0:00:04 > 0:00:06BIG BEN CHIMES
0:00:35 > 0:00:39Whenever I begin any painting I've ever done, you start with
0:00:39 > 0:00:45a mind's eye image of what is the ultimate goal of this painting.
0:00:45 > 0:00:48And I have to say that I've never had an occasion
0:00:48 > 0:00:51where my mind's eye image of the painting
0:00:51 > 0:00:55was matched by the reality of the finished painting.
0:00:55 > 0:00:58You never quite reach. You can get close to it -
0:00:58 > 0:01:00but I've never gotten to the point
0:01:00 > 0:01:03where I've achieved it or gone beyond the imagined.
0:01:05 > 0:01:10It's the pinnacle as far as commissions go,
0:01:10 > 0:01:12especially for a portrait painter.
0:01:12 > 0:01:17The first contact was a letter from the Queen's representative.
0:01:17 > 0:01:21And when I opened it I thought, "Aah... This is my chance!"
0:01:26 > 0:01:29I probably did my first commissioned portrait about 40 years ago.
0:01:29 > 0:01:34And even then when I was starting to get into portraiture,
0:01:34 > 0:01:38I always dreamed of being able to paint the Queen one day.
0:01:44 > 0:01:46- ARCHIVE:- '..by placing on her head
0:01:46 > 0:01:49'the six-pound King Edward's crown...'
0:01:49 > 0:01:53I want the end result to have the feeling that the viewer
0:01:53 > 0:01:56can connect with the Queen
0:01:56 > 0:01:58not just on a ceremonial level
0:01:58 > 0:02:00as the monarch of our country...
0:02:03 > 0:02:05..but on a personal level as well.
0:02:07 > 0:02:10I declare before you all
0:02:10 > 0:02:14that my whole life, whether it be long or short,
0:02:14 > 0:02:16shall be devoted to your service
0:02:16 > 0:02:19and the service of our great imperial family
0:02:19 > 0:02:21to which we all belong.
0:02:30 > 0:02:33She's such an iconic figure too,
0:02:33 > 0:02:35and she's a symbol for so many people.
0:02:51 > 0:02:54She still, after all these years,
0:02:54 > 0:02:56remains an enigmatic, personal character.
0:02:59 > 0:03:02I want to get a feel for what kind of person inhabits this role
0:03:02 > 0:03:06so that when I paint her portrait,
0:03:06 > 0:03:10I can inject a little bit of that into the finished painting.
0:03:19 > 0:03:25When I think back to the...you know, the attitude, like, 40 years ago
0:03:25 > 0:03:28about what an artist could and could not be -
0:03:28 > 0:03:30how it was such a difficult battle,
0:03:30 > 0:03:33like to be fighting this constantly...
0:03:35 > 0:03:39I never believed in the mid-20th century
0:03:39 > 0:03:41that figurative painting was dead.
0:03:41 > 0:03:44It didn't make any sense to me.
0:03:44 > 0:03:47I thought it was terribly arrogant for critics and writers
0:03:47 > 0:03:50and other artists to even um...
0:03:50 > 0:03:52espouse that, because, you know,
0:03:52 > 0:03:55people have been painting - drawing and painting images -
0:03:55 > 0:03:59for about, you know, at least 35,000 years.
0:03:59 > 0:04:03And most of that time has been spent on depicting things that they see.
0:04:03 > 0:04:08It's a way of understanding your world, and the things that are most
0:04:08 > 0:04:12important usually in one's world are the people that are around them.
0:04:15 > 0:04:20Most early drawings that little wee kids do are faces.
0:04:20 > 0:04:25You know, it starts with just like a round thing, then the eyes come in
0:04:25 > 0:04:28and then there's a mouth and then there's a nose and ears and hair.
0:04:28 > 0:04:32I think it's natural to want to paint people
0:04:32 > 0:04:33and paint their faces.
0:04:36 > 0:04:41As you start doing more of it, I started to realise
0:04:41 > 0:04:43that this is probably the hardest thing
0:04:43 > 0:04:47there is in the world of art to do.
0:04:58 > 0:05:02In the visual world, I think that the one thing that human beings
0:05:02 > 0:05:05know better than any other thing is the human face.
