Peter's blog

  English Version - *version française dessous* MY THIRD RULE OF PAINTING…  LET YOURSELF GO! My Christmas gift in 1988 was a small oil painting kit.  I had never painted before and the paint set came with the primary colours, brushes, a couple of small canvas board panels and an instruction booklet that featured several motifs that would be suitable to paint for a beginner like me.   The booklet detailed on a step-by-step basis how to complete your painting. I remember thinking of the time, this is just like paint by numbers, except there are no numbers! In my early painting years, I used to try and copy Monet, Degas, Modigliani and other masters.  Later, I did variations of their works and then started to paint motifs of the people, places and things that I loved.  About fifteen years ago I started to develop my own styles of painting.  As time went on, I began to think less and less as I painted.  I relied on my feelings and emotions. ...

English Version - *version française dessous* NO REMORSE… NO REGRETS My Dad lived a long and full life.   He passed away a very happy man in 2021 aged 102 years, 2 months and 2 days.     One of Dad’s favourite expressions was no remorse… no regrets.   I’d like to be able to say the same thing, but it would not be true.   There are certain things I regret and wish I could have do-overs, but life doesn’t work that way.   Therefore, I have always tried to look forward, not backward.     I do have two regrets about my gallery that I’ll share...   The first concerns my mom. When I first started painting, I spent a lot of happy times with her watching Bob Ross paint on the PBS channel.   Mom really encouraged me to paint. My regret is she never got to see the gallery and the works she helped inspire… especially my sunflowers.   I’m pretty sure wherever she is, she had a hand in the gallery’s success.     My oth...

     English Version - *version française dessous* THE ART OF SHIPPING ART My wife Francine takes care of running the gallery and, with the assistance of her colleagues, curates the collection on display.   Francine also oversees the shipping process.   Since we opened the gallery in 2013, she has shipped my art to over 30 different countries around the world.     Usually, smaller paintings are packaged on site and Collectors leave the gallery with them.   We also have a company that specializes in delivering art to locations in Montreal, Quebec City, Ottawa and the Greater Toronto area.   Francine carefully packages these paintings and then we load them directly onto trucks that deliver the art to the Collectors home.   Sometimes, the same company provides a “white glove service” and they will actually install my art in the Collector’s home.   For most other destinations, Francine creates custom crates in wood.  I ...

    English Version - *version française dessous* A FAMILY GALLERY My wife Francine and I opened the gallery in May 2013.   It was supposed to be a pop-up gallery with the objective of selling 50 paintings by the end of September 2013.   We did that by the end of June and made the decision to keep our gallery open indefinitely.   Our other major objective was to create a “Family Gallery” meaning that everyone would feel welcome regardless of whether they were going to acquire a piece of art or not.   It didn’t matter who you were, we wanted everyone to feel welcome and have an enjoyable experience.     Francine, who manages the gallery, went out of her way to recruit and train her colleagues to greet everyone warmly and answer any questions they had about my art.   If they had children and wanted to browse, they would often give the kids coloring books and crayons.   They would even sit with them as they made their own creati...

    English Version - *version française dessous* MY STUDIO Four years ago today, my best friend Cam Ferguson helped Francine and me move my studio to the space directly behind our art gallery on 367 Rue St-Paul in the Old Port of Montreal. My studio had been located at Rideau, where I had worked for most of my adult life.   At the end of the day, Cam and I walked out of Rideau together for the very last time. It was very fitting because we had both worked there since 1972. So it was a very emotional day for both of us. I’m truly grateful for the 48 years I worked in that building. Yes, there were difficult times, but overall, there were many, many more good times. I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the amazing people I worked with during my career at Rideau. Together, we created a very special company. Cam passed away last year, but his spirit is always with me when I paint. If you are ever in the Old Port, please drop in. I’d be pleased to show you around my new ...

  English Version - *version française dessous* TRAVEL MEMORIES My Mickey Mouse backpack accompanies me whenever I travel.   It is loaded with paint, brushes, and canvases so that I can paint wherever I go.   We call these “Travel Memory Paintings”.   I paint when I travel.   It doesn’t matter if I’m on a beach, on a cruise ship, in a hotel room or wherever, my backpack is ever present.   I paint what I see during the travels as well as things that just happen to come into my head.   I don’t really plan things out, I just let myself go.     Some of my most cherished memories are painting with my grandkids on beaches.   I have also spent many pleasant hours painting while my wife Francine reads aloud to me.   Usually, she reads biographies about exceptional women who have made a difference in the world.   The last one she read was on Eleanor Roosevelt.   I used to finish these travel paintings on my voyages but ...