The Drawing Society of Canada is committed to preserve the contributions of Canada's true drawing masters both past and present. They are the men and women whose passion for drawing is matched by a dedication to excel in their craft and a desire to share their talents with Canadians. Whether drawing master, painter, sculptor, carver or artist in other disciplines, drawing remains an integral part of their creative journey. Therefore the Drawing Society of Canada invites Canada's drawing masters to become honourary members of the society. If you know of such a drawing master please let us know so we may invite him or her to become an honourary member.

Eser Afacan was born in Turkey in 1953. His father, also an artist, was an Asurian and his mother was Greek Orthodox. Eser started to draw at a very young age. He studied in Manchester , England before he came to Norway in 1978, to study math and physics at the University of Bergen . While a student, he met well known Norwegian artist Odd Nerdrum and in 1984, Eser became a student of Odd Nerdrum. He has lived in England and Norway for the past 32 years. His two children were born in Norway . In 1986, Eser held his first exhibition, and since that year, he has exhibited in many countries. He and his family moved to Canada in 2003, and have made their home in Kingston. He is a master in drawing and painting who takes his work very seriously, both as an artist and as a teacher. Eser himself requested that this page be more personal than just a conventional biography. The following is an attempt by his friend Espen Harward to describe the artist.

"It is not easy to describe Eser within a single page of words. I began work with Eser as a consultant for some of his technical systems. During my work with Eser I became interested in his art and his philosophy on life. What had started as work had become a passion, and the relationship formed by our regular discussions led me towards feeling more like a friend. Eser is a master of skills in many fields. He has been studying mathematics and physics, and has an impressive knowledge of the human brain. He is also very interested and constantly curious about all technical things, and he can learn everything about a machine or a computer just after reading the manual once. I am sure that if someone showed Eser how to fly an airplane, after only one lesson he could fly it perfectly without further instructions. As an artist, when talking about his work, he said: 'I do not paint and draw to be remembered. I give myself to serve the country where I live'. I think he is using his profession to develop himself and his mind. Thus I believe that his art is indeed a tool for greater goals. For the same reason I know Eser had and still has a problem with art-critics in newspapers. These people will not leave him in peace with his work. On the other hand I am sure that one day, he will show the world that art critics are doing more harm than good within the art world. Just to illustrate the unique journey of Eser Afacan, he once applied to the Norwegian government to stay in prison for two years. So he could be left in peace to continue his work. He also wanted to change someone with a criminal background, to show people how progress in the inner soul can be made through art and how it can improve that person's life. I know that a lot of people have tried to do such a thing with religion as a tool. With Eser there would be no religion at all, only art and self-development. 'Prison should not be a penalty, but a place to give people back what is missing.' Yet again, Eser is ready to give himself to art, and to make a new start in Canada . This way he can devote more time to develop new exiting techniques, and to plan new exhibitions for the future. Hopefully he can also dedicate more time to his wife and two beautiful children." His impressive paintings and drawings can be viewed online at www.afacan.com.

Suvinai Ashoona is the daughter of the well-known Cape Dorset sculptor Kiuga Ashoona. She was born in Cape Dorset in August, 1961. Suvinai began drawing in 1995, when she presented some very detailed pen drawings which demonstrated a unique sensibility for the landscape in particular. Her work is very personal, meticulously detailed and precise, and her technique seemed especially well suited to the medium of dry-point etching. Suvinai's work was first included in the Cape Dorset annual print collection in 1997, with two small dry-points entitled Interior (1997-33) and Settlement (1997-34). Suvinai's work has attracted the attention of both curators and private collectors. She was featured along with her aunt, Napachie Pootoogook, and her grandmother, the late Pitseolak Ashoona, in the McMichael Canadian Collection's 1999 exhibition entitled Three Women, Three Generations. Several notable private galleries have also exhibited Suvinai's work. In the 2003 Annual Collection, Suvinai was represented by four prints depicting scenes from her youth. She is represented by Dorset Fine Arts at www.dorsetfinearts.com.

Igor V. Babailov was born in 1965, in the Russian city of Glazov, in the Ural Mountains some nine hundred kilometres north east of Moscow. As a Canadian and internationally renowned portrait and figurative artist, he has distinguished himself in a lengthy series of official portraits of world leaders and distinguished individuals, and as an accomplished artist he remains a scholar and leading spokesperson for the traditional school of classical art. Igor V. Babailov, MFA, is a recipient of national and international competitions, awards and honors, including national and international portrait competitions.

After immigrating to Canada in the early 1990’s, he entered a variety of American competitions and won a number of first prizes. That quickly drew the attention of American portrait agents who soon flooded his studio with requests, especially from the South, for portraits in the syle of great masters. His fine art education, which began in 1974 and continued until 1990, belongs to the Russian/European academic school of art, where he graduated with a masters degree from the world acclaimed Surikov Academy of Fine Arts in Moscow. He is a third generation student of the famous painters Ilya Repin, V. Serov, and V. Favorskiy, with a legacy of creativity that dates back to when he was four years old when he painted his first portrait. In fact, Igor’s father Valery V.Babailov, naturally his first teacher, was a noted fine artist and composer, whose portraits, landscape paintings and musical compositions are a source of inspiration for many.

In his own words, Igor Babailov’s philosophy of painting is simple yet profound. "I love the life that surrounds me. I respect its history and I admire its future. To preserve it for our descendants the way it is, in its truth and beauty, is my duty and my goal as an artist."

As a true master of fine arts, he continues to hold a strong belief in eternal values, especially those values which can be traced right back to the Renaissance, when the awakening of spirituality and art built foundations of great artistic strength in the lives of many artists, foundations that still resonate with such values as: love and respect for God’s creation, appreciation of its harmony and beauty without alterations, necessity of study for the knowledge of human anatomy, knowledge of perspective, composition, and a dedication to painting and drawing methods of the masters matched by a quality of personal discipline and skill, based on that knowledge and based on the experiences of life.

Despite international acclaim for portraits of distinguished individuals and world leaders, Igor Babailov stays close to his creative roots of real people in real time, and like his idol and mentor, the Russian painter Ilya Repin ( 1844-1930 ), Igor paints “people from all walks of life, from beggars to generals.”

Honored with the title “living master” by the Art Renewal Center (ARC), Igor Babailov is an accomplished artist with outstanding credentials having attained the highest level of fine art education and having painted some of the world’s most important leaders. Over the past twenty years, he has painted numerous portraits of social, business and political elite. His notable paintings and murals are in important official and international collections including portraits of President George W. Bush, former mayor Rudolph Giuliani of New York, President V.V. Putin of Russia, South Africa’s Nelson Mandela, Senator Hillary R. Clinton, Hockey Legend Bobby Hull, Prime Minister Brian Mulroney ( whose portrait hangs in Canada’s House of Commons next to a portrait of Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau, painted by Myfanwy Pavelic, who is also a fellow honourary member with Igor Babailov in the Drawing Society of Canada), and Frank Military of Warner Chappell Music in New York.

Igor Babailov is one of the few contemporary artists to be commissioned by the Vatican Museum, to paint the official historical portrait of Pope John Paul II, in commemoration of the World Youth Symposiums – a work in progress. In addition, he has just completed the portrait of television celebrity Regis Philbin, 2003 recipient of the Joe DiMaggio Award. His portrait was featured on the Regis and Kelly Morning Show. Igor Babailov is a speaker with the Harry Walker Agency, North America’s leading executive lecture agency. Some of his distinctive family portraits include the Pushkins, Desmarais, Khrushchev’s, and Ambassador and Mrs. Ruggiero of Rome. In 1996 he organized the first official delegation visit of American artists to Russia and has taught at the prestigious Florence Academy of Art. Two books have been published about Igor’s life and works; one was published by the Russian government, the other will soon come off the presses of a North American publisher. But the last words belong to some of Igor Babailov’s distinguished clients. Dr. Henry Kissinger called his portraits “marvelous,” and Frank Military said, “the Michelangelo of today!” Dick Martin, Executive Vice-President of AT&T stated: “we are of course familiar with his work and outstanding reputation,” and Senator Hillary R. Clinton described her painting as “wonderful”.