0:05:10 > 0:05:14One thing I've discovered is that being a portrait painter,
0:05:14 > 0:05:17once you've finished the painting, you literally in some cases
0:05:17 > 0:05:21know the face better than the owner of the face.
0:05:30 > 0:05:35Usually when I'm painting a picture of almost anyone,
0:05:35 > 0:05:39I'll establish a personal relationship with them
0:05:39 > 0:05:41right off the bat.
0:05:41 > 0:05:45You know, I can't just sit down and ask the Queen the kind of questions
0:05:45 > 0:05:47I would ask any other sitter,
0:05:47 > 0:05:53because there's all kinds of protocol that has to be adhered to.
0:05:55 > 0:05:58Ma'am, if you could just drop your wrist a little bit...
0:05:58 > 0:06:00- This one?- That's it.
0:06:06 > 0:06:07Yes, this is...
0:06:10 > 0:06:12CAMERA SHUTTER CLICKS RAPIDLY
0:06:12 > 0:06:15Thank you, ma'am.
0:06:18 > 0:06:20- That was interesting, wasn't it? - Indeed.
0:06:22 > 0:06:23Very quick!
0:06:23 > 0:06:27- Thank you, ma'am. - Right. Bye.- Goodbye, ma'am.
0:06:30 > 0:06:31Oh, there it is.
0:06:34 > 0:06:36Yeah...
0:06:36 > 0:06:38I was in high school at the time, and I think it was
0:06:38 > 0:06:44probably in the fall of 1968 and this new book came into the library.
0:06:44 > 0:06:49And I was, you know, painting already in those days.
0:06:49 > 0:06:52And I was really amazed at the stuff I saw, and it's this picture here.
0:06:52 > 0:06:57What he's done, he's created space with the overlapping of one figure
0:06:57 > 0:07:01to another, to another, to the trees, the landscape, the sky...
0:07:01 > 0:07:05So there's actually deep space that the eye can follow through
0:07:05 > 0:07:07from one side to the other.
0:07:07 > 0:07:09In one way it looks very flat,
0:07:09 > 0:07:14but then when you keep looking at it it looks very spatial as well.
0:07:14 > 0:07:18And that was my epiphany. I thought, "That's the way I want to paint."
0:07:21 > 0:07:24The young man is still only in his 20s.
0:07:24 > 0:07:29I think he's one of the most brilliant young Canadian artists -
0:07:29 > 0:07:31and he's working with realism.
0:07:31 > 0:07:33But let's see what kind...
0:07:36 > 0:07:38To know a little bit of our history is a good idea.
0:07:38 > 0:07:40It's called The Grand Theft.
0:07:40 > 0:07:43Now, the two little lead reliefs
0:07:43 > 0:07:46on the couch behind the boys...
0:07:46 > 0:07:50Jasper Johns, the very famous American pop artist,
0:07:50 > 0:07:54did lead reliefs of light bulbs and of knees.
0:07:54 > 0:07:56Those - those two...
0:07:56 > 0:07:59are the reliefs of his own son.
0:07:59 > 0:08:03Those two kids' knees... which he's juxtapositioned
0:08:03 > 0:08:08and made to appear like Jasper Johns' lead reliefs.
0:08:08 > 0:08:12It's totally unreal, that painting,
0:08:12 > 0:08:14and yet it's realistic.
0:08:14 > 0:08:17That's the enigmatic.
0:08:17 > 0:08:19That's a game he's playing.
0:08:20 > 0:08:23I paint the things that I'm most involved with -
0:08:23 > 0:08:29the people around me, and the things that comprise my everyday life.
0:08:29 > 0:08:32Pictures and books
0:08:32 > 0:08:35and the history of art.
0:08:35 > 0:08:39I think if you take direct aim at being innovative,
0:08:39 > 0:08:41you'll probably miss.
0:08:41 > 0:08:44I think if you compare yourself to the standards that have been set...
0:08:46 > 0:08:48..throughout history,
0:08:48 > 0:08:49then I think
0:08:49 > 0:08:53you will come up with something original.
0:08:54 > 0:08:58- Do you think this is... - I like it. I like it very much.
0:09:03 > 0:09:08I've got three heroes, in three different realms.
0:09:08 > 0:09:11One is in painting - Piero della Francesca.
0:09:12 > 0:09:15You know, Quattrocento Italian painter.
