Cartoonist's Statement

Over seven decades, sketching has been a part of me. As a 4-5 year old, I used to wake up early each morning and do creative, imaginary projects. My older sister presented me recently with copies of two paintings I had done for her when I was 11, and they stand up quite well! My notes from university are laced with sketches. And over my busy work and family raising years, I often got out my watercolours, and withdrew from the real world into my imagined world of sketched people and places.

I am untutored, and indeed am not an artist. Yet I do more than just dabble.

It is only in recent years that cartooning, very specifically, has become a pursuit. I work at it, try to improve, and dare to share the results. I will be sitting reading the paper or listening to the radio, or walking the beach, and bang, an image in cartoon form hits me right in mind's eye. I sometimes just can't wait to do the piece, and send it off. Some of my professional cartoonist friends advise that they should be resketched, sometimes often. The work in the Sketchbook has been duly revised.

During early retirement, back in the nineties, computers descended on our lives, initially very puzzling but then very magical. One of the early programs I pulled out of the hat, after Photoshop, was Corel's Painter. So easy to sketch, paint, and revise, with a myriad of tools. I choose to work in the Watercolour mode. And, with other functions of the computer, it so easy to communicate with others, both one's known friends, and those around the world who were not acquaintances but contacts. (See the feedback from fellow cartoonists or friends, all received via sites or by email.)

I was brought up to embrace humour. My father and his two brothers had great skill and took great pleasure in telling a good joke, seldom at anyone's expense. A good gag. With the study of philosophy, one ingests a dose of irony in one's blood, creating a sort of filter of detachment that feeds the humorous outlook. That passion gives me some depth, at least in some of my cartoon work.

Of course, doing cartoons permits an expression of feelings, viewpoints and philosophical outlooks in a very condensed, abstracted manner, and in short order. When one is getting on in years, these are attributes are to be embraced; there is only so much time left to kick things around.

Very early on, when I was daring to show my cartoons to others, some of whom were real artists, they commented favourably on my style saying it is difficult for many artists to do. I do not find the loose style difficult since it is the only way I can work. I have most of my life worked in watercolour, and loved its fluidity and surprises. But one's work mustn't descend into messiness. What I try to capture in my drawing of people is the way in which a body stance or movement expresses a person's state or attitude or character.

My favorite classical artist who did quick sketches in pencil or pen (in preparation for his major works) is Rodin, whose lines are magically fluid. In terms of modern day cartoonists, the work of Quentin Blake (British) and Barbara Smaller (US) are for me models of humour and artistry. In the Canadian context, Bruce MacKinnon, his humour and simply perfect drawings of the subjects at hand, is the editorial cartoonist I most respect. Bruce has been generous enough to give me encouragement to continue doing this type of sketching. I will.

Brief biographical notes:

* Born in thirties, in Montreal
* Raised in Ottawa, though lived in England and South Africa because my father was in the Canadian diplomtic corps.
* University: University of Toronto, BA Hons (Philosophy and English), and MA Philosophy
* Worked in the federal public service until 1991
* Retired to the South Shore of Nova Scotia in 1993