As founder of the Igor Babailov Institute of Realism and with studios in Montreal and Long Island, New York, as well as family and friends in native Russia, Igor Babailov is a Canadian to Canadians, a New Yorker to New York, and in Russia the people proudly call him theirs. Selections of his paintings and drawings can be viewed in his online gallery at www.babailov.com.

Robert McLellan Bateman has been a keen artist and naturalist from his early days. He has always painted wildlife and nature, beginning with a representational style, moving through impressionism and cubism to abstract expressionism. In his early 30's he moved back to realism as a more suitable way to express the particularity of the planet. It is this style that has made him one of the foremost artists depicting the world of nature.

In the '70s and early '80s, Bateman's work began to receive critical acclaim and to attract an enormous following. His work is in many public and private collections, and several art museums, including the National Museum of Wildlife Art in Jackson Hole , WY . He was commissioned by the Governor-General of Canada to create a painting as the wedding gift for HRH Prince Charles from the people of Canada . His work is also represented in the collection of HRH Prince Philip, the late Princess Grace of Monaco and Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands . Bateman has had many one-man museum shows throughout North America , including an exhibition at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington , DC ; most of these shows have drawn record-breaking crowds.

His honours, awards and honorary doctorates are numerous: he was made Officer of the Order of Canada , the country's highest civilian award in 1984. He has also been given the Rachel Carson Award (1996), the Golden Plate from the American Academy of Achievement (1998) and the Order of British Columbia (2001); he was named one of the 20th Century's Champions of Conservation by the U.S. National Audubon Society (1998).

Through his long association with Mill Pond Press, thousands of wildlife lovers the world over have been able to enjoy Bateman prints. Books about his life and art include The Art of Robert Bateman, The World of Robert Bateman and Robert Bateman: An Artist in Nature and Natural Worlds. Thinking Like a Mountain, an environmentalist's look at the world and Birds brought sales of his books to over 1,000,000 copies. Two children's books are Safari, an illustrated book of African animals for young readers, and Bateman's Backyard Birds. He has also been the subject of several films. It is in honour of Bateman's contribution to art and conservation that one public and two secondary schools have been named after him. As well, he has been awarded 10 honorary doctorates.

Born in Toronto , with a degree in geography from the University of Toronto , Bateman taught high school for 20 years, including two years in Nigeria . He travelled around the world in a Land Rover in 1957/58, increasing his appreciation of cultural and natural heritage. Since leaving teaching in 1976 to paint full-time, he has travelled widely with his artist/conservationist wife Birgit to many remote natural areas.

Bateman's art reflects his commitment to ecology and preservation. Since the early 1960's, he has been an active member of naturalist and conservation organizations, now on a global scale. He has become a spokesman for many environmental and preservation issues and has used his artwork and limited edition prints in fund-raising efforts that have provided millions of dollars for these worthy causes.

He says, "I can't conceive of anything being more varied and rich and handsome than the planet Earth. And its crowning beauty is the natural world. I want to soak it up, to understand it as well as I can, and to absorb it . . . and then I'd like to put it together and express it in my painting. This is the way I want to dedicate my life."

He has two websites, www.robertbateman.ca and www.batemanideas.com

Dianna Bonder was born in Kamloops B.C. in 1970, and as far back as she can remember, she has been drawing and writing stories of far away places and unimaginable characters. Inspired by the beauty of Alice in Wonderland, James and the Giant Peach, the quirky words of Shel Silverstein and the infamous Dr. Suess, Dianna has been inspired by some of the most unusual sources. "My mother nurtured the love of children's books in me...she taught elementary school and theatre and would often write children's stories for me to illustrate. As an only child I would spend hours colouring and drawing, so when my mother provided me with stories of her own to draw pictures for, I was over the moon" After studying Fashion Illustration in Toronto for 2 years, she then went on to study Fine Arts, Illustration and Commercial Design at the University College of the Cariboo. Shortly after, Dianna moved to Vancouver to pursue a successful career as a commercial artist but increasingly became disenchanted with the commercial industry. She quickly tired of the day to day hustle and tight deadlines and quietly evolved her unique style in the privacy of her home. This style soon found its way into the exciting world of children's picture books. After the enormous success of her first book, the Pacific Alphabet, Dianna went on to write and illustrate her bestselling book, titled the Accidental Alphabet. It wasn't long before she embarked upon a 2 year stretch of non stop illustration. Next on the list came Three Royal Tales, Digging Canadian Dinosaurs, Leon's Song, the award winning Eleven Lazy Llamas and most recently, Black and White Blanche. Currently, Dianna is working on her newest creation titled the "Dogabet". As both author and illustrator, the 26 letters of this dog breed alphabet have allowed her to take her unique, whimsical style to an entirely new level. Dianna's books have come to decorate the rooms of children and adorn the shelves of libraries throughout the world. Not a traveller crosses her path that doesn't take a little bit of Dianna home with them. This past winter saw the creation of Dianna's new studio on Gabriola Island . "A dream come true" is how she express's her enchantment with her new found home here on the island. After moving her family (husband, daughter, 3 dogs and 3 cats) to Gabriola Island, Dianna and her husband, Lee, decided to build a small studio in which she could not only work quietly but could also invite the public to view her books and paintings. The new studio not only provides a quiet working environment and gallery but also allows the public to see the artist at work..."a behind the scenes peek." When people view my work I will quite often hear giggles. I love that! My work isn't meant to be taken seriously...it's silly and funny and whimsical and hopefully allows the viewer to enjoy a fantasy. I am a huge fan of Graeme Bases' work. I enjoy the way in which he reaches out to take your hand as you follow him through his paintings. There are so many levels to his work in the sense that what you see isn't always what you get. I hope that is also what I bring to the table with my books and paintings. I want the viewer to walk away amused or confused. Either way! Now working on her 8th children's book, Dianna shows no signs of slowing down. "My diary is filled with new ideas...stories and sketches. Whatever inspires me makes its way into my little black book." "I love to watch the world unfold in front of me...so much happens in a 24 hours period. I have more ideas than I know what to do with." So don't be surprised it you too, someday find your face or your antics plastered in one of Dianna's new children's books. Dianna's website is www.diannabonder.com

Michael Britton was born in Canada in 1957. He completed his studies in fine art at the Ontario College of Art & Design in Toronto completing his final year in the college's New York City off-campus program. After graduation he entered the fast-paced world of New York advertising where he worked as a Senior Art Director for large, national accounts in Manhattan for 14 years. Despite long working hours, he continued painting and drawing classes at the Art Students League. Michael was granted a full tuition scholarship to study in the Masters Program at the New York Academy of Art where he was classically trained for a further four years in advanced painting and drawing where he learned many of the 'classical' methods.

Britton returned to Canada in 1992, settling in Vancouver , BC .  From 1997 to 2004, he was the co-founder and Artistic Director of the Vancouver Academy of Art which, in turn, evolved into www.artacademy.com, a fine art educational / training DVD publisher.

