As a graphic artist, illustrator and fine artist, I have worked in a fairly traditional fashion for most of my life. My approach to art has been quite conventional, beginning with observation, followed by drawing or painting using traditional media: pencil, paints, etc. Recently, after experiencing a years-long gap in my personal artistic production, my inner creative “magnetic north” demonstrated that it had shifted significantly. Since moving to Vancouver Island from Toronto in 2017, my attention has been drawn to the expressive potential of natural textures found in my local environment. Rocks, scrap building materials, rust and even cracks in pavement seem to compel me to capture an image, even though the end result of the process cannot yet be visualized. The textures in the reference photos that I take only begin to reveal their secrets after I spend time experimenting with the tools available in my digital studio.