0:09:16 > 0:09:19The other is the architect, Frank Lloyd Wright,
0:09:19 > 0:09:2219th-20th century American architect.
0:09:22 > 0:09:26And the other is the composer George Frideric Handel,
0:09:26 > 0:09:31the German-English Baroque composer.
0:09:31 > 0:09:34What ties them all together for me
0:09:34 > 0:09:40is an emphasis on structure within their form,
0:09:40 > 0:09:42and that's the kind of person I am.
0:09:42 > 0:09:45I like any emotional content that my work has
0:09:45 > 0:09:50to come out of the way the artwork is built.
0:09:56 > 0:09:59For anyone in the arts,
0:09:59 > 0:10:02if you don't have self-discipline, you're just not going to do it.
0:10:02 > 0:10:06And part of that self-discipline is to have regimented routines.
0:10:06 > 0:10:10And I don't know if that grows out of the way I make art
0:10:10 > 0:10:14or the way I make art has grown out of my personality.
0:10:14 > 0:10:17Structured thinking, in my case,
0:10:17 > 0:10:19ends up having a kind of structured life.
0:10:19 > 0:10:22My wife calls me the most boring man in the world.
0:10:22 > 0:10:25That's because my life is so structured.
0:10:25 > 0:10:27Like, I go to bed at the same time every night.
0:10:27 > 0:10:30I get up at the same time. I have breakfast at the same time.
0:10:30 > 0:10:32I have the same lunch every day.
0:10:34 > 0:10:36Another one of my heroes is Alfred Hitchcock
0:10:36 > 0:10:41and he used to wear this dark blue suit to the set every day.
0:10:41 > 0:10:42And people would ask him,
0:10:42 > 0:10:46"Why do you wear the same clothing every day when you go to work?"
0:10:46 > 0:10:50He said, "The suit is the same, but the movies are all different."
0:10:50 > 0:10:53And I feel the same way. The paintings are all different.
0:10:53 > 0:10:55The predictability of my life
0:10:55 > 0:10:58is like a foundation for everything else,
0:10:58 > 0:11:01if you want to call it creativity, that springs from that.
0:11:04 > 0:11:08When Jenny and I first started dating, she was my main model.
0:11:15 > 0:11:17So I painted and drew her.
0:11:23 > 0:11:27And then we had kids. I added the kids.
0:11:36 > 0:11:38I used to joke in the early days that
0:11:38 > 0:11:41one of the reasons I started painting the family,
0:11:41 > 0:11:43because it was a way of using cheap models.
0:11:48 > 0:11:52You know, these little kids, all you had to do was feed them.
0:11:52 > 0:11:56They didn't demand any fees. So that's the way it started out.
0:11:58 > 0:12:02But I like the idea of bringing these different worlds together,
0:12:02 > 0:12:06you know, like family and artistic impulses,
0:12:06 > 0:12:11- to make them part of the same thing. - I don't like them. Daddy!
0:12:13 > 0:12:16Jenny and I decided early on that she would stay home
0:12:16 > 0:12:18and look after the kids.
0:12:20 > 0:12:23So, you know, with a single income to bring up
0:12:23 > 0:12:26a family of three kids, five people,
0:12:26 > 0:12:31depending on one, especially an artist's, income -
0:12:31 > 0:12:33I look back on it, it sounds insane.
0:12:33 > 0:12:35Like, I wouldn't recommend it for anyone.
0:12:37 > 0:12:41Jenny never questioned my commitment to art
0:12:41 > 0:12:44or the idea of creating art for the future.
0:12:44 > 0:12:47I really appreciated that
0:12:47 > 0:12:51because anyone else would have given up at some point.
0:12:53 > 0:12:57We grew and developed together as a team.
0:13:04 > 0:13:08I started doing little pencil sketches of...
0:13:08 > 0:13:11This was actually done before the photo shoot,
0:13:11 > 0:13:16just to try and set up that initial shoot.
0:13:17 > 0:13:20So one of the reasons for starting with the small scale
0:13:20 > 0:13:24is that you're seeing the total composition
0:13:24 > 0:13:28and then gradually you're working your way up in scale.
0:13:28 > 0:13:33So right now, these are nine inches by six inches.
0:13:33 > 0:13:38The final painting is going to be nine feet by six feet.
0:13:38 > 0:13:43What's happening inside my head is that I'm becoming more familiar
0:13:43 > 0:13:47with the elements and the possibilities.