Trained extensively in oil paint, Mr. Britton works in watercolor. In his recent works Britton employs candy-coloured color schemes and symphonic composition (dynamic symmetry) to create powerful, life-size figurative works. He has received international recognition for pushing the medium to new limits in his edgy, contemporary style of commentary. His most recent exhibition have been at the Jan Baum Gallery in Los Angeles , the William Parker Gallery in Washington , D.C. and the Sonia Zaks Gallery in Chicago . He can be contacted at www.artacademy.com

Oscar Cahén was born on February 8, 1916 , in Copenhagen , Denmark . He studied drawing and painting as well as design and illustration in Germany , Italy , France , Sweden and Czechoslovakia . After he completed a Masters Degree in Fine Art from the Kunstakadame in Dresden , he was appointed professor of design, illustration and painting at the Rotter School in Prague . Because of anti-Nazi activities in pre- war Germany , in 1940 Oscar Cahén fled to Montreal , Canada , where he began a freelance career as illustrator for The Standard and the National Film Board, followed by an appointment as Art Director for Magazine Digest . In 1943, he moved to Toronto where his outstanding drawings and illustrations as well as his paintings commanded immediate attention. Oscar Cahén became a Canadian citizen in 1946. In 1953, a group of Canadian painters including Oscar Cahén adopted the name "Painters Eleven" and launched Toronto 's answer to the New York school of abstract expressionism. In addition to being a founding member of Canada 's Painters Eleven , Oscar Cahén was a member of the Canadian Society of Graphic Artists, Canadian Society of Painters in Watercolour , and the Ontario Society of Artists. From 1953 to 1960, Painters Eleven sought a united front against artistic traditionalism and by their continual presence they changed Toronto's art scene, spoken of metaphorically in Canadian Art as having undergone a "blood transfusion," with an unprecedented "quantity and variety of art," and it was Oscar Cahén who stood out as exceptional. He was tragically killed in an automobile accident on the afternoon of November 26, 1956 in Oakville , Ontario , and his loss was deeply felt. In recognition of Oscar Cahén's profound influence in the arts, the Toronto Art Director's Club created the Oscar Cahén Memorial Award. Today, the curatorial and archival care of Oscar Cahén's work are managed by his son Michael Cahén. With the founding of the Cahén Archives , Michael aims to reach Canadians and beyond with Oscar Cahén's art, together with a sustainable and continuous program of education and exhibitions to ensure the voice of Oscar Cahén's art continues to inspire artists and viewers alike, and to take its rightful place in the history of Canadian art. For more information visit www.oscarcahen.com.

David Owen Campbell was born in Toronto in 1949. He studied at the Ontario College of Art and graduated in 1972. The following year he began post graduate studies at the College. During these years David received a number of scholarships as well as grants from the Ontario Arts Council and Canada Council. His work is found in many private and corporate collections, including the Toronto Dominion Bank, Clarkson Gordon & Co., Ontario Institute for Studies in Education and Norcen Energy Resources. David has exhibited both drawings and paintings frequently in various one man and group exhibitions at Nancy Poole's Studio in Toronto and London, La Cimaise Gallery in Toronto and the Drew Smith Gallery. Group shows include an impressive list of exhibitions that span some twenty years from 1970 to today. In 1990 David began a series of large oils to capture the human form in a unique way. They are invented figures, transformed humans, that he says act as "a means by which I make visible certain elusive and intangible ideas such the mystery that lies at the heart of human existence and our relentless struggle to understand our world". He continues to be an instructor of figure drawing and painting at the Ontario College of Art.

Ken Danby (1940-2007) was born in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario on March 6, 1940. His brother, Marvin, four years his senior, displayed natural abilities and interest in creating art as a teenager, which he later set aside. Ken credits Marvin's early interest with inspiring his own. When he was ten years old, in Grade Six, he informed them that he wanted to become an artist, and that a guidance teacher had advised him of a school called the Ontario College of Art, where he could study art. Eight years later, in 1958. In 1963, Danby arranged to review his work with gallery owner, Walter Moos, of Toronto . In 1964, Gallery Moos presented Danby's first one-man show, which promptly sold out and set an example that was repeated and surpassed over many years. Over the years, Danby and Moos have presented many one-man exhibitions and the artist has participated in numerous group shows internationally. Major collectors, including private, corporate and museum collections, responded enthusiastically and the artist is today recognized internationally as one of the world's foremost realist painters - as well as being one of Canada's best known artists. The recipient of many awards and honours, Ken Danby continues to respond to his personal experiences with unique and creative dedication. Whenever he's asked to identify his best work, or his favourite, his answer remains the same - "my next one". Ken Danby is one of only a few contemporary artists who have created paintings that make the transition from artwork to cultural icon. While the popularity of his work and his contributions to the arts make him a celebrity in Canada , it is his outstanding timeless images that have earned him international recognition as one of the foremost realist artists. Studying a Ken Danby painting is more than experiencing fine art. It is sharing in the artist's response to his own experience. Ken Danby's work has been the subject of several popular books, including Ken Danby, published by Clarke Irwin, Danby: Images of Sport published by MacMillan of Canada, and Ken Danby: The New Decade published by Stoddart. He is listed in numerous reference publications such as.Who's Who in Canada , Who's Who in America , Dictionary of International Biography, Who's Who in American Art, Canadian Encyclopedia, and Contemporary Artists. Many public institutions hold Ken Danby's originals in their collections, including The Museum of Modern Art and the Brooklyn Museum in New York, The National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa, The Art Institute of Chicago, the Montreal Museum of Fine Art, Oklahoma Art Centre, The Governor General of Canada, Vancouver Art Gallery, University of California Art Gallery, The City of Jerusalem, Israel and the Bradford City Art Gallery in England. Ken Danby is an elected member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts. Among the many awards he has received are the Jessie Dow Prize, the 125th Anniversary Commemorative Medal of Canada, and spanning twenty-five years of recognition, both the Queen's Silver and Golden Jubilee Medals. He has been invested in both the Order of Ontario, and the Order of Canada, the province's and country's highest and most prestigious honours, and he is an honourary member of the Drawing Society of Canada.

 "I've always embraced a wide variety of interests," says Ken Danby, who has become one of the world's foremost realists. "I've always preferred the challenge of image making without limiting myself to any particular subject matter. While many people may recognize my work in sport, others know it through my portraits, landscapes, or whatever. I simply respond to new experiences and encounters, wherever I find them." Danby's instincts told him to work from nature; it was through nature that he learned "the individual fundamentals of image making." He strives to generate a sense of presence in his paintings, to "bring out some emotions, a feeling of life.... I create imagery that intrigues me." The art of Ken Danby also "intrigues" and inspires people everywhere. The authorized and official Ken Danby website is www.kendanbyart.com

