My Background was Story
Once Upon A Time
I'm from London in the UK where I lived and grew up. At the age of 33 I immigrated to Canada, in search of the big wild outdoors, opportunities, and new adventures. I was attracted to this vast country with its population of almost half that of England, over 40 times its surface area and the home of a lot of water.
Although Montreal has been my home for the past few years, where I was touched by the warmth of the people, and a beautiful multicultural mix of communities from all over the world, I consider myself a global citizen, living a life of freedom, wherever my curiosity takes me.
I’m a visual artist, filmmaker, storyteller and entrepreneur.
My medium of choice, as a Visual Artist is painting and drawing, and I’ve been working in the entertainment business since 1997, as a sculptor-mold maker.
I make sets for films and TV shows, and I've also worked on many productions as a prosthetic make-up artist, making creature FX for films like Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Brothers Grimm, Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, James Bond and several of the X-Men movies.
Integrity, authenticity, appreciation and quality, are values that radiate through my artwork with a high attention to detail, by my choice of materials, and how I portray my subjects in portraits. I discover their essence, by carefully studying the history ingrained in their faces, listening to their life stories, interviewing and talking with them. This is highlighted in one of my most important projects: “This Is Project You”.
My curious nature leads me to challenge and question the status quo, addressing issues surrounding the interconnectedness of humanity, and the health of our environment.
My mission is to develop unity within Humanity and work towards a world of appreciation and connection, using storytelling and creativity as the channel of communication, and a conduit to change and transformation.
This is Project YOU
Project YOU is an artist‘s tribute to human connection, appreciation, and to the joy of discovering who people are. It’s a tribute to the journey we call life, and sharing real experiences with one another, creatively and actively in the present moment.
YOU, is a compilation of pencil portraits, stories, interviews and insights, which will be made into an art book and film telling the autobiography of my life. It will intertwine my own experiences and learnings, with the stories of people I have met along the way.
Each person that I draw a portrait of, shares about who they are, an important story from their life so far, what they learned from it, and a memory of a time they spent with me.
Each portrait is a unique portrayal of that person, and how I see their essence. They are a mark of my appreciation for each person, and their various contributions to my life. For me, having appreciation of someone, is to have an understanding and an enjoyment of their distinctive qualities and characteristics.
“I believe appreciation to be the glue that helps stick humanity together.”
As a collection, the portraits explore the unique ways in which we see each other, often in ways that we might not even be aware of.
Project YOU opens a discussion to who we are as individuals, and how we see the essence of ourselves and others, paving the way for better understanding between us, and a more unified humanity.
“Each drawing is a window into each character, and a conduit to the stories that make them unique.”