0:13:47 > 0:13:51So that each time I do another version,
0:13:51 > 0:13:54even if there are big changes made,
0:13:54 > 0:13:57I kind of carry what I've learned.
0:14:00 > 0:14:04I've built a lot of models over the years.
0:14:08 > 0:14:11What I've done is I've gone to Rideau Hall and taken measurements
0:14:11 > 0:14:17of certain rooms and brought them back here and created this room
0:14:17 > 0:14:21that is part of a real room but I've turned it into an imaginary space.
0:14:21 > 0:14:24I'm trying to teach not only myself
0:14:24 > 0:14:27but the ultimate audience of the picture
0:14:27 > 0:14:30that it really looks and feels like a real space.
0:14:34 > 0:14:39I call this grid a geometric map of the rectangle.
0:14:39 > 0:14:44Into this two-dimensional geometric grid,
0:14:44 > 0:14:50I use what's often termed as projective geometry.
0:14:50 > 0:14:53In other words, lines converging to a point.
0:14:53 > 0:14:56You've got these two systems of geometry,
0:14:56 > 0:14:59one that is depicting the surface
0:14:59 > 0:15:02and the other is trying to depict space.
0:15:02 > 0:15:04And I find the kind of interplay
0:15:04 > 0:15:10between these two systems of geometry really, really fascinating.
0:15:14 > 0:15:18One of the reasons for making a sculpture in this particular project
0:15:18 > 0:15:22is the difficulty of access for the model.
0:15:24 > 0:15:28Usually I'm able to see and be with the person I'm painting,
0:15:28 > 0:15:31you know, reasonably easy access.
0:15:31 > 0:15:33But with the Queen, it's been a little more difficult.
0:15:33 > 0:15:37And so what I decided to do with her
0:15:37 > 0:15:41was to do a carved bust of the Queen.
0:15:41 > 0:15:44The basic forms of her face are there.
0:15:44 > 0:15:46So it means that I can light this now.
0:15:50 > 0:15:53So you can see that depending on where she is
0:15:53 > 0:15:55in relation to the light,
0:15:55 > 0:15:59the image changes quite dramatically...
0:16:02 > 0:16:05..you know, and the expression changes too.
0:16:05 > 0:16:06So this gives me...
0:16:06 > 0:16:11So I can work with this lit the way I want to
0:16:11 > 0:16:15and then work on her portrait.
0:16:25 > 0:16:27I was the superintendent,
0:16:27 > 0:16:31which is just a fancy name for a janitor, of Cliffside Plaza.
0:16:34 > 0:16:38After I finished art college in 1973,
0:16:38 > 0:16:41I approached the owners of the plaza
0:16:41 > 0:16:47and I made them a proposal that if they gave me this space for free,
0:16:47 > 0:16:49I would look after the building for them.
0:16:52 > 0:16:55So I offered this to them and they went for it.
0:16:57 > 0:16:59So I knew that if I came here
0:16:59 > 0:17:02and did janitorial work there was no future in that.
0:17:02 > 0:17:04There's no way you're going to become any more comfortable.
0:17:04 > 0:17:08You're always going to be paid almost minimum wage and that was it.
0:17:08 > 0:17:13So any future I had would be focused on the art career.
0:17:13 > 0:17:15So my plan was to be here for five years.
0:17:15 > 0:17:17So after five years I'd be successful and wealthy enough
0:17:17 > 0:17:19I could build my own studio
0:17:19 > 0:17:22and my career would just be up and running from there.
0:17:22 > 0:17:24So after 15 years, I finally left.
0:17:27 > 0:17:30The Globe and Mail used to be delivered here,
0:17:30 > 0:17:32I think it was about 2:30 in the morning.
0:17:32 > 0:17:35And the Saturday Globe and Mail was the issue
0:17:35 > 0:17:38in which the art reviews would come out.
0:17:38 > 0:17:42So more than once I'd be sweeping up early in the morning
0:17:42 > 0:17:45and put my bag and broom down beside the Globe and Mail box,
0:17:45 > 0:17:48put in my dime, go to the Entertainment section
0:17:48 > 0:17:53and sure enough, there's a review of one of my shows in the paper,
0:17:53 > 0:17:57talking about how successful I've been
0:17:57 > 0:17:59and what a wonderful show it is and all.