Jerry Davidson was born in Regina, Saskatchewan in 1935. He moved to the west coast of Canada when he was a teenager and after high school he joined the Royal Canadian Air Force. He spent 15 years in the R.C.A.F. with active duty as a fighter pilot in Germany as well as flight instructor in Canada. In 1967, he left the service and joined as a pilot for Canadian Pacific Airlines ( later Canadian Airlines International ) in Vancouver where he flew overseas and domestic flights on the DC-8, DC-10, 747 and 737 aircraft. Jerry comes from a family of artists, and credits both his father, an accomplished painter, and his brother, a commercial artist, as early influences in developing and maintaining his personal interest in art. He remembers times of sketching and drawing informally in his early years, but it was not until about 1975, that he took up painting seriously and began to exhibit his work. However, trying to combine a second career as an artist with the demands of commercial flying proved to be difficult. In 1990, he made his decision to take an early retirement from the airline in order to devote himself full time to his art. Jerry paints in a variety of media including acrylic, watercolor and pastel as well as creating very refined drawings using graphite pencil. His style is highly realistic and exacting, and his treatment of the subject of his work often incorporates an element of mystery or ambiguity especially when the main subject is the human figure. Regardless of technical skills, Jerry considers the greatest challenge he faces is to offer the viewer visual information that not only appeals to the eye, but stimulates the imagination. His works have been sold through a number of public and private galleries in Canada and a major piece of his work featuring the Canadian Snowbirds in flight, hangs in the National Defence Air Command Headquarters. In addition to his drawings, Jerry has enjoyed considerable success for a number of years as a photographer, particularly in the field of theater and classical dance. He has worked with some of the major ballet companies in Canada including the National Ballet of Canada, the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, and the forerunner to Ballet B.C. In addition to exhibiting his photographs, he has had several illustrated articles published in photo, dance, and travel magazines in both Canada and the United States. He is author of "From Black and White to Color," a popular book on photographic darkroom technique now in its third printing, and published by Pembroke Publishers of Toronto. He also had a long association with the airshow industry and was formerly a team photographer for Canada's famous military air demonstration squadron, the "Snowbirds." Jerry Davidson's work has been exhibited at such galleries as the Richmond Arts Centre, the Raymond Chow Art Gallery in Vancouver, and other Vancouver galleries including: Alex Fraser Gallery, Kenneth Heffel Gallery, Paperworks Gallery, Queen Elizabeth Theatre Gallery, Presentation House Gallery, Surrey Art Gallery, Vancouver East Cultural Centre, Procopé Gallery, Robson Media Centre, Vancouver Art Gallery ( Endeavour Society ), and the ZheeClay Gallery. In Calgary he has exhibited at the Folio Art Gallery, and on Saltspring Island at the Saltspring Art Gallery, Vortex Gallery, Pegasus Art Gallery, and currently the J.Mitchell Gallery. For over sixteen years, Jerry has lived on Salt Spring Island, where he continues to work in his home studio. His work can be viewed on his webpage at http://www3.telus.net/public/jerdavid/

Marina Dieul was born in France ( 1971) into a family of French and Canadian artists ( her father's uncle was the renowned Canadian painter Clarence Gagnon ) She began visiting European museums at a young age. It was during these visits that she absorbed the talent of the great masters. She quite naturally followed her artistic vocation and completed her studies in Fine Arts in France . She received her diploma with distinction, the jury recognizing in particular the quality of and commitment to her work. Her focus is primarily Still Life, Trompe I'Oeil and Portraiture. Her mastery of painting and drawing techniques allows her to go beyond mere likeness to express the interiority of her model. The portraits of Marina Dieul are distinguished by their sensitivity, grace and harmony. She is especially known for her babies and toddlers portraits, powerful and delicate at the same time. Marina is a member of the Portrait Society Of Canada, and the Portrait Society Of America. She received international recognition for her paintings and strong drawings. The artist has lived and worked for some years now in Montreal , Quebec . She is represented by Bohemiarte Gallery in old Montreal . Her work can also be seen on her blog : http://marinadieul.blogspot.com/

Awards:
2007 : Finalist in the People & Figure competition, International Artist Magazine.
2007 : Grand Prize, Junction Art Festival, Toronto .
2007: Finalist Portrait and Figure category, The Artist's Magazine 24th Annual competition .
2007: Two trompe-l'oeil finalists, still life category, The Artist's Magazine 24th Annual competition.
2007: Finalist Kingston Prize, Canadian Portrait Competition.
2007: First Prize, dry media category, Richeson Portrait and Figure Competition.
Juror: Everett Raymond Kinstler.
2006: Honorable mention, International Competition, Portrait Society of Canada, Toronto .

Michael Dumas was born in 1950 and raised in Whitney , Ontario , Canada , on the edge of the vast wilderness area of Algonquin Park , where he worked for a time as a forest ranger. His familiarity with the natural world is based on first hand experiences from early childhood to the present. It is from this intimate source that he draws vivid and perennial inspiration for his drawings and paintings of nature. This sensitive relationship with his subjects, is further expressed through a compassionate and highly personal interpretation, something that has not gone unnoticed by followers of his work. The late Dr. Carl Sagan, Astrophysicist and Pulitzer Prize Recipient said of Michael's work that it 'displays an extraordinary ability to combine scientifically accurate ideas with sophisticated artistic vision and technique'. The full scope of Michael's artwork deals with the subject of 'nature' in the broadest sense of life and existence, be it the many forms of landscape, animal and plant life, rural themes in artifact and architecture, and the human condition. Regardless of the objects depicted, they are inevitably presented in a way that reflects the artist's intimate and often very introspective relationship with them. 'It is difficult to say just why I would choose to draw or paint a particular thing. It is not as if I deliberately set out to depict a certain subject because of a pre-existing interest in it or a sense of beauty about it, even though it may indeed be both interesting and beautiful. Rather, it is the act of direct observation that instils in me a strong compulsion to express something of it. In a very real way, its not about the object as such, but what I've made of it that is the subject.' Michael's art is recognized on a national and international level, and his work has been reproduced on Canadian commemorative postage stamps, and coins struck by the Royal Canadian Mint. He has exhibited in such notable venues as the Canadian National Museum, the McMichael Canadian Collection, The Royal Ontario Museum, the Animal Kingdom at Disney World - Fla, Hong Kong City Hall, Spanierman Gallery - NY, and the Suntory Museum of Art in Japan, to name  a mere few. He is also represented in numerous permanent collections world wide, such as Nature in Art: The international Museum of Art Inspired by Nature in England , the Ontario Provincial Collection in Canada , and the Takamura Museum of Art in Japan . A long list of special events are part of Michael's profile, and many of these are associated with various charitable and conservation causes. A six year project which began in 1978 was one of Michael's first efforts reflecting his interest and concern with endangered species. Simply entitled 'Canadian Endangered Species', this project was supported by the Canadian governments 'Explorations' program. It eventually involved a coast to coast series of observations in the field, a collection of over thirty original works, written field notes and poetic descriptions of each species. In 1990 he initiated a series of 36 paintings depicting rare, threatened, and extinct birds with the title of 'Save the World's Birds' under the auspices of the International Committee for the Preservation of Birds and Suntory Corporation - Japan. Five years later he also produced a series entitled 'Albatross 1000', which was instrumental in raising funds for the Wild Bird Society of Japan to support a project with the goal of raising the world population of the short-tailed albatross to 1000, which was ultimately successful. He was the first artist ever to win the Ontario Conservation Award, and likewise in the case of the Carling-O'keefe Professional Conservationist Award in 1987. At that time it was calculated that he had been instrumental in raising in excess of five million dollars for conservation efforts in Canada . He is also the first artist to win the Habitat Canada stamp-print program through direct competition. In 1990 Michael was a featured guest at the International Conservation Summit in Osaka , Japan , where he was formally presented to Prince and Princess Hitachi of the Japanese Imperial Family. He has enjoyed working associations with Prince Bernhardt of the Netherlands and HRH Prince Philip - Duke of Edinburgh via World Wildlife Fund functions. Similarly, he has worked alongside other notables such as Doctor Richard Leakey in Kenya , and engaged in conservation fund-raising and awareness programs on a global basis. Perhaps surprising to many who know of Michael's significant contributions to the awareness of ecological issues, the artist does not identify this as the defining aspect of his art. 'Of course I have grave concerns about the state of global environments, endangered species, etc., but it is quite separate from my identity as an artist, and even though I have dedicated a considerable effort expressing these concerns in some of my work, by far the overwhelming majority of my art falls outside of this arena. What unites my work in its fullest variety is a personal 'sense of life', and by that I mean my art is a forum in which I can examine 'life at large', react to it, wonder about it, conceptualize it, etc.. A good deal of the work I put out is exploratory in nature, an attempt to define just what the subject means to me, and often enough to be encouraging, there are mixed in among these, works that seem to accomplish this well enough.' Several films have been produced on Michael and his work, including 'Nature's Gallery' produced by Nichol & Associates, which is part of the CBC film library and distributed to networks abroad through Lynx Films, Toronto . He has also been subject of several television documentaries, including a two part series for PBS in 1995, and another also by PBS in their 2005 series 'Journeys of an Artist' entitled 'Winter in Algonquin'. His art has been included in a number of books, such as Waterfowl of North America - Ducks Unlimited Canada, Nature in Art: A Celebration of 300 Years of Wildlife Paintings - David & Charles, London , and Natural Habitats - Spanierman LLC, New York .In recognition of his substantial contributions to the arts and conservation, Michael is the recipient of numerous awards and accolades. To name just a few, he is the recipient of the Outstanding People of the 20 th and 21 st Century Citations from the International Biographical Centre, Cambridge , England , and was elected a Life Fellow of this Association in 2000. He is a member of the Society of Animal Artists in New York , and a founding member of The Society of Wildlife Art of the Nations in England . He received the 20 th Century Achievement Award issued by The American Biographical Institute in 2000, and is listed in Who's Who in America, who's Who in Canada, Outstanding People of the 20 th Century, Madison Who's Who of Professionals, Outstanding People of the 21 St Century, The International Register of Profiles, and Who's Who in the World. In 2006 he received the Decree of Excellence in Art bestowed upon him by the International Biographical Centre - Cambridge , England . Mich ael Dumas' website is www.natureartists.com/dumasm.htm

