1. Lay out all the paintings to wear resin.
2. Place paper underneath each peice.
3. Make sure there is no debris on the paintings and the paintings are dry.
4. Make sure you have enough resin to completely cover each painting with a good thick layer.
5. Have a heat gun near by for the bubbles.
6. Wear gloves and have some paint stir sticks around.

 This is me in my messy studio.  Applying resin is a lot of work. To complete 3 paintings it takes me about 2.5 hours to layout the resin, spread it evenly and make sure all the bubbles are blown out.

The resin brings the paint back out of the wood and provides great protection to all the mixed media in the artwork.

1. Shaganappi Hill in Spring

2. Scottsman Hill and the Stampede Grounds

These two paintings are created on 20" x 36" birch canvases.

Each drawing was done on site, the ink and painting was completed in my studio.

The sketch takes me a one to three hours on site.

A complicated scene can flow quickly and a simple scene can sometimes require more adjustments, but I don't really know until I start drawing.

Next step is done in the studio with a caligraphy pen and ink. I go over the pencil marks making minor adjustments as I go along.

After the ink is dry I start with the first layer of acrylic inks.

This paint is applied in a spontaneous fashion using water to disperse the colours.

I layout colour as to tone and composition rather than to paint the particular images.

This is what the first layer of paint looks like on my other painting: Scottsman Hill and Stampede Grounds.

I decided to make the stampede grounds lively and colourful to represent the many different events that happen on this site. It is unfortunate that the rest of the time it is a grey ashphalt frontier.

This is how it looks after a few more layers of paint.

Each layer getting more and more detailed.

The acrylic inks are transparent and how each layer affects the next application is an important consideration for my work.

This layer includes some collage of the buildings that are being torn down and a few of the residents.

Here are some photos of the homes being torn down and a resident who agreed to have his photo taken for my project. In fact I took a few photos of residents and they were quiet happy that someone was paying attention to their lovely little patch of land in Calgary.

The Scottsman hill painting required me to take a picture of someone wearing a Calgary Flames jersey. 

I went to the Saddledome and decided to search around the area - some jersey clad people were bound to show up. Here is the wife of the equipment manager! She is a good sport.

Here are some close-ups of the Scottsman Hill and Stampede Grounds painting.

There are many experts out there on the act of collaging and they may have a different way of doing things than me, but I am going to share my techniques anyway.

I like adding photography to paintings to express a certain 'vintage' feel.  A moment captured in time that is then incorporated into my work.  This is not the same as just wanting to add a flavour of realism.  It is more about wanting the impact and message that can only be said with a photo.  When this is desired I make sure to use images that either I have taken myself or I have physically collected on site of what is being painted.  Most of the time, it is photos that I have taken and printed off on my home printer.  

This is a close-up of "Kiosks line the sidewalk of New York City China Town".  Or something like that - I can't remember the full stories that make up each of my painting titles.  Stories often change every time you tell them, so that's ok.

Back to the subject - this is a close up of some collage.  I combined the use of Chinatown newspaper collected on site along with a photo I took of people walking on the streets while in Chinatown.  The combination of the two help give the painting more depth.   The photo and collected memorabilia from site help to tell the story and give the viewer more to examine.  

It is important to layer collage with the painting and drawing.  The photos or other collaged pieces should not stick out like a black beetle in white rice.  Feathering, painting over edges, extending the lines in photos with drawing, overlaping collaged elements and overall compositional placement, are all techniques that should be used to incorporate collage into paintings. 

I only use collage with water based painting mediums becuase of the gels and other glues available in acrylic lines.  I have not figured out a way to incoporate collage with oil based paints.  Maybe someone out there has some tips on this practice for us.  I will stick to waterbased to play it safe.  Golden Acrylic Gel medium in 'gloss' is the strongest of all fixatives.  It will glue on all types of objects with varying surfaces and if applied without too much excess, it will dry clear.  Dry gel is flexible within reason, but make sure your painting does not get too cold or the gel will crack when moved.

When I am just gluing on newspaper or regular weight papers I use Modpodge, a cheap colloge glue from craft stores.  It glues extremely well and does not add weight, texture or bubbling in the papers.  You can get this glue on top of the image and it won't seal the fibres, allowing paint to be applied.  When you use gel, the fibers on top of the image are often sealed and it is then difficult to layer paint on top.  Deside which medium to use depending on your desired result.

Almost anything can be collaged into paintings - this is just one small area and technique - more are to come.  sign-up for an RSS feed to catch it all.  Post your comments if you dare.

I am reading a book called, 'the Zahir' by Paulo Coelho who also wrote the Alchemist.  I am in love with both books.  In one passage of the Zahir, Coelho shares his experience of writing.  He talks of the struggle to get the right words out and the reworking of each book before it is shared with the public.  Coelho says that he just writes what wants to be written and what island in the ocean he will reach is not known when the journey begins.  "And it is a constant source of surprise to me to discover that other people were also in search of that very island and that they find it in my book. "  He talks about people telling others and the word spreading and through this, a solitary action of writing becomes a "bridge, a boat, a means by which souls can travel and communicate."

The next line is an important one.  He talks about when his work becomes actualized for him and I share this view about my paintings. "From then on, I am no longer the man lost in the storm: I find myself through my readers, i understand what I wrote when I see that others understand it too, but never before."  

When people come into my gallery and talk to me about my work or make a comment on this website, "...and then I understand that my soul is not alone."  We are all looking for a little soul connection - artist just seek (connection) out more often and with more ferocity.