0:17:59 > 0:18:03When the reality is that I was sweeping out garbage here to get by.
0:18:34 > 0:18:37One of my kind of personal rules about art making
0:18:37 > 0:18:40is that it really doesn't matter what you do
0:18:40 > 0:18:43but it really matters how you do it.
0:18:43 > 0:18:44That's what's most important.
0:18:47 > 0:18:50I think art is fundamentally
0:18:50 > 0:18:54about the joy of making things
0:18:54 > 0:18:56and communication.
0:19:02 > 0:19:07Artists in general, and visual artists in particular,
0:19:07 > 0:19:11are always spectators.
0:19:11 > 0:19:15You draw your raw material from the world around you.
0:19:15 > 0:19:17But because you do that,
0:19:17 > 0:19:22it makes it very difficult to feel like you're part of that world,
0:19:22 > 0:19:25because you have to recreate
0:19:25 > 0:19:28the sense of the world through your artwork.
0:19:28 > 0:19:34It makes you always feel like an outsider.
0:19:37 > 0:19:40It's a very lonely kind of occupation too, because,
0:19:40 > 0:19:43like, I've spent the better part of my life standing in one spot.
0:19:49 > 0:19:52The real inspiring achievement that keeps you going day to day
0:19:52 > 0:19:58are these little successes that you try to achieve on a daily basis.
0:19:58 > 0:20:00They're literally the greatest moments of your life,
0:20:00 > 0:20:03even though you're experiencing them by yourself,
0:20:03 > 0:20:06standing there, staring at this flat surface.
0:20:09 > 0:20:14That's where the real art exists, in those tiny little moments.
0:20:21 > 0:20:24All of this process that I go through,
0:20:24 > 0:20:28you know, the ultimate aim is to make this work of art
0:20:28 > 0:20:31that will outlive me, will outlive the Queen,
0:20:31 > 0:20:34will outlive all of us that are here.
0:20:34 > 0:20:39And in future generations, people will say, "That's a nice painting."
0:20:39 > 0:20:42And people will value it, not because I did it,
0:20:42 > 0:20:47or because of who's depicted, but because of the way it's done.
0:20:58 > 0:21:01There's a whole world between me and the Queen.
0:21:04 > 0:21:08The difference in this process and my normal process
0:21:08 > 0:21:13is the lack of the personal connection.
0:21:13 > 0:21:18Because for a painter, especially a portrait painter...
0:21:20 > 0:21:25..what you're trying to do is paint an image
0:21:25 > 0:21:30that is revealing, not just of the person and the position they occupy,
0:21:30 > 0:21:33but something about them as a human being as well.
0:21:35 > 0:21:40I have to present it to the commissioners first.
0:21:40 > 0:21:43And then after that, it has to be presented to the Queen.
0:21:43 > 0:21:47She would sign off on the image at this stage.
0:21:53 > 0:21:56All these people that I study and have admired forever,
0:21:56 > 0:21:58they're all dead.
0:21:58 > 0:22:02Like, you know, Piero della Francesca, he died in 1492.
0:22:02 > 0:22:05But I still refer back to what he did.
0:22:05 > 0:22:07Not only his work, but his thinking
0:22:07 > 0:22:11and his sensibility and personality live on through that work.
0:22:14 > 0:22:15This is home.
0:22:16 > 0:22:18That's what it is.
0:22:18 > 0:22:22I haven't been here in 30 years, but this feels like home.
0:22:23 > 0:22:28There's a subtlety to his colours and his tonalities
0:22:28 > 0:22:32and the kind of spatial construction that I just don't see anywhere else.
0:22:32 > 0:22:36He's a really unique personality in the history of art.
0:22:36 > 0:22:38Through the work, I sense that he thought
0:22:38 > 0:22:43and felt about the universe the same way that I do.
0:23:39 > 0:23:43The hope is to interest her in the process
0:23:43 > 0:23:47that I go through and why I go through that process.
0:23:47 > 0:23:52So what I'm going to try and do is...
0:23:52 > 0:23:54show Her Majesty
0:23:54 > 0:24:02the last of what I'd call the kind of pre-preliminary maquettes.
0:24:02 > 0:24:05And this is... So far, this is like the...
