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.