The Canadian landscape is varied and vast. It ranges from rain forests to mountains, from prairies to boreal forests, from tundra to the Bad Lands, and from glaciers to tidal plains. Over the length of my life I have traveled across much of this landscape by car, rail, plane, hitchhiking, canoeing, and hiking. The diversity of this country has never ceased to amaze me.

I spent 30 years in research observing and recording the micro world with an electron microscope. Today I observe the macro world, and record my impressions with paint. My goal is to record not only the light reflecting off the objects I see, but to add whatever is required to capture the essence of a place. Painting has become a way of observing and recording this varied topography, and attempting to capture on canvas what I feel as I look out on this wonderful world. Science tells us that we see with our brains, not just our eyes. Our emotions, experiences and personal circumstances quite literally colour what we see. Most of my paintings are done outdoors on site and some of them are enlarged in the studio.

This particular painting is of Botanical Beach on the west coast of Vancouver Island. This part of the beach is accessible only when the tide is low when you can look into tidal pools filled with brightly coloured marine animals and plants such as starfish and sea urchins, blue mussel shells, green sea anemones and sea cucumbers and white goose neck barnacles. This is my attempt to capture this magnificent Canadian treasure.

I also paint portraits and still life pieces in the studio. My favorite portrait style is that of Vincent Van Gogh, who captures the personality of the person in a unique way. When I paint a portrait, an exact likeness is less important than communicating the inner character of the individual.