These paintings are acrylic, and not watercolours. For more information, go to Acrylics Corner.
Some new additions (since 2007)
I trace my interest in art to my childhood, and I was lucky enough to have an uncle who painted watercolours as a hobby. He took me under his wing, and in the days of two mail deliveries a day in England, we carried on a kind of correspondence course together. I would mail him my latest epic, and he would promptly return it with helpful comments and tips. We went on several outdoor painting sessions together, and he eventually encouraged me to try for an art school scholarship. I was accepted and began a lifelong love affair with watercolours.
Years passed, I emigrated to Canada, married a Canadian woman, started a family and at last I got into my chosen career. I was employed as a graphic artist in Calgary, Alberta. In the days before computer graphics, we assembled our camera-ready art by hand, made a negative of the result, then made a lithographic plate and printed the result.
In 1970 I began to paint watercolours again, just about the time we decided to build our own house in the country outside Toronto. The ensuing years were so busy my new-found hobby had to be postponed again.
My wife and I officially retired in 1987, and ran a B&B for six years in Wellington, Ontario, a lovely little village on lake Ontario. By 1989 we were spending our winters in Destin, Florida, where my mentor Robert Long, was giving lessons in watercolour techniques.