Barbara Fostka was born in 1941 on November 22. She is a graduate of the Ontario College of Art & Design in 1963, as well as the Arts Students League of New York in 1965. Further studies at the University of Toronto in 1968, qualified her to be an art specialist. Her passion is drawing and painting, and whether she works in her studio or spends time supporting special arts groups and individuals, she remains first and foremost a dedicated and accomplished professional whose love for art is evident in everything she does. “I really love to draw and paint,” says Barbara, “and to achieve the essence of my subject.” That essence, matched by a strong tradition of skill and creativity, has made Barbara Fostka a regular award winner in many shows. She is an RCA, academician of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts and a member in numerous arts organizations including the Society of Canadian Artists, Ontario Society of Artists, Canadian Society of Painters in Watercolour, and the Colour & Form Society. Even with a rich history including art instructor at the Ontario College of Art & Design, University of Toronto, and the Ontario College of Education, or guest demonstrator for several groups including the Franklin Carmichael Centre, she still finds time almost every week to draw in Neilson Park, a favourite, plus of course special artistic events at Geneva Park as well. Awards for Barbara’s work include such highlights as the Peter Haworth Award, Arjo Wiggens Award, National Watercolour Award, Canadian National Fine Arts Competition, American Watercolour, Aird Gallery and Audubon Artists. Whether Barbara’s work has been added to public and corporate collections, or viewed by many in as many solo and juried exhibitions, her work has touched many from Toronto to New York, from California to Kleinburg to Montreal, and more. Toronto’s Aird Gallery and Roberts Gallery, Kleinburg’s McMichael Gallery, Oakville’s Abbozzo Gallery, Toronto’s First Canadian Place, Markham’s Varley Gallery, Montreal’s Ogilvie Gallery, New York’s National Arts Club, the Muckentahaler Cultural Centre in California and Toronto’s Arts & Letters Club, are just a few of the many galleries where Barbara has exhibited her work. Corporations such as Financial Life Assurance Company, Ferring Pharmaceuticals, National Ballet of Canada, Wright & Associates, and the Canadian Bankers Association, are just some of the many collectors of Barbara’s work.

Barbara is well-known and well-liked because of her helpful and friendly nature. However, her keen drawing abilities, her wonderfully detailed watercolours, and her beautiful portraits, have added to her reputation as a fine Canadian master. She makes her home and studio in Etobicoke, Ontario. Her work can be viewed at www.societyofcanadianartists.com ( just go to “members” and Barbara Fostka ). She accepts commissions and can be reached at bfostka@rogers.com.

Susan Fraser (nee Bogden) was born in 1958, and educated in the United States , where she worked her way through university at the campus greenhouses, botanical gardens and microbiology labs. Upon graduating she worked at the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center .

In 1983 she hitch-hiked around Europe touring galleries, museums and churches. Her art career began while living in Germany from 1984 to 1988. In 1988 she immigrated to Canada and painted commission work based on the abundant migratory waterfowl of the Ontario flyways. A year on Vancouver Island afforded opportunities to paint Orcas and to experience the west coast art scene. Susan now resides in the Ottawa Valley , nestled between the Ottawa River and Algonquin Park where she is frequently visited by deer, owls, wolves and black bear on her acreage. Her charcoal drawings are a result of life long study of nature and of motion- activated cameras which capture the deer in their natural state. The most intimate poses are captured without awareness of a human presence. Choosing to draw a head and shoulder portrait reveals their state of emotion through their eyes and facial expressions. Susan has an amazing touch for textures, catching the velvet of the deer's coat and the shine of the eye.

The toned paper provides both the background and the medium tone of the subject. The shading and highlights are done with black and white charcoal respectively. Many layers of varying hardness of charcoal are applied, blended and lifted with an eraser to provide a depth of texture to the fur.

"I am amazed at the openness of the facial expressions of deer. Their sensitivity to their surroundings is visible in every twitch of ear, side long glance or overall demeanor. As a mother I feel a great connection to the deer on my property, which emerge as wide eyed fawns, vigilantly tended by their mothers, and grow into curious teenagers. Last year's teenagers come back as young adults searching for opportunities to start their own families. The young bucks apprentice with the older bucks, learning what they need to survive. I hope to bring the viewer on my journey of understanding of the deer community. Their family interactions are very much like our human families."

