Water colour was my first painting medium. I have always enjoyed the process of preparing for the session, the anticipation of what might take place as the water carries the colour over the surface. The most freedom is felt when no preconception is in place mentally and the image is developed in sequential subsequent brush work. The painting activity is much like a meditation in emotional response to light and space where colour is the catalyst for some sort of visual articulation
Contrarily the arsenal of various techniques allows one to document certain observations in a realistic representational manner such as the image here of a group of buildings, boats, and landscape. In this case the image is a memory portal depicting, my school and local beach area where I spent time, around the fishermen, the caplin run, and coming of age experiences on the West Coast of Newfoundland. It was here in Stephenville, a small town adjacent to the American Air Force base that I was introduced to painting by an officer painter. This painting below was done on site during a return visit in the summer of 1979.
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Water colour on gessoed pressed board, depicting the Allen Shaft pump, at the Albion Mine in Stellarton, NS, early seventies.