Kevin J Conway - Artist
In a Montreal high school art exhibit I won a prize for my painting of a salmon jumping up a waterfall. I guess that is where I started. My Physics teacher bought it for $10 for his cottage.
I have an undergraduate degree in Communications/ Business and a career as an executive in Advertising, Public Relations and Marketing. There has been a great deal of exposure to the creative process for over 50 years and this has influenced how I approach my art.
Upon graduation I then started to paint. I was working in an ad agency where the President, who painted and liked to copy Jean-Paul Riopelle, a famous Quebec artist, introduced me to this style of painting. Riopelle was a good friend of my film and photography prof in University, Charles Gagnon, who became recognized as a top Canadian Artist.
The results of my work were paintings with lots of bright colors and very1970’s abstract executions.
I then took a break of about 8 years and started again when I moved to an apartment located next to the Montreal Museum of Fine Art. Every Sunday I had brunch at Thursday’s (Crescent St.) followed by a visit to the museum for discussions and inspiration.
A course, instructed by a very talented artist who did the water colour paintings for the Montreal Star weekly TV magazine, resulted in The Marlborough Man…the painting was the product of an 8 week course. I will still look at this when I paint, as I try to remember the methods I was taught.
Career and family then took over my life and painting was put on hold for 35 years.
Unexpected cancer surgery in 2017 made me slow down and reflect on how to spend my future. I started painting again, with the encouragement of my wife and daughter. I had been saving photographs for about 10 years with the intention of one day painting again.
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My studio for most of the year is a summer house at the back of our property. All my paintings are done with quality acrylics and canvases.
Edward Spera, Gina Edward and Zaan Claassens have been generous with their time helping me along and learning methods and artistic tricks. I can not express the extent of my gratitude. Gina has taken the Shovels painting…one of my favorites. Watching Ed helped me with my bird paintings, but without his amazing precision and detail. Zaan has taught me some of the neurological science that is part of the painting process and lots of tricks and short cuts.
In June 2019 I was fortunate to learn from noted artists in St. Paul de Vance, France…This influenced my Canyon Walls and Waterfalls paintings. This artist colony was established by great painters like Picasso, Monet, Cézanne and others.
In addition to all this, I also spend a lot of time on the internet observing various artists who teach art. It fascinates me that there are so many different methods used to achieve results…concluding that there is no right or wrong in the artistic process.
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My first painting in 2018 was the Chinese Quince, having won a prize in a Mark Cullen national garden photo contest for the photograph of this amazing plant in my garden. Now, 300 + paintings later I continue to evolve as I work towards a style that my artist mentors tell me will happen at some point and that will define my future work from then on.
I do not sell my paintings. Rather, I encourage people, to whom I give paintings, to donate to the YORK University Autism Students support program which I helped to found in 2014 with the help of Kathleen Wynne (former Premiere of Ontario), as well as a similar program at Algonquin College. Please see the section here that will provide you with more background information and how to donate. Remember that your donation is tax deductible and York U will issue the tax receipt.
Blue Jay
Marlborough Man