"A Little About Me" 

Here are some of those practices:
  • The collection of brush water and letting it stand till all the pigments and paint particles settle to the bottom so I can pour out cleaner wash water back into the water system. 
  • Re-using of paper towels to clean brushes and buckets.
  • Using old clothing scraps for brush and canvas cleaning.
  • Working in the studio, as much as possible in the daytime hours so as to reduce the amount of lighting needed.
  • Communicating with paint manufacturers and asking for greener products and/or how ecologically friendly they are. They won't develop greener products if artists don't ask for them. 
  • Partnering with environmentally-conscious businesses and product suppliers. 
  • Refusing to use volatiles in my painting process. I only use a volatile containing product (Damar varnish) when I have a finished oil painting that needs a final varnish. But I use no thinner, turpentine, turpenoid, what have you, in the painting and cleaning process whatsoever. My acrylic paintings are varnished with water based varnishes. Volatiles contain benzene and other nasty chemicals that cause harm to the ozone, watershed systems and cause blood cancers in humans. It's really nasty stuff and I have developed a painting style with oils in which I don't have to use any volatiles at all. Brushes are cleaned with soap and water. It all takes more time and effort but I think the earth is worth it, don't you?
I'm a transplant to Toronto, having moved here from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan where I spend my first 42 or so years on the beautiful and expansive Canadian prairie. Maybe that's why I still think all things are possible, potentials as big as a wide open prairie sky.