3 Painters in my life
How I envy those people that can do the things I cannot - Musicians, authors and painters among others. Today I want to think about painting.
Jules Feiffer said “Artists can color the sky red because they know it's blue. Those of us who aren't artists must color things the way they really are or people might think we're stupid.”
It is my very good fortune to count among friends 3 painters – I prefer that title to “artist” in this case because artist can cover so many areas and this is specific to painting.
I will not even attempt to define what art means to me except to say that some paintings move me to tears, some fill me with joy, and some speak to me on a level I do not understand and cannot explain. There are also those that leave me cold!
Picasso famously made the statement that “Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.”
Having watched children draw and color without restrictions or rules, I have come to believe Picasso’s statement is true. Sadly, the vast majority of humanity, including me, fall into the category of “lost artists”. Life has trained it out of us.
How fortunate we are then, that artists still exist among us.
My 3 painter friends are very different from each other in what they do and what they create, but all are bound by the same need to give expression to something within that escapes explanation in any form other than their art.
It is not my intention to do anything here other than tell you a little about these 3 unique individuals and let you see for yourself what their art is all about.
One is a professional and mostly self taught artist, coming to it later in life, but despite his years in industry, he would never think of himself as anything but a painter.
His name is Allison Robichaud.
One would never tell you he is a painter or artist. If asked, he would tell you what he did for a living before he retired. If the subject of art came up at all, he would say it is “only” a hobby.
His name is Michael (Mike) King.
The last has a degree in fine art, loves to paint, but while he knows his paintings are good, he does not think they have any commercial attraction. (It may be worth noting here that Van Gogh was spectacularly unsuccessful in selling his work!)
His name is Eric Sangwine. Let me start with him.
Eric Sangwine is by profession a librarian with the Oshawa Public Libraries. He has combined his love of history, especially the middle ages, with his sense of humour and creativity as a painter to produce highly detailed fanciful paintings that mostly deal with a specific incident from the past. His art is colourful, generally humorous, always tells a story, and when you watch people looking at his paintings they are smiling!
Eric is going to retire this spring and says he will devote his retirement to travel, painting, and likely eating sushi.
The pictures shown are – The music pageant – Robinson House (now a museum in Oshawa) at Christmas – Henry the V111
Visit his website at
Michael (Mike) King is retired from a lifelong career in the engineering division of General Motors. Mike has an insatiable curiosity (about almost everything), a love of nature, he relishes the artifacts of our recent past, and mourns the loss of the honored traditions of our pioneer ancestors. All of these things come together in his quest to capture some of these images on canvas. Someone once said that all paintings reflect the image of the painter, and in Mike’s paintings, you clearly see the inner man, and what enchants and captivates him.
The pictures shown are -A Painted Chair Mike donated for a “CHAIRity” auction – The bleached bones of a ship on a shore – A lighthouse at Long Point in Prince Edward County.
Allison Robichaud spent his career in industry in various management positions, but his only claim now is that he is a painter. I could add that he is also an author, having published one book on painting, and another currently in the works. He reminds me of a quote attributed to Michelangelo - “I’ve finished that chapel I was painting. The Pope is quite satisfied.”
Allison is highly acclaimed as a painter’s painter – a true “Plein Air” painter. As he approaches his 80th birthday, he continues to paint at a furious rate and old age has no choice but to wait until he is ready to accommodate it. Right now he has no time for it.
His love of our Canadian landscape is obvious, and the acclaim he has won is well earned and deserved.
The pictures shown are – Allison hard at work on a cold day – A lighthouse near his home – An autumn scene with ship
There are many famous quotes by and about painters. These are a few of my favorites
Jean-Jacques Rousseau said "The world of reality has its limits; the world of imagination is boundless."
Claude Debussy said “Art is the most beautiful of all lies.”
John Ruskin said “Great nations write their autobiographies in three manuscripts, the book of their deeds, the book of their words and the book of their art. Not one of these books can be understood unless we read the two others, but of the three the only trustworthy one is the last.”
There are critics of course, and here are two of them
Frank Zappa said “Art is making something out of nothing and selling it.”
Ambrose Bierce said “Painting is the art of protecting flat surfaces from the weather and exposing them to the critic.”
I say, “everyone should have at least one painter in their life. Three is better”.
NOTE: All pictures can be enlarged by clicking once or even larger click twice!
