Artistguy@tumblir.com

Canadian painter working in watercolour, acrylic and pastels;
Member of the Canadian Society of Painters in Watercolour;
Received combined Honours Degree in Philosophy and Psychology, York
University, Toronto, 1976
Fervent Ad Libber

1979 - 2006 painted in watercolours on Arches paper
2006 - started painting watercolours directly onto gessoed birch panels
2009 - painted acrylics directly onto gessoeod Norwegian birch panels
2011 - painting watercolours and acrylics on absorbent ground on gessoed birch panels

Micheal Zarowsky seems to have a line of vision that is altogether novel and intriguing. He sees some fragment of a far larger landscape and he takes this element, turns it a little, plays with the colours, and creates a painting that is highly appealing blend of Impressionism and realism. The effect is startling because it is extraordinarily evocative of an Ontario landscape. We have seen all this intricate microcosm a thousand times, but it may never have occurred to us how much it is an essential part of the more familiar whole. This artist has an uncanny ability to isolate the essence of a landscape, and then illuminate the small part of the whole, which becomes the very symbol of that which it represents. That, of course, is what abstraction is all about; but the genius of Micheal Zarowsky is that he presents the effect of abstraction while he is actually painting in a realistic way some isolated element that signifies, with utmost economy, the wider scene.” Ian Andrew Malcolm.

Never one to be contained by any medium, I have over the years made continued leaps forward by taking the watercolour medium in new directions, thereby opening new possibilities. I am now painting with watercolours directly onto gessoed Norwegian birch panels. Working on gessoed panels isn’t much fun as it is akin to painting on a kitchen counter top with every stroke beading up, streaking, smearing, and misbehaving like so much spilt coloured water. But I am dazzled by the new textures, the strength, and the immediacy and directness that result. To ‘secure’ the watercolour I lightly apply two coats of spray fixative, and once dry, I seal it permanently against the elements by applying two coats of matt varnish just as one would apply to any oil or acrylic painting. I also paint around the edges of my paintings and as such they can be hung without a frame or floated in a float frame.

After scouring the Internet to see if anyone else works in the same way, I find that no one seems to paint watercolours directly onto gessoed panels. For a brief moment, anyway, I feel that I am in a unique position—working in a new medium never done before.

Following the natural evolution of the thinking processes, it is normal for me that things should only become more complicated.

After a recent discussion with an art restorer at the AGO, and then consulting with curators and gallery dealers, the consensus is that watercolours painted directly onto gessoed birch panels and then secured by varnishing with coats of acrylic varnish might well be considered acrylic paintings. They are acrylic whether intended or not.

This might, therefore, be a ‘back-ended’ process of arriving at acrylics. If the watercolours are going to be called acrylics simply for this reason, then why not work in acrylics from the get go?

I work negatively from light to dark by building up layers upon layers of watercolour on the gessoed panels. It then occurred to me, “Why not mix acrylic gel with the watercolours as I go along?”

And so I have entered yet again into a new phase. I now paint on gessoed birch panels with watercolours and acrylics that I make myself.

Might one now consider these new creations mixed media paintings?

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