Early attempt at traditional watercolour, which was painted for my mother for Christmas in 1985. I was seventeen.

I rarely use this medium, as I prefer textured shadows and opaque highlights. Watercolour is the opposite: the ground (paper) is used to reveal highlight.

15" x 11", pigment on Arches rag, 1985.

My first painting using oils. I was thirteen. This soon led to oil painting on commission: sunsets, waterwheels, churches, etc. (click here for those).

By painting for others, I earned enough money to keep my personal art (and life) going and attend art college in Halifax.

I sometimes paint digitally with Painter, which emulates the look of oil paint, without having to smell the turpentine.

22" x 18", oil on canvas board, 1981.

These yellow and pink rose acrylics were painted from 2000-2002 for a friend of my mother's who still resides in Whitney Pier, Cape Breton Island.

One of the first images I actually remember drawing. I was seven. It was placed in a grade school art show, then displayed in a local shopping mall with all the other Grade 2 art. It must have been a formative moment, as I still remember seeing this on display.

17"x11", crayons on newsprint, 1975.