I was born in Hamilton, Ontario in 1972 and grew up in the neighbouring suburbs of Burlington. I was a creative kid, obsessed with drawing and lego and in love with old houses. My ultimate dream was to be an architect, but I couldn't do the math to save my life. I was also interested in sculpture, mostly clay, so I tried making something of that instead.
In 1992 I enrolled as a sculptor in the Ontario College of Art and was told right away that I had okay eye for design but I would never make it as an artist. I joined the Communication & Design department and dropped out after the first semester. I spent a few years working in restaurants, a video store, and briefly owned a vintage furniture store in Toronto.
My painting career began accidentally in 1999 when a fledgling busGallery offered me space in a small group show. That show sold out and that gave me confidence to make a go of it. I closed the antique store and the rebranded 1080bus moved into my storefront.
I spent several years as an emerging artist travelling around North America, participating in art fairs and meeting a lot of great gallery folks. Fairly quickly, I was selling paintings in Boston, Seattle, Austin, Nashville, Atlanta, Chicago and New York.
I've always painted houses, but it took a few years to get to the technique I use today. I achieve my impasto texture in several layers. I cover my canvases with a thick coat of modelling paste, then 'carve' the wet putty with paint scrapers, knives and brushes. A thin splash of brown paint is applied as an undercoat and finally I finish it with oils. I like to mix my colours in large batches and fill my own tubes, allowing each series to share a common, consistent palette.