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Neil
is an internationally acclaimed artist , juror,
author, and workshop instructor.
He is the first Canadian to be appointed to the board
of directors of the Oil Painters of America. In
September 2002 Neil was awarded second place by
Everett Raymond Kinstler in the Oil Painters of
America eastern regional exhibition in Richmond, VA.
In December 2002 two of Neil's landscape paintings
will be published in the Wildlife Art magazine. His
work was recently featured in the International
Artists magazine
published in Australia and circulated worldwide. He
studied at the University of Calgary and the
Scottsdale Artists' School. He is a member of the
venerable and prestigious Salmagundi Club, New York,
NY, a signature member of the Alberta Society of
Artists, Federation of Canadian Artists, and the first
Canadian to be awarded master signature membership in
the Oil Painters of America. From 1995 through 1999 he
achieved "Top 100" and "Top 200"
in the Arts for the Parks competition, Jackson, WY. He
was a finalist in the Artist
Magazine
landscape competition. One of Neil's flower paintings
was chosen for publication in "The Best of Flower
Painting" North Light Books. In May 1999 Neil
participated in the Carmel Art Festival Plein Air
Competition held at the Pitzer Gallery in Carmel.
Neil to his
great joy, has discovered the magically liberating
impact of color. Dazzling reds, yellows and blues,
manganese violet, sap green, and cadmium orange are
applied with loose, generous strokes, straight out of
the tube.
"It's
like going back to childhood," he describes.
"You forget about rules and just put colors next
to one another." Instead of tinting with black
and white, Neil finds he can achieve a
three-dimensional effect by mixing paint on the canvas
so that certain areas sink behind the pure colors.
Neil
believes color is the essence of painting. He uses an
impressionistic "Alla Prima" style of
painting to convey his ideas through landscapes and
florals in both Plein Air and studio painting.
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