Sapphire magazine Greg Hindle Artist

``I don`t like to be preachy in my art work, but I do have a message I like to get across,`` says artist
Greg Hindle. ``Often times I`ll use a little humour, sarcastic humour perhaps.``
It is that sarcastic humour is his theme pieces that make you look a little longer, and a little deeper into what is really happening on the canvas.
A professional artist since graduating from the Ontario College of Art, he spent his fifth year at school in Florence, Italy, before returning and becoming an instructor at the school.
But choosing a profession in the arts, was not something that came easily.
``The last year of high school, I really didn`t know what to do with my life and had to make a lot of decisions. I had an art teacher who suggested I try the College of Art. She saw something in my work, but at the time its wasn`t anything I really thought that was my future. Once I got into college, I realized right away that this was what I had been missing all my life.``
That led to a 25 year tenure at the College as an intructor. But on top of that he continued to paint and teach course at other places as well.
As an intructor he sat on the jury committee that reviewed prospective student`s work.
                                                                                                                     ``People who have potential, and
                                                                                                                       people who are serious,`` he says
                                                                                                                       of what he looks for in budding artists.
                                                                                                                       But as an artist himself, his approach
                                                                                                                       to creating his work is very personal.
                                                                                                                       He takes on commissions, but has
                                                                                                                       never delved into the commercial
                                                                                                                       side of things.

``I`m a creative person, he says, ``so to be creative you can`t impede your own take on something by having someone insert what they want. I think it kills creativity,, but each to his own.``
He has taught classes at various art groups around the province while continuing to create his own work.
Working mainly in oils, he has also worked in watercolour, acrylic and pastels.
``The subject tells me what it wants to be painted,`` Hindle says.
His subjects are from a wide variety of inspiration.

He does a lot of teaching during the summer, quite often in an outdoor classroom, where students learn the techniques while setting up an easel by a river or some other appropriate location.
Hindle`s work is varied - from landscapes and portraits to a series of themes that he explores with a slightly twisted view of the the world around us.
It is the theme based paintings that draw a viewer into that two dimensional world where, at first look, you may not be entire sure of what is happening.
But dwell on the image for a while and subtle clues emerge.
As a traveller, he noticed how people wanted to escape to the outdoor, but yet bring the comforts of home with them - that observation was, at least in part, some of the inspiration for a series of theme paintings he is currently working on.
``I like the dichotomy of playing one thing off the other.`` he says. ``The idea that you`re trying to escape something, but you`re really not. You want to bring it with you. That developed into the theme I`m working on now, which is ecology based - that we are consuming the planet faster than it can feed us.``
The chacacters in his themes all come from his imagination. Sketched out on paper before beginning to lay his brush on canvas.
He is a story teller who blends life, image, character, light, and colour into vibrant works that tell a tale but also cause the view to think about what is happening - and why.
His work has been on exhibit at many prominent galleries around the province and he continues to create new work with enthusiasm and dedication.
In addition to a classroom setting, he also provides private lessons in portrait and figure drawing as well as landscape and composition.
For more information and to view a gallery of his work, you can visit his on-line studio
at www.logsendstudio.com.