Eric Freifeld - ( 1919 - 1984 ) Eric Freifeld was born in 1919, in Saratov Russia. In 1924, after the death of his father, Eric, his sister Anna, and mother moved to Edmonton, Canada. He is a member of the (RCA) Royal Canadian Academy, and past Chairman of the Fine Arts Department of the Ontario College of Art. Eric's creative gifts, especially a deep passion for drawing, were evident since childhood, showing surprising command of form and anatomy as early as age 14. At age 17 Eric left school to devote full time to painting, supporting his venture with menial evening jobs. In 1937 he won a Canada-wide Carnegie Trust competition to attend the Banff Summer School of Fine Arts. The following year Eric set out for London, England. Enroute he visited art museums in Toronto, Montreal, Glasgow, and Edinburgh. While in London he enrolled in evening figure drawing classes at St.Martin's School of Art. During the day he painted London street scenes. Extraordinary developments marked this unique period in the nineteen year old Eric's artistic journey. A watercolour was accepted by the New English Art Club, to hang side by side with some famour painters. The prestigious Brooks Street Gallery invited Eric to hold a one-man exhibition. The gallery even provided financial assistance to enable Eric to stay in southern France to paint for the exhibition. The exhibition, held in February 1939, was a sellout and was critically acclaimed. Much attention bestowed on the young painter included a party thrown for him by Vincent Massey, then High Commissioner for Canada. With the threat of war in Europe, Eric returned to Edmonton. Despite difficult adjustments, he developed a desire for teaching and began classes for children and adults. A break came when noted conductor Arthur Benjamin, arranged for an exhibition at the Vancouver Art Gallery. At age 22, Eric represented Alberta at the Conference of Canadian Artists in Kingston, held in June 1941 under the auspices of the Carnegie Corporation, the National Gallery of Canada and Queen's University. From 1941 to 1946 Eric's activities were many. He served in the Canadian Army from '42 to '44, as artist on staff at the Canadian Camouflage School. He taught evening classes at the Vancouver School of Art. He assisted Jack Shadbolt in executing a large mural for the local United Services Centre. From '44 to '46 he studied at the Art Students League of New York. So impressed was the League's master teacher Robert Beverly Hale, with Eric's work, Hale asked Eric to teach his classes for a year while he went on sabbatical. Instead, in 1946, Eric took up a position of figure drawing and watercolour intructor at the Ontario College of Art. A period of intense creativity followed. It was the beginning of his passion for paiting abandoned exteriors and interiors that would continue for the next 30 years. Despite a seventeen month interruption because of bedridden tuberculosis, a time spent at the Hamilton Mountain Sanatorium, he still produced two outstanding drawings. Freifeld's peace of mind and productivity were greatly dependent on the ups and downs of his life. Marriage to Gladys Sumbling in 1957 gave birth to a daughter, Miriam. After release from the sanetorium, Eric resumed work at the College in the autumn of 1949. He began a series of highly structural, detailed paintings that earned him a prominent position among the Canadian painters of his generation. Noted critic Doris Shadbolt has written of these watercolours of sustained conceptual nature: "[They are] actually minutely intricate and rich carbon pencil drawings with colour playing an important but not crucial role... To look at one of these...epics is to become irresistably involved: with the proliferating detail, the sheer technical mastery, the evocative subject matter, the hypnotically weaving rhythms. His subjects which are steeped in intimate human history, have to do with abandonment, decay, faded glory, decadence... Texture and rhythm are the essential terms in which Freifeld perceives and realized these human situations; and the accumulated minutae which comprise them, while retaining their identity and object relevance, have a primary life as form. Lines, masses, planes, undulate and pulsate; surfaces corrugate, crust and shrivel; differences of scale and substance are swallowed up. To its value as factual and evocative information, details add that of a total consuming expressiveness. [This] painting involves us in a visual as well as psychological journey in time..." "In much of this," writes Ms.Shadbolt, "one is reminded of other twentieth century eccentrics. But Freifeld's real references are to be found among the northern Europeans from van Eyck, Schongauer, and Altdorfer, to Durer and Rembrandt." Eric Freifeld's career as teacher was no less distinguished than his achievement as a painter. Gerrit Verstraete, founder of the Drawing Society of Canada, was one of Eric's students during his studies at the Ontario College of Art from 1964 to 1968. "Eric Freifeld was probably the finest and most influential instructors I ever had," says Verstraete, "and I owe much of my passion for figure drawing to him." The basis of Freifeld's teaching is drawing. He fought to keep life drawing in the curriculum when it was threatened by more purely design-oriented pressures. Among Freifeld's students were renowned Canadian artists such as the cartoonist Duncan Mcpherson, illustrator Will Davies, animator Richard Williams, designer Chris Yaneff, sculptor William McElcheran, painters Tom LaPierre, John Newman, Ken Danby, John Gould, William Kurelek, Peter Harris, David Blackwood, Hugh MacKenzie, John Englis and John Labont-Smith. Some 25 one-man exhibitions took place in Eric's lifetime. His awards include five from the Canada Council, and his works are represented in collections of Brook Street Galleries, London, England; The Montreal Museum of Arts, the Art Gallery of Ontario, the National Gallery of Canada, the University of Toronto's Hart House, Vancouver Art Gallery, the Arthur Benjamin Collection, and private collections in Canada, England, United States, Israel, Australia, France, Switzerland, Austria and Ireland. Nevertheless, Eric's life was plagued by bouts of deep depression. In September 1984, at the age of 65, Eric ended his own life. In 1986, a posthumous retrospective exhibition was held in two successive galleries: the Rodman Hall Arts Centre, St.Catherines, and the Art Gallery of Ontario. The exhibition was curated by the late Peter Harris, one of Eric's former students. Eric Freifeld is also the subject of an extensive and well-illustrated monograph by the noted critic Paul Duval ( Eric Freifeld, Paul Duval, The Yaneff Gallery, Toronto, London, 1977 ).

Constantine Gedal born in the snows of no-man's land Constantine liked to spend hours looking into the ice that is how some say he's got his name (meaning stable, permanent) though others suggest that he was just a schizophrenic.Fleeing Tartar-Mongol invasion, Constantine moved to Europe, where he became good friends with Loyola, with whom he went to the Holy Land. Though Loyola was sent right away, Constantine was allowed to stay for a while to learn local traditions and languages.

Having heard of the preparations of the new crusade he departed for Köln to arrive there a month too late to prevent a campaign that later proved to be disastrous. However, his journey was not all in vain. In the Northern Europe, he got involved in an art movement that was to become known as Flemish Art. During that time, he was a regular guest at Van Eyck's and Van der Goes's. Later Gedal frequented Bruegel with whose son he used to have bitter misunderstanding over a neighbor-girl.

As the Renaissance came late to the northern parts of Europe, it mainly passed Gedal, however few works of the Italian masters seen by him were highly appraised.
Having learned about the New World he sailed west and settled on shores of the Western Indies.

Detailed biography is withheld by request of the artist.
Website: www.gedalstudio.com
Drawings are untitled from the “Migrations” series.

John Gould was born in Toronto in 1929. During highschool years in the 40's he was a cartoonist for Canadian High News and played jazz clarinet with The Three G's an Owen Sound group. In 1948 he enrolled at the Ontario College of Art and graduated in 1952. Throughout the 50's John Gould traveled extensively through Europe stopping at galleries and museums en route. In 1954 while working in display for Taylor Advertising in Montreal, he showed some paintings at the Arts Club. In addition to a growing career in the arts, John managed to work on an installation project for television relay towers on Dog Mountain in Hope, BC. In 1957 he joined the CBC paint shop as a scenic artist. After a 1960 Elizabeth T. Greenshields Fellowship for figurative painting and a trip to Spain, John Gould held his first one-man show at Dorothy Cameron's "Here and Now" Gallery in Toronto in 1961. Large scale drawings of the 60's offered corrida compositions - single figures and cathedral facades. Gould continued with black-and-white dry brush oil drawings of various subjects. From free abstract shapes and fragments of figures in his "Ancestor Series" of the mid-sixties, on location drawings in Mexico and the Andes, a venture into a second career as film maker, to a long impressive list of exhibitions, John Gould continued to create "major works that go far beyond drawing as we commonly understand it", said Alan Jarvis of Canadian Art in 1961. In 1966 he began exhibiting at the Roberts Gallery in Toronto. The Japanese Theatre exhibition led to a commission by Marcel Marceau, the celebrated mime, to draw his character "Bip". Beginning in the seventies John's work included detailed cross-hatching with a dramatic shift to a pictorial style filled with autobiographical fragments, film sources and literary references. His latest works include collage which, as his previous "puddled gouaches" , begin as total abstraction and finish as a fusion of design and finished drawing. John Gould lives with his wife Ingi in Barrie, Ontario. A selection of drawings ( 1959-1979 ) is published in "John Gould -The Drawn Image" ( available from the Roberts Gallery ) and John Gould's memoirs are published in "John Gould Journals" ( Moonstone Books, 10 Oren Blvd. Barrie ON L4N 4M1). John Gould is represented by the Roberts Gallery of Toronto (416)924-8731, Master's Gallery in Calgary, Alberta (403)245-2064, Peter Ohler Fine Art Ltd. in Vancouver, BC (604)263-9051 and in the U.S. by the Preston Burke Gallery in Detroit, Mich. (248)549-5171.

