Kingston Ont.

My oldest son wanted an oil painting for his dining room and asked me to do one of the City hall. Tourist information Booth, and the new train, The Spirit of Sir John A.. I worked on this for a few weeks and found that it was a challenge. The perspective of course had to be correct, the colours had to be close and the composition had to be true to the real thing. That's what he wanted. This commission, because it had to be  realistic, stifled any creativity. It was more like a paint by numbers where after the sketch you just fill in the spaces. I wonder why he just didn't enlarge a photo and frame IT!! When I paint I like to put my own impressions and artistic feelings into the finished painting. It does not have to be exactly what is there in front of me, I can use artistic license and move things around and change their colour. This difference is important to me. It seems to be the difference between being an illustrator and an artist.

This is the finished oil painting on an 16x20 canvas.