Gina is owner of King Street Gallery in Niagara on the Lake, Ontario.

Gina has been a great help since she actually watches the artist paint who exhibit in her gallery.  So when I make my visits she is able to tell me how artists achieve their individual results.  I have learned that there are many different ways to paint and often they are not what you would expect….the results may look the same but how the artist achieved them can be very different.

Charles was my film prof at Loyola who taught me about composition and context.  Even then, in the 1960’s, he was an accomplished artist.  Here is the background on this amazingly talented individual.

Life is full of surprises.  I have hundreds of people who follow my comments on an Investing site and one day Zaan decided to follow me.  When this happens I check the profile of the individual.  To my surprise I discovered that she was a very accomplished artist.  Not only did we connect but became friends and she and her partner visited me here in Niagara on the Lake ( they had a home in London,ON at the time and now live most of the year on the coast in British Colombia where she has build her studio).  I learned so much from her as she would assess the photographs of paintings I was working on and then make detailed recommendations. She taught me lots of tricks including the use of Q-tips and fingers !

Ed is one of the most accomplished wildlife artists in the world and all of his paintings are from photographs he has taken as he travels the planet, both on land and under the sea!  His studio is a two minute from my home and I will drop by to watch him as he works….and I get brief tutorials.  He is self-taught and this provides him with the ability to approach his work in ways that others do not….his attention to detail and the way he “builds” his paintings is incredible to watch.  From him I learned the short cuts to achieve good results at my level of ability….and the use of one particular paint brush I call my “magic wand”.