Paul Forde

I am an artist based in Barrie, Ontario and have been working in different creative mediums for the last 30 years. I graduated from the Ontario College of Art back in '81 and have a degree in Fine Arts from the University of Guelph from '83. I remember being told I was an artist back around Grade 1, however....thinking at the time I would rather be a fireman. Fate played its role however and natural artistic talent apparently can't sit idle.

Presently, I have evolved a style of drawing that seems to be opening doors for me, as it balances accurate likeness in portrait work with casual and simple tones and creative linework.

"When a portrait can breathe, then, and only then do I have a feeling that its done. I have learned to take aspects of both personal sittings and photographic references, combining them into a portrait. Here, besides the one female face, I have included two portraits of some famous guys who I greatly admire and respect. Their images were derived directly from photos of course, but not just one photo. I took a little bit from a number of pictures to create my own image, trying to be as original as possible. I am testing out different compostions with portrait work, some dramatic ones working well, others having to be more conservative.

I like using pastels and minimal colours in a portrait as it shows the drawing skill. Ingres was a definate influence, but so was John Gould, Andrew Wyeth and of course Da Vinci. All these people showed me that line quality is so important."

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