Hi! I'm John, that 'older gentleman' you met when you started the Tour. Around the yarn shops on southern Vancouver Island, often it's: "Oh. Elaine's husband. Have you come for her order?"

Let me take up where Elaine left off. The Visual Arts portion of our 'studio program' was a late starter. Over the past three generations many men and women in the family have drawn and painted. My father was an excellent technical draughtsman but it was his woodwork and precision metalwork that I watched as a boy.

I had taught myself to sketch at a very amateurish level by the time I left home. The little sketch below, it's about actual size here, was done at seventeen. A group of us did the design and graphics for our high school dances and year books. But composition, life drawing, colour theory, and any medium beyond pencil and poster paint remained a mystery.    Top

Casemakeing and carving became the crafts of choice. It was with them in mind that I reorganized my father's workshop when we moved west. Dad's training, and the tools he left me, were intended for someone working brass, bronze and mild steel to within one or two thousandths of a inch. Clear, precise work was not an issue for me.

But after the first carvings I realized that I was having trouble getting the image on the workpiece to reflect the concept in my mind. Even with some months in Nicolaides I could not bridge that gap.

The problem came up in a conversation with Vic Bosson during a carving demonstration at an Island Illustrators Society show in Victoria. Vic often works in a Japanese graphic style. He suggested that, since my interests as a casemaker and carver seemed to be decorative or aimed at telling a story, I might speak to a prominent local Chinese artist, Andy Lou. That led to an informal five year apprenticeship with Andy in Chinese techniques in ink and watermedia. Since then Andy and I have carried on for five more years and I have added intensive sessions in oils with Victor Arcega.    Top

The sophistication and power of the design suite at the Studios has grown over the years. A large, studio built, light table and a well-stocked media chest simplify hand production. The imaging hardware has stabilized on Hewlett Packard scanning, Canon copying, a Minolta 35mm with a set of close-up and telephoto lenses for film photography and a Panasonic Lumix for digital photography. For design software we use CorelDRAW and Photo-Paint, version X3, with some work in Paint Shop Pro 7 and Plant Studio 2. Our image database is maintained in ACDSee 9. We translate images to fabric motifs, write new fabric patterns and, where possible, run the knitting process through DesignaKnit6. And, finally, a tip of the Studio hat to Paradon Computers, who assemble and maintain our PC's.    Top