0:24:07 > 0:24:12the kind of end of the journey to this stage,
0:24:12 > 0:24:17just so she gets an idea of the point at which I've arrived.
0:24:17 > 0:24:19And I'll work my way back to...
0:24:22 > 0:24:23..those.
0:24:28 > 0:24:30I think the earliest one is like that,
0:24:30 > 0:24:34which is again sketchier looking, still.
0:24:34 > 0:24:41And I'll also put out these details of her face.
0:24:44 > 0:24:46And I'll try to explain to her
0:24:46 > 0:24:50that it's not just because I like playing with dolls,
0:24:50 > 0:24:52but, you know, there's real purpose
0:24:52 > 0:24:57into all the work of going into building this model.
0:24:57 > 0:24:59Her response to this
0:24:59 > 0:25:03is probably going to tell me a lot about who she is
0:25:03 > 0:25:06and the kind of person she is.
0:25:06 > 0:25:09If she finds it interesting, that says one thing about her.
0:25:09 > 0:25:11If she doesn't find it at all interesting,
0:25:11 > 0:25:13that says something else.
0:25:13 > 0:25:16But I'm sure, um, you know,
0:25:16 > 0:25:18she'll be able to interject whenever she wants.
0:25:18 > 0:25:21And if she's seen enough, that's enough, and that's...
0:25:21 > 0:25:23that will be that.
0:25:23 > 0:25:24But we'll see.
0:25:24 > 0:25:26I bet within the first minute,
0:25:26 > 0:25:30I'm going to have a feeling from her,
0:25:30 > 0:25:31what direction it's going to go in.
0:26:11 > 0:26:15It was nice to be able to talk her through the whole process.
0:26:15 > 0:26:19And all the while too, it was nice to be able to,
0:26:19 > 0:26:25being one on one, I could really get to see her up close
0:26:25 > 0:26:26and we did go over,
0:26:26 > 0:26:30It was slotted as a 20 minute audience, it went 45 minutes.
0:26:30 > 0:26:33I've been doing so much talking the last few days
0:26:33 > 0:26:36that I started to lose my voice in the middle of it
0:26:36 > 0:26:39I thought, oh, gees... so, I was coughing a bit.
0:26:39 > 0:26:42So she said, "Would you like some water?'" I said, "OK."
0:26:42 > 0:26:46So she presses a button and somebody comes in and asks, you know,
0:26:46 > 0:26:49"Can we have a glass of water?" "One or two, ma'am?" "Just one."
0:26:49 > 0:26:52So he brings in the water, she hands me the glass of water.
0:26:52 > 0:26:56So that's... So I got a glass of water from the Queen.
0:26:57 > 0:26:59I felt that by the end of it
0:26:59 > 0:27:06she was quite engaged with the process and excited by the process.
0:27:06 > 0:27:08You start to get a feel for personality,
0:27:08 > 0:27:11which is what I was hoping for in the end.
0:27:11 > 0:27:16You know, just an inkling of the humanity behind the symbol.
0:27:16 > 0:27:21I think what she appreciated was the commitment to the...
0:27:21 > 0:27:27not just this work, but to art itself and my vocation.
0:27:28 > 0:27:31She's taken her role so seriously.
0:27:31 > 0:27:33I think that is her life.
0:27:35 > 0:27:39And I kind of feel the same way about art.
0:27:39 > 0:27:43I've devoted my whole life to it and committed myself to it.
0:27:43 > 0:27:46And it gets to the point where you become that.
0:27:46 > 0:27:48It's not that you have a profession.
0:27:48 > 0:27:54I think we both have this vocation, we're both committed to it.
0:27:54 > 0:27:59You know, we'll probably both die doing the thing that we love to do.
0:27:59 > 0:28:04I felt that she sensed a similar commitment
0:28:04 > 0:28:09and sensibility in this project that I was doing for her.
0:28:12 > 0:28:14I think the whole project, I'm sure,
0:28:14 > 0:28:16is a once-in-a-lifetime experience too.
0:28:18 > 0:28:22Before you get approval, you're always apprehensive
0:28:22 > 0:28:24and you feel very alone in what you've done
0:28:24 > 0:28:27and the point you've gotten to.
0:28:27 > 0:28:31But now it feels like clear sailing, the only obstacles being, you know,
0:28:31 > 0:28:35my ability to make a really good piece of art.
