Upstream Painting

I am a 44 year old artist living in Toronto, Canada. My career began with advertising & graphic design and has since evolved into a marketing/communications role. Currently focusing on inbound & outbound forms of automated marketing systems. I have always wanted to be a full time painter but did not have the confidence in my youth to pursue as a full time career. In 2018, after a near 20 year hiatus from painting I felt absolutely compelled to start expressing myself through paint again. Today, as I practice, learn & develop a style, my work remains experimental with conceptual cues from philosophy, consciousness, culture, science, religion & the human condition. I try to make sense of my world by combining multiple faculties of thought, and discover the relationship and connections between them through art. I like to pose questions in my art which challenge viewers as well as invite them to discover the narrative within. To spurn inspiration & stay true to my expressive intentions, my process involves maintaining a monthly journal, a digital scrapbook of; events, drawings doodles, photographs, ideas, discoveries, words, poems, images, news clippings, articles, etc. Culminating into a states of mind series, perceptions & viewpoints which I begin to plan my paintings from. I strongly believe the impressions and consequent judgements I make about others & the world around me are related to attributes that I would like to change within myself. Perhaps it is always most challenging to confront oneself, and that is my ultimate artistic goal.