My studio is located in my home in Central Alberta, Canada, in a reasonably isolated suburban location surrounded by lakes and hiking trails. My work takes place mainly in two locations: at the computer (the upstairs studio) and at the easel (the downstairs studio).  

Most of my creative work (brainstorming, developing and refining images, working on gifs etc) happens at the computer; work in the painting studio is more tactile and slower-paced (the principal medium here is oil paint on canvas).

Recent studio view (August 2025).

Work typically progresses through the following stages:

Step 1: Work out a full-size, colour sketch on the computer. Any individual image will have gone through dozens of trial stages before reaching a point where it seems viable as a painting. At any one time I have a dozen or more themes in various stages of development.

Step 2: Turn the colour sketch into a mirror-image, black and white “cartoon” (which is the technical term for a full-size preparatory drawing). 

The problem for me, and for many other visual artists as well, has been how to create a productive dialogue between modern technology and the artistic tradition (a question which applies as much to subject matter as it does to materials). These pages are intended as a very brief over-view of my personal approach toward the search for a creative balance.

The method: the b&w digital sketch has been printed out as a full-size xerox cartoon, ready to be transferred to canvas.

The cartoon has been transferred to canvas using the gel transfer technique (videos describing the process are available on YouTube). As a part of the process, the image is mirrored and all paper is removed. 

The gel transfer technique is messy and required a great deal of trial and error (problems include wrinkling and tearing of the sketch during transfer). Nonetheless, here is the finished sketch, on canvas, mounted on a stretcher. All paper has been removed, a few minor tears and bubbles have been repaired, and the borders painted. Several weeks of oil painting will now begin (the painting to the left was also done using this method).

The finished painting: Dionysus in a Winter Landscape from 2019.

It seems reasonable to ask whether any new sketching tools have emerged over the last couple of years. Specifically – could AI (Stable Diffusion) make a positive contribution?