Mark Gothreau was born in 1964, in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Mark Gothreau discovered his natural talent for art at the age of three. His mother, who is also an artist, encouraged Mark with paper and pencil at playtime. It was easy to see, that even at an early age, Mark's skills as an artist continued to improve. During his years in elementary school, Mark would spend his free time searching the small school library for wildlife pictures, which was his focus of interest at the time. He would also be found at the museum sketching the wildlife displays, much to the delight of others. In 1978 Mark had one of his drawings published in a children's magazine.

At the age of twelve, Mark Gothreau began displaying and selling his artwork at exhibitions. At fifteen one of his exhibitions was a three-generation show at the Dartmouth Heritage Museum, which included the work of his grandfather, his mother and Mark. In his early teens Mark designed his Junior High School's new logo. He also helped to design and paint an eight-foot by twenty-four foot war memorial for the Royal Canadian Legion's anniversary. Mark went on to University where he graduated with a degree in Business Administration. While at university, Mark continued to draw for personal pleasure, as well as being commissioned by others.

It wasn't until 1987 that Mark decided to fully concentrate on that which truly made him happy, his art! In 2004, he produced a calendar of buildings and scenes from the town of Bedford, Nova Scotia. It was so well received that he will reproduce it for 2005 as well as add a calendar of Nova Scotia lighthouses to his collection. He is always open new projects and enjoys helping out his clients achieve their goals as well as creating art from a simple pencil. Mark, who is entirely self-taught, continues to explore various subject matters, concentrating on detail and realism. He is asked to draw many homes and pets for gifts. He specializes in landscapes, seascapes and buildings of nostalgic or historical nature. Today Mark continues to work from his home in Lower Sackville and attends many craft festivals. His work can be views in his gallery at www.markgothreau.com.

In 2004, Paul Gross accepted an invitation of the Drawing Society of Canada to become an honourary member of the society, because of his passion for the arts. He is an acclaimed Canadian actor on stage, television and in film, as well as artist, musician, writer, producer and director.

The oldest of two brothers, Paul was born in 1959 in Calgary , Alberta . His father, Bob Gross, was a Tank Commander in the Canadian Army. Every 18 months the family moved around: from Canada to England to Germany and the U.S. and then back to Canada . In was in his early teens while in Washington that he was introduced to acting, doing plays such as Canturbery Tales and Faustus . At age 14, he was doing TV commercials. Another move ended up with the Gross family in Toronto , and Paul graduated from the Earl Haig Secondary School . The continuation of TV commercials enabled him to pay for higher education. He studied acting at the University of Alberta in Edmonton , and graduated with a degree in Drama.

When Paul was 15 years old, he was given an Opportunities for Students grant that paid for a summer at the Stratford box office, where he was very impressed by what he witnessed. He vigorously pursued Canadian regional theatre and began writing. His first play, The Deer and the Antelope Play , won the Clifford E. Lee National Playwriting Award and the Alberta Cultural Playwriting Award. His second play, The Dead of Winter , did exceptionally well at the Toronto Free Theatre. He was then invited by artistic director John Neville to be the playwright- in-residence at the prestigious Stratford Festival, where his play Sprung Rhythm , was produced in co-operation with the Toronto Free Theatre. He held the same position, under artistic director Robin Phillips, at the Grand Theatre Company in London , Ontario . Paul's other play, Thunder, Perfect Mind , was produced by the Toronto Free Theatre and ran for a year at Toronto 's McLaughlin Planetarium. His writing skills soon extended to television. He earned a 1986 Gemini nomination for Best TV Drama for his screenplay of "In This Corner," an episode of the CBC series For the Record . He also penned the critically acclaimed CBC drama Gross Misconduct about the life of hockey player Brian Spencer. Paul's film and television appearances have been numerous, and his characters just as varied. He has run the gamut: from quiet farm hands ( Getting Married in Buffalo Jump ) to dead rock stars ( Whale Music ), as well as a skeptical minister in Buried on Sunday. His television appearances have been just as diverse. He appeared in the Kirk Douglas role in CBS's remake of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea , as a yuppie in the hilarious Canadian handyman show, Red Green , and has appeared in two miniseries, Chasing Rainbows and Tales of the City . Besides film and television, Paul has earned accolades for his stage performances. He won a Dora Award for Best Performance in the title role of Romeo and Juliet (1985) and a Dora Award for Best Performance for his role in the 1988 North American premiere of Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Toward the Somme . However, it was his role as upright Constable Benton Fraser, the principled Mountie who, along with detective Ray Vecchio, helped bring peace to the streets of Chicago in the CBC/CTV television series due SOUTH, that brought him worldwide popularity and new fans. However, even Paul Gross will point out that he is not the Mountie the fans see on the TV screen. He's strongly opinionated, which shows in his interviews, and he has yet to kick the smoking habit. He performed his own stuntwork on Due South but only within reason, as he enjoys the physical activity and challenge. When Due South was aired for a third and final season, Paul returned as Benton Fraser, and also assumed new duties as Executive Producer and writer. He wrote several episodes of the last season of the series. Paul's acclaim continued with the television mini-series H2O , a gripping two-part political thriller that premiered on Sunday 31 Oct. 2004 , on CBC Television, and concluded the following night. This four-hour mini-series was a major event in CBC Television's season, and was one of the most controversial dramas ever telecast to Canadian audiences. Then came the 2003 television series "Slings & Arrows," based in the fictional town of New Burbage where legendary theatrical madman Geoffrey Tennant (Paul Gross) returns to the New Burbage Theatre Festival, the site of his greatest triumph and most humiliating failure, to assume the Artistic Directorship after the sudden death of his mentor, Oliver Welles

Despite his busy schedule, he has made time for one of his other passions: music. He studied classical guitar as a teenager. In 1989, he was writing rock 'n' roll lyrics and performing with his band, the Bone Men. In the Fall of 1997, he and writing partner David Keeley released their country-western album Two Houses . He has made numerous music videos. Paul is married to stage actress Martha Burns, whom he met in 1983, while they were both in the play Walsh . She played an Indian Princess and he portrayed a Mountie. Martha is well known for her performances at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival, and guest starred in the third season Due South episodes, "Spy vs. Spy" and "Call of the Wild." Paul also lends his hand to numerous charitable events, and hosting duties, such as the annual Gemini Awards. To relax, he reads, or goes fishing and camping. He also enjoys skiing and horseback riding. He wrote a movie about curling entitled Men with Brooms , which opened in 2002. In late 1999, he appeared in the Canadian telemovie Murder Most Likely , based on the real life incident of ex-Mountie Patrick Kelly, who was convicted of the murder of his wife. This movie is the first from his new production company, WhizBang Films, and was featured on the cover of many television magazines when it aired. Paul Gross also took on the title role of the Stratford Festival ( Ontario ) production of Hamlet . This play marked his debut at this illustrious Shakespeare Festival. Hamlet opened to critical acclaim. In mid-August of 2000 he participated in a mini festival entitled "A Wilde Celebration," in which he did a one-time, two-hour presentation entitled The Picture of Dorain Gray.

