Local Ontario Visionary artist - Colors by How

I have been an artist for my whole life.

Since before I can even remember in the earliest days of my youth, as a kid, I was a wanderer who at family get togethers couldn’t wait to run to the edges of ponds, lakes and forests.  I was constantly being surprised by all the activity I’d discover stirring up all kinds of creatures in the grassy edges full of jumping frogs and snakes and occasionally encountering turtles…the abundance of all animal life that flourished in all natural settings constantly amazed me, capturing my interest with total fascination.

This excitement derived from all these encounters in nature provided so many treasures of discoveries. Whenever I had spare time, I’d find myself wandering through forests, ravines, creeks and streams, beaches and lakes, oceans, mountains and jungles and was always rewarded with exciting discoveries. Whether they’d be the profound beauty and fascination of surreal natural vistas revealed, or the elements of the natural world of nature full of animals and creatures that made these wildlife habitats their home.

The multitudes of encounters, too many to number here, but to name a few, involved a myriad of different species of unusual kinds of birds with their unique callings discovering pheasants and quails and grouse turkeys and peacocks.  Then there were the four-legged creatures of the forests and woods that would come out of hiding, such as foxes, porcupines and regal looking skunks to the salamanders discovered in almost every mossy log upturned to encounters with snakes. The snakes were of different kinds, and it was beautiful to observe many kinds of amphibians and reptiles such as toads and frogs, geckos and lizards, including scorpions and large centipedes. 

It was also really cool to be able to watch bizarre and exotic looking insects such as walking sticks and praying mantises and all kinds of colorful caterpillars and moths and beautifully colored butterflies.

There have also been so many moments that have always stayed with me and had such profound effects upon me by the way that I felt that Mother Nature seemed to reveal her mysteries to me.  In a sense she is communing with me during certain moments spent in listening and quietude and meditative contemplations.  Birds would come near to accompany me singing sweetly, creatures of the woods would appear like deer and I’ve had river and ocean otters and beavers make their welcome appearance known…

And then there were the gentle subtleness of sweet and pungent breezes and aromas carried by winds which would awaken me with their most desirable scents.  They would range from scents of forest trees of all kinds to the rich smelling pine needles baking in a hot summers sun. 

Then there were these refreshing scents of the surrounding vegetation breathing with all the richest essences of soil and earth with its lush myriadly colored mosaics of exotic carpets of mosses.

These revealings and revelations were bountiful gifts of nature and are nothing short of miracles of awareness!  These sacred experiences inspired me to become an artist and photographer attempting to capture some of these beautiful aspects and facets of Mother Nature which have always ignited, enlightened, and illuminated my imagination.  Enjoy this unique artistic journey and Illuminate your Imagination…

“I want to find happiness in the tiniest of things - a minute moss plant, 2 cm across, on a rock - and I want to try to do what I've been wanting to do for so long, That is, to copy these infinitesimally small things as precisely as possible and to be aware of their size.”
― M.C. Escher,