I enjoy the outdoors and spend a lot of time there; so the landscapes where I travel, wander, and hike were an early source of inspiration. I started to draw in order to better understand what I was seeing, to make myself more observant. I also wanted to remind myself of what I saw and to share these places. It is respect for the places that hosted, humbled, and awed me. Most of my landscapes were drawn on paper with watercolour crayons--I fell in love with the vividness and blending ability of watercolour crayons even though they are very time-consuming. I now explore other themes and techniques, particularly acrylics, linocuts, ink drawing and collage. With acrylics, I did a series of birds in trees, from the shy nuthatch to the noisy crow. With small linocuts, I illustrated a poem, 'Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird' by Wallace Stevens, and illustrated a series of haiku I’ve written. I painted and drew on a series of world globes.  I create chap books about my art and poetry and what I come across in the world around me.  Recently, I've focused on two projects.  The first is a series of abstract ink drawings with an urban theme. The second are works, 4 ft x 4 ft, in acrylics and collage based on a series of plot structures.

I am also a community planning consultant who has worked throughout Western and Northern Canada. After growing up at the northern edge of the prairies, I now live in Vancouver at the vortex of Railtown, Chinatown, Gastown, Downtown Eastside and the port. I hike, bike, bird, and play defense at Saturday morning hockey.  I am on the Board of the Vines Environmental Arts Festival and the Board of the Eastside Culture Crawl Society.

john@johnsteil.com or by phone at 604-816-JOHN (5646)