Painting with light - soon

No doubt operating the new laser is going to be a challenging adventure. I’ve been down that road many times before. Tonight I downloaded the machine software and noodled around to see what’s up. As expected, there are many new things to explore, new terms to learn and settings to figure out. I’ll tackle this as I do every project - by jumping into the deep end and learning how to swim. I’ve ordered a whole bunch of sample materials and supplies. Many are already on hand. This afternoon, I received word that the machine is due on Friday of this week, so it won’t be long until I’m painting with light. Stay tuned…

Circus train extraordinaire

The laser machine is capable of both engraving and cutting the wood I intend to work with. I will need to get up to speed on both procedures, so I decided to combine these techniques for one of the first limited edition runs. I drew up the mechanical circus train image a while ago as a triptych (three companion pieces). Last night I decided to create a custom postage stamp border. These will be engraved and cut out on the laser, hand-coloured with pigmented inks and then signed and numbered. Stay tuned to see the result…

Readying The Tech

While I’ve been busy dreaming up and practicing my art I’ve also spent a lot of time readying the technical part of the equation. I’ve been looking at all manners of lasers, studying the operating programs and preparing the space where we will home the laser. The goal is to get this technical part behind me so that once the machine is here I won’t have to think about it any more, concentrating instead on creating the art. We’ve now ordered the machine, installed the venting, readied the room, built the table and started learning the operating system for the laser. Everything is ready and we are counting the days until the high tech machine arrives and we can begin running the first samples. Stay tuned…

The Journey Begins

Every grand adventure begins like a pebble tossed into a pond. The splash is small, but the rings quickly spread, eventually reaching every edge of the pool, no matter how far. Today, a new journey begins. Many years of thinking and dreaming now translate into action. My passion is lit anew as I search for new subjects and spend every spare minute sketching and capturing these ideas. This is fun!

In The Beginning…

Everything has a beginning, and my art career is no exception.

I remember drawing endlessly since I could hold a crayon. In my teens, I decided to try pen and ink - mainly because my older brother did oil paintings and I wanted to do art differently. I also reasoned that pen-and-ink drawings could be reproduced more easily and at a lower cost, enabling me to market my work more effectively.

I began by doing drawings for family and friends. Like a pebble thrown into a small pond, the rings quickly spread, and it wasn’t long until others were interested. In my early twenties, I was a full-time artist with my work being sold in galleries and frame shops across British Columbia. Private and corporate collectors kept me very busy, producing originals and limited-edition prints.

My fine art career dovetailed with commercial art from the beginning, and in 1984, I accepted my first historical mural commission in Chemainus, British Columbia. One mural led to another, and before long, I was travelling across Canada and the United States, painting giant walls featuring local history. One hundred and twenty-five murals later I was tired of the endless travel and high scaffold work. And I discovered the wonderful world of theme parks. In the early 1990s, Janis and I formed Imagination Corporation to allow us to take on monumental themed projects. We started small in British Columbia, but it wasn’t long until our fame grew as big as the imaginative projects. Our work is now around the world with work in Canada, the USA, Dubai and the Caribbean. These days, our son, Peter, has taken over the helm of the creative team with me playing a supportive role, still having as much fun as ever.

The drawing never stopped as every imaginative project needed concept art to present to our clients, but because we were so busy, there was no time to produce fine art for private collectors or galleries.

But the itch to do fine art has never gone away, and I have longed for the day when I could do art just for the love of it once again. A while back, as I thought about creating some pen and ink drawings, I broke out some dusty art supplies and gave it a go. In only a few minutes, I realized I had long moved on from the traditional pen and messy inks. I much preferred digitally drawing on my iPad. The drawing mechanics were the same, but I could easily zoom in on details. Corrections and redos were easy. The drawback was that there would be no ‘original’ art in the traditional sense. After much thought, I came up with a unique solution. I would use a laser to create an extremely limited ‘print’, precisely burned into wood panels, which I would hand colour, sign and number. Each would be unique and hopefully be sought after by collectors. This new adventure is now underway. Stay tuned…