the colour in the spot with that number.  And voila you have a painting.  Oh and if you want more detail you can order the kit with an expanded colour palette.  In addition, these paint by number kits, I'm guessing, have been sold 100 times, 1000 times, with varying degrees of completion.

$35 Cdn plus shipping and handling and you have the tools to create a painting. You actually have the materials to follow along someone else's ideas about composition, colour, paint choice and brush selection.

How is my work different?
It's not possible to look at my work, without looking at me as well.  

• 7.5 years of college and university training in the art (Visual arts degree from The University of British Columbia).
• Travel to some of the finest gallery museum's in the world to see the old masters work in person.
• over the last few years I've read 57 books on art, design, business, composition etc.
• Since Feb 2019 I've complete 114 original artworks. 
• My work has been juried into 21 seperate national and International shows.
• In 2022 I was awarded my Senior Signature Member status with the Federation of Canadian Artists, the highest level of distinction with the oldest non-profit arts organization in Canada, which was founded by the members of the Group of Seven with Lawren Harris/Emily Carr being influential in the west coast branch of the FCA.
• To date, I have photographed 12,600 source photos to consider for future paintings.

With each piece of art that I produce all this wisdom and experience gets infused into the painting. 

My process is mindful and immersive.
From the source photos, many are not useable for finished art because perhaps the lighting is not that great.  Lighting is a big deal.  Or there is too much extraneous information that doesn't add to the proposed art piece. 

I often take several photos of the same bloom from many different angles.  I assess each photo for their qualities and start to do detailed compositional studies to see how the foliage, lighting, shape of the bloom etc. can enhance the image with the hopes of drawing the viewer in. I don't manipulate the image beyond cropping to satisfy my desire.  I don't see it necessary to add a bloom where there wasn't one.  I may choose not to paint the rust coloured dead leaf though. 

Once the detailed compositional studies are done, I can decide on the canvas size that would be appropriate for the dimensions of the cropped image.  It's important to keep the width and height in the same ratio as the source photo.  This may result in me building or ordering a custom canvas.  

Once the canvas has been decided on, I use safe practices, for archival purposes, to prepare the canvas to receive paint.  Oil paint is slightly acidic which will lead to a deterioration of the cotton canvas over time if the surface is not prepared correctly. 

Once the canvas is sealed I transfer the image to the canvas.  This is where someone seeing my work may see paint by number. 

From this basic line drawing, I start meticulously mixing colours from my palette of 11 different oil paints and begin placing them where they need to go on the painting. This is not a once and done process.  The paint I mix on my palette is a guess at what colour I need for the particular shape.  Once the paint is on the canvas I can re-assess how it's working.  

I have an easy approach to painting.  If the image is not coming together as you'd hoped it's either the colour you've used or where you have placed it.  If the painting isn't working quite like I imaged I can change the colour or change where I place that colour. 

I'm going for realism.  I want you to feel/smell the flower that I'm painting. 

This is what my colour work looks like.  The colours on the boards on the left image are my detailed colour mixing study that I now use for reference.  All these charts are created from the same 11 tubes of commercially available oil paint.

The palette on the right is my mixing process.  Adjusting the colours one way or another to achieve the exact effect on the canvas that I'm aiming for.  It's a slow, meticulous process.

The painting process, depending on the size of the canvas, takes anywhere from 10 to 100+ hours to complete.  Oil paint takes time to cure.  As a result I am not always able to adjust/overpaint areas that are still wet.  

Once the piece is complete it cures for a considerable length of time before I varnish it and then it's ready to sell/ship to a customer. 

It's my hope that this short blog about my process will help you see and appreciate all that goes into my original artwork. 

Here are a few of the pieces that I have completed. 

I'm proud of myself.  My dedication to my craft and the incredibly beautiful paintings that I'm able to create.  They amaze me, truly.  

​They are far from a paint by number kit.