Garry Hamilton, Sydney NS
Artist's Statement
My interest is in light and how it affects the objects it falls upon. Buildings, boats, waterfalls, people, the sky, everything around is a possible subject.
Painting is a little like playing God. You create your own little universe. As such you can exaggerate, eliminate, or invent. But you are only a mini-god. You are still bound by the Big Guy's design principles. They are timeless. It is the exploration of these principles, the bounce of warm against cool colours, graduation or abrupt changes of value, especially between positive and negative shapes, lost and founds edges, these are the themes are of interest to me.
selected biography
Garry Hamilton is a graduate of the Ontario College of Art. He also did advanced art studies at Concordia University and McGill University. A freelance book illustrator, he was also a full time cartoonist at the Montreal Star. He has been a full-time art instructor at Sheridan College Oakville, ON, Dawson College Montreal QC, and Silicon Island, NS. In 2000, he retired from teaching to devote himself full-time to the study of watercolours. After 2 group shows at Insight Gallery Sydney Mines, NS, he had his first solo show in Nov. 2002 at University College of Cape Breton, Gallery 2. In 2003, his painting âOrganic Geometryâ won an Honourable Mention and the Prix Paul La Douceur, one of the top prizes at an international juried competition at the 20th Salon held by the SCA, Societe Canadienne de lâAquarelle in Montreal. Also his painting âBlue Nudeâ was accepted in the 27th international juried competition of NEWS, North East Watercolor Society USA. In 2004, he was again juried into the SCA for his watercolour âPortrait of Mme. âDâ. Also he was juried into the TWSA, Transparent Watercolor Society of America âs annual international competition of 2004 for his watercolour âDarleneâ. Currently he lives on Cape Breton Island with his long time paramour Yolanda Dintino.