Randy Hann was born in 1961, in Twillingate , Newfoundland . During his early teens he moved, with his family, to Toronto , Ontario . After several years of living and working in Toronto , he met and married his wife Tracey. They eventually moved back to Newfoundland with their two children. Randy can always remember being able to draw, even as a child. Whether it was a funny portrait for a friend or a special school project, he always got the call. He didn't really take his ability to draw seriously until years later. Being entirely self-taught, Randy has taken many years developing and refining his technique and style. He loves to draw and paint but his passion is for drawing. Most of his finished works are graphite on paper. Randy's inspiration is found in his own family life and in the picturesque place where he lives. Both play a very important part in his work and are evident in many of his drawings and paintings. He has interest in a wide variety of subject matter including people, wildlife, scenery, and portraits. Randy's work has been exhibited in several solo and group shows and, on many occasions, he has supported special charitable organizations by donating his work for sale or auction. His work can be found in many private collections across Canada and in other countries. Randy now lives and works in Carter's Cove, Newfoundland , where he shares his love for life, art, music, and nature with his family. To contact Randy, or to view his artwork, visit his website at www.randyhann.com.

Ronan Kennedy was born in Dublin, Ireland, in 1962. After finishing high school he studied fine art at the Alberta College of Art in Calgary in 1981. While at art college he majored in drawing and painting. In 1985, he had the opportunity to visit Newfoundland, and it was love at first sight, especially the ruggedness that was so similar to many parts of Kennedy's native Ireland. From as early as 7 years old when he began taking drawing classes he has developed his passion for drawing, and ever since, for over thirty-five years he has been drawing. He continues to maintain a busy sketchbook and drawing portfolio with an emphasis on the human portrait and character in focus. "I like to leave the viewer with an ambiguous feeling from some of the works that involve two or more subjects, even to the point of doing 'surgery' or 'facial reconstruction' - that is to say, I will take the eyes of one subject and add them to the face of another subject and choose the hair from yet another." Today, Ronan Kennedy's studio is located in St. John's, Newfoundland. Everyone is encouraged to visit his website at   www.ronankennedy.com

John Howe was born in 1957 in Vancouver and grew up in southwestern British Columbia . He attended the School of Decorative Arts in Strasbourg , France  and now lives in Switzerland with his wife and son. His web site : www.john-howe.com

"First Things First"

On the living room wall there was a pencil rendering of the Castle of Chillon , near Lake Geneva , done by my grandmother at age 19, before she embraced the more acceptable career of schoolmistress and never did another picture in her life... I can't remember ever not drawing. My mother would do her best to help with the more ambitious renderings, but around primary school age, her draughtsmanship was no longer up to my expectations. I remember bursting into tears of frustration when we both failed to draw a cow the way I wanted. School itself was a mixed blessing; it seemed we always moved house at just the wrong time of the year, and l ended up in power mechanics, hating every minute, because naturally, all the non-academics too dull even for metal shop were already parked in art class... It was a handy skill in biology, though, where a friend and I would do rapid and rather creative rendering of microscopic water organisms for richer but less artistic classmates... at 50 cents a shot. I collected paperbacks for the covers, and even read what was inside. Frank Frazetta assumed demigod status, and was the object of dozens of copies in oil pastel. This was before the Ballantine editions, so his paintings were only available on book covers. No musty second-hand paperback pile went unturned. Around the same time, Barry Smith's Conan and Bemi Wrightson's Swamp Thing meant going into drugstores where I wouldn't run into anyone I knew, buying kid's comics too far into adolescence. Around that time I read The Lord of the Rings , first The Two Towers , and then The Return of the King . It seemed that everyone who started the first volume never got any further, as it was by far the most borrowed of the three. I had to wait months to get it. The real spark came from the calendars, which showed me that it could be illustrated. I went through the Hildebrandt calendar, doing my own versions of the same scenes. Mercifully, none of these have survived, although there is a very dusty box under a bed somewhere... A year after graduating from high school, I was in a college in Strasbourg , France , and the following year in the Ecole des Arts Decoratifs. The first year was spent not understanding much, the second at odds with what I did manage to understand, and the third eager to get out, although in retrospect I certainly owe whatever clarity of thought I possess to the patience of the professor of Illustration. Otherwise, my first years in Europe were a constant overdose on all forms of art and architecture, everything being simultaneously ancient and novel. All that catching up to do. Nothing I did from those years has survived, thank goodness, as scrupulously put it all in the trash at term end before heading back home to the summer job that would pay next year's fees. The only exception must be "The Lieutenant of the Black Tower of Barad-dûr", which, if not my first published piece, must certainly be the earliest. It seems to me that a lot of my early commissions were nightmares - political cartoons, magazine illustrations, comics, animated films, advertising - starting one cover seven times, redoing sketches so many times there was nothing of mine left in them, wondering just how the devil I'd ended up in this profession. In the attic there is a huge box taped very tightly shut and marked DO NOT OPEN (EVER!!!) in wide-tip felt pen. I honestly feel no real urge to do so. The other day we took a friend to visit the Castle of Chillon . It's easy enough to find the spot to stand in my grandmother's drawing. I wonder if we ever really make any choices of our own - so many years and miles to end up in a picture that was always there on the wall.

( This text is taken from " Myth & Magic ", HarperCollinsPublishers, 2001)

Tom La Pierre was born in Toronto in 1930. In 1955 he graduated, with honours, from the Ontario College of Art, winning the G.E.Leitch Traveling Scholarship. This scholarship enabled him to study for one year, at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris. There he concentrated on figure drawing, painting, and lithography. As a young student at OCA, his chief mentors were John Alfsen, Frederick Hagan, and Eric Freifeld. La Pierre greatly admires, and has been influenced by, the Flemish, Italian and German artists of the 15th century including Bosch, Breugle, Van der Goes, Van Der Weyden, and Lukas Cranach, to name a few. In the twentieth Century, Max Beckmann, Stanley Spencer, George Grosc, Ivan Albright, and Lucien Freud, are among his favourites. These masters as well, learned from the early masters. La Pierre was an instructor at the Ontario College of Art from 1958 to 1995. He believed in the value of teaching young would-be artists. As a great image maker and individualist, he is remarkably prolific as draftsman, printmaker and painter. Eric Freifeld wrote of La Pierre's art: "his imagery is strong, often complex and compelling. His themes are powerful, at times dissonant and even disquieting. Unremittingly, they go to the heart of the human condition. Love, death, sex, fear and rage are embraced without demur. To experience La Pierre's art is to encounter in beautiful and very personal esthetic terms, the unalloyed truths of man's most profound emotions and concerns. His works possess a philosophical side, a psychological aspect, and an esthetic which emanates from these and is inseparably bound up with them. In La Pierre's paintings, the veil of daily pretense is stripped away, and we are confronted with a fierce awareness of the deepest intimacies of man's mind and spirit." La Pierre has exhibited extensively for almost 50 years, largely in Canada, but also in the United States, Europe, China, Korea, and South America. Awards include four OCA scholarships, Canada Council grants, CSPWC awards, and recently the Sun Life award given at the 90th anniversary of the Arts & Letters Club in Toronto. He has had 24 one-person exhibitions and has exhibited in inumerable group shows over the years. He has traveled extensively to study in galleries and museums in the United States and Europe, and to paint landscapes, in both oil and watercolour, particularly in Mexico, France, Italy and Greece. He has both a painting and print studio in his home in Mississauga, as well as a country studio in Golden Valley, Ontario, on a quiet lake. La Pierre has ignored the ever-changing art modes of the last half of the 20th century. Instead, he has followed his own individual path, as have the other 20th century figure painters mentioned. Tom La Pierre can be reached at his Mississauga studio on 2067 Proverbs Drive, Tel:905-276-4644