Rewards Beyond...

Anyone pursuing a career in the arts will know that some form...any form...of monetary reward is a sacred goal.  Not only is it validating that the general public will part with actual money for your work, it's a brute reality that without financial means the art career will necessarily cede to a more banal but lucrative occupation.  Sometimes the pursuit of sales can be all-consuming.  Before I joined that hunt full-time, I remember chatting with one of my hockey buddies who happened to be a successful commercial artist.  At the time (I was still an amateur) he said he envied me because for me art was still a passion.  For him, he had turned his passion into a profession and at times he thought perhaps that was a mistake.  I naturally didn't heed that advice for a second, and so I too joined the fray of creating art that will "sell" and thus reap many monetary rewards.

But what I've learned along the way is that there are many 'rewards beyond' the financial ones.  Art is a way we communicate and express ourselves.  It touches us emotionally and speaks to our struggles as humans.  It stirs memories.  It's part of our soul.

That emotional link isn't alien to the success of selling a piece, a point I always try to make to anyone who asks about the key to selling art.

But often the emotional connections turn out to be reward enough.  I've had people weep when they've seen my work, not because of some astounding level of talent I assure you, but simply because I've touched something deep within them in my efforts to impart an image onto a canvas.  And so it is that I've come to learn the importance of sharing art for 'rewards beyond' the monetary ones. 

For example, I've leapt at offers to be a demo painter at events, which is a great way to share painting tips with the general public and give them a glimpse into the process. 

These events are a great way to act as an ambassador to the arts in the bigger picture. 

Often when I'm conducting these demos, even though I'm revealing trade secrets, I feel I'm helping to demystify the process, especially for kids.  You can sense their amazement at how a simple dot of paint in the right spot makes an effect (like glass surfaces) suddenly come to life.

One of my favorite ones was when I gave a one hour talk to a group of second graders as the illustrator of the book "Lady MacBeth Afraid of the Stairs".  As part of the hour I conducted a demo of simple two-point perspective to show a road disappearing to the horizon.  I felt at their young age it would be something they hadn't yet seen but likely could get a grasp of.

How delighted was I a few weeks later when the teacher sent me a package of their thank you cards and many of them had included their own attempts at drawing the two-point perspective road!

One of the dads wrote to tell me that after that day all his son could talk about was that lecture and what he had learned.  It's my great hope that I may have inspired a young kid to eventually pursue his own path in art.  

I've also given back in more overt ways, such as donating paintings for charity.  I painted "Chateau Laurier Evening" specifically for the Snowflake Ball in Ottawa in 2016.

The British High Commissioner and his wife with "Chateau Laurier Evening" in the background.

Over the years I've also curated numerous shows, which in addition to presenting works to the public, is also a great way to meet and work with other artists.

Perhaps the most rewarding of the shows I've curated, and indeed the most rewarding experience of my art career was when my brother Ross and I staged the "1917 - Canada Comes of Age" exhibition.  It was a multi-city show in 2017 that looked back at the many critical events that helped shape Canada 100 years ago.

There were galas held at each of the stops on the tour.  But none of those compared to the day at the Aurora Cultural Centre when a group of World War Two veterans from Sunnybrook came by on an official tour.  I was able to discuss the show at length with them, and they were universal in their praise with how well we had interpreted a world that their own parents would have been so very familiar with.

And the greatest honour of all was the attendance of Frances McIlroy, a nurse who went ashore in France the day after D-Day, and was herself born in 1917, the year portrayed in our show!

There are many times in this artist's life when rewards beyond the financial are what are needed to keep the painter's hand at its task.  When I finally lay down the paint brush for good, it will be these memories that are the most cherished.