Artist Statement

'My ultimate goal as an artist is to create artwork with an ability to engage and reward it's viewers that only grows stronger over the passage of time'

​Working as an artist for many years, one develops acute powers of observation.  We are programmed to not only recognize a scene or subject worthy of  basing a painting upon, but to also observe and comprehend the underpinnings and subtle characteristics that cause it to appear the way it does.

My curiosity to understand and familiarize myself with every element of my painting subjects and the world I inhabit, continues to grow and expand.  A wet rock, along the shore of the bay for example, compels me to want  to run my fingers across it, because the visual data I receive is not enough.  While I haven't taken to jumping into the waters of Georgian Bay I sometimes find myself painting as of yet (its bloody cold most of the time!) yet my mind contemplates doing so when I am depicting it in a painting.   Hopefully, some of this focused attention and desire to truly understand is communicated through my artistic efforts.  If one imagines they too can feel the prickly needles of a spruce tree, the crunch of snow underfoot on a crisp winter morning, or the soft breeze across a field of wild grass upon viewing one of my paintings, then I can count the artwork as a success.

don 

'Into the Wind'