0:28:38 > 0:28:41BANGING
0:28:41 > 0:28:45How to stretch a canvas... a valuable thing.
0:28:51 > 0:28:55I think painting pictures is a lot more physically taxing
0:28:55 > 0:28:57than people would imagine.
0:28:57 > 0:29:00I think they have this vision of artists just, you know,
0:29:00 > 0:29:03sitting at a stool in front of a canvas
0:29:03 > 0:29:06daubing little blobs of paint on to a canvas all day.
0:29:06 > 0:29:10But there's really a lot more to it than that.
0:29:10 > 0:29:11I do this part myself
0:29:11 > 0:29:14just because I'm pretty fussy about the kind of surface I work on
0:29:14 > 0:29:16and the nature of the stretcher.
0:29:16 > 0:29:18I could've gotten other people to do it,
0:29:18 > 0:29:20but I enjoy this part of the process
0:29:20 > 0:29:25and I like to have control of it as well.
0:29:25 > 0:29:26Ah, it's smooth.
0:29:28 > 0:29:30It looks good.
0:29:50 > 0:29:53She's my guardian angel, I guess.
0:29:53 > 0:29:57It's just a reminder that I've got to, you know,
0:29:57 > 0:30:00watch myself and do as good a job as I possibly can.
0:30:05 > 0:30:09I always believed, right from the very beginning, what would
0:30:09 > 0:30:14win out in the end is diligence and persistence and consistency.
0:30:16 > 0:30:20I think a career is a kind of work of art in itself.
0:30:22 > 0:30:26Using real life as not only a catalyst,
0:30:26 > 0:30:28but the raw material of your art form
0:30:28 > 0:30:29still makes perfect sense to me,
0:30:29 > 0:30:33regardless of the ideologies that come and go.
0:30:33 > 0:30:39I'm sure that I could have had a much better rapport with
0:30:39 > 0:30:43the critical world if I'd put in the time
0:30:43 > 0:30:46and effort to explain myself and all the rest of that.
0:30:46 > 0:30:49But I was too busy just making the art.
0:31:02 > 0:31:06The big painting has actually moved along very quickly.
0:31:06 > 0:31:11It's because of all of that kind of practice for the past year
0:31:11 > 0:31:12with this image.
0:31:19 > 0:31:23In one way it's the scariest stage because you're getting to the point
0:31:23 > 0:31:27where you're saying to yourself, "OK, this is the best I could do."
0:31:27 > 0:31:29You're almost finished.
0:31:29 > 0:31:31On the other hand, it's the most exciting
0:31:31 > 0:31:37because you feel like you're close to achieving something
0:31:37 > 0:31:41that's close to your mind's eye vision you started with.
0:31:41 > 0:31:44You generally don't ever reach that point,
0:31:44 > 0:31:46but if you can get close to it that's really satisfying.
0:31:51 > 0:31:56I can wander around the painting quite nicely and enjoy it
0:31:56 > 0:32:00and kind of weave in and out of the space and not stop anywhere.
0:32:00 > 0:32:03Whenever you stop, when your eye stops moving somewhere,
0:32:03 > 0:32:05you've got a problem.
0:32:05 > 0:32:10Because I think it expresses what I'm about
0:32:10 > 0:32:13in terms of my own painterly ideology.
0:32:13 > 0:32:17And if people don't like it,
0:32:17 > 0:32:21it will be for reasons that are probably out of my control.
0:32:24 > 0:32:26It will be interesting to see how long
0:32:26 > 0:32:29she actually looks at the painting.
0:32:29 > 0:32:33Maybe she'll just glance like this and then that's it, it's over.
0:33:12 > 0:33:16The thing I'm really thinking about more than anything... It's not...
0:33:16 > 0:33:20It's not so much, you know, meeting the Queen
0:33:20 > 0:33:24or the Prime Minister or all the other guests that are there.
0:33:24 > 0:33:27It's, one, seeing the painting in a different setting,
0:33:27 > 0:33:29because I haven't seen it now finished
0:33:29 > 0:33:32since it left the studio almost half a year ago, I guess.
0:33:32 > 0:33:36And then, seeing the reaction to the painting.
0:33:36 > 0:33:40An unveiling, in a way, it's the end of the painting for me.
0:33:40 > 0:33:42You know, the end of the project
0:33:42 > 0:33:46and I've moved on to other things at least in my imagination.
0:33:46 > 0:33:49But for everyone else it's the birth of the painting.
0:33:49 > 0:33:55This is the beginning of the life, the public life, of the work of art.
0:33:55 > 0:33:58Some of them have seen the process, the sketches and whatnot.
0:33:58 > 0:34:01But some of them will have no idea of what it looks like.
0:34:01 > 0:34:03Actually I'd love to be one of them.
0:34:03 > 0:34:06I'd love to be able to see it just as if it was, you know,
0:34:06 > 0:34:09dropped out of the sky.
0:34:11 > 0:34:15But sometimes the unveiling gives you a hint of that feeling,
0:34:15 > 0:34:18because it's in a foreign place.
0:34:18 > 0:34:20You know, it's framed, it's lit differently.
0:34:20 > 0:34:24I haven't seen it for a while and I've forgotten some of the trials
0:34:24 > 0:34:27and tribulations of getting there.
0:34:27 > 0:34:31I'm really looking forward to seeing it in the palace and to see
0:34:31 > 0:34:35if it holds up against the architecture, the decoration,
0:34:35 > 0:34:38the other paintings that are in there.
0:34:38 > 0:34:41I'm hoping it does. But we'll see.
0:34:55 > 0:34:57APPLAUSE
0:35:04 > 0:35:08This portrait represents the appreciation of all Canadians
0:35:08 > 0:35:11for 60 years of outstanding service to our country and the Commonwealth
0:35:11 > 0:35:14and we'd be honoured if you would do us the pleasure
0:35:14 > 0:35:16of unveiling the portrait.
0:35:19 > 0:35:22APPLAUSE
0:35:46 > 0:35:50It's changed quite a bit since I last saw it.
0:35:50 > 0:35:53Yes it's gone from, like, six inches...
0:35:53 > 0:35:54LAUGHTER
0:35:56 > 0:35:57Yeah, the composition has...
0:36:01 > 0:36:03I like it.
0:36:04 > 0:36:06How on earth did you get it...
0:36:06 > 0:36:08INDISTINCT CONVERSATION
0:36:08 > 0:36:10I like it. I think it's good.
0:36:25 > 0:36:30Yeah, I think her first reaction was she was surprised at how big it was.
0:36:30 > 0:36:33I said, "You almost think it should stay here, because it
0:36:33 > 0:36:36"looks so good in that room. Just hang it up the wall and leave it."
0:36:38 > 0:36:41And she also said, "You've changed it,"
0:36:41 > 0:36:42almost like an accusation.
0:36:42 > 0:36:45And I thought, OK.
0:36:45 > 0:36:47Then I tried to explain why I've changed it.
0:36:47 > 0:36:51I said, "For one thing it went from six inches tall to nine feet tall."
0:36:51 > 0:36:55But she said, "No you've changed other things," which is true.
0:36:55 > 0:36:57Like I manipulated some of the relationship
0:36:57 > 0:36:59of her figure to the furniture.
0:36:59 > 0:37:02I was kind of amazed that she'd remember.
0:37:02 > 0:37:06Maybe she'd done her homework and looked at the previous images.
0:37:06 > 0:37:09But she remembered, you know, how things were situated
0:37:09 > 0:37:12and noticed that it was changed.
0:37:12 > 0:37:15But you know, she was smiling and laughing about it.
0:37:15 > 0:37:21She did say, I think it was, "grand and marvellous."
0:37:21 > 0:37:22I think she was pleased.
0:37:22 > 0:37:27Today I feel like, with the unveiling,
0:37:27 > 0:37:30the process really has ended for me.
0:37:30 > 0:37:34I've kind of moved on to other things. But I'm concerned...
0:37:34 > 0:37:37It's like being a parent
0:37:37 > 0:37:41and seeing your kids walk out into the big, bad world.
0:37:41 > 0:37:44Now I'm watching the painting and the response to it, you know,
0:37:44 > 0:37:46the good and the bad.
0:37:46 > 0:37:51And that where my mind was yesterday and it still is today.
0:38:13 > 0:38:19Striving to make a lasting work of art is a kind of goal.
0:38:21 > 0:38:24But you've got to enjoy getting there.
0:38:27 > 0:38:31The real joy and the reality is making the stuff.
0:39:06 > 0:39:09Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd