Background: Chuck Lewis is an artist in Port Credit, a prolific creator of large canvas oil paintings, as well as detailed sepia ink sketches. Most of his work is done from his studio at his lake house, near Algonquin.

Is there a piece of art you are most proud of why?

Chuck Lewis: I have two favorites. The first is a rock painting I did, as a commission. The subject matter is a giant rock that people could dive off of  into the lake. The rock has signatures all over it, which I replicated exactly. It’s one of my favorites because of the history behind it, people like to have history to paintings. I painted it twice, but different renderings. That was an enjoyable painting, that’s why I did it a second time.

The second is a painting that is at my place at the lake. It represents a certain time in my life and is the only one I did at that time, in 1975 . It’s of a very stark leafless tree, the sky is done in a  persian blue and the tree looks like it’s lit up. It’s a favorite of my wife and mine, and everyone who sees is loves it. It represents an era of my life and after that I stopped painting for about 5 years.

How do you know when a piece of your work is finished?

Chuck Lewis: When somebody buys it and goes out the door with it (he chuckles). The longer you look at something the more you see something you want to change. I think that happens with every artist. I have a whole studio of paintings that are incomplete.

What inspires you?

Chuck Lewis: Nature, I love being up by Algonquin Park. My studio is on 10 acres, near Gooderham, which is an old logging town. I have a place 5 minutes from the water, it’s private.

What is your most important artistic tool and is there something you can’t live without in your studio?

Chuck Lewis: The palette knife and the large brushes, an inch and a half, because I like to work on large canvases. My canvases are usually 4X5 feet. Music is a  huge part of my creative process when I am doing my sketches I listen to classical music, and when I working on a big canvas it’s Big Band.

Is there an element that you enjoy working with in your process and why?

Chuck Lewis: Yes, I am a fast painter, to do so you mix your paints on the canvas more then on the palette. I love the spontaneous aspect of the painting. I can do a painting in one sitting. You can be working on a painting and it muddy, and in one or two strokes it starts to come together. And that’s when I have the fun. I start my paintings by priming my canvas with a colour, like burnt sienna, I do not like to work from a white canvas, kill the white.

How did you start making art and why do you continue?

I have always drawn. I just enjoy it. I have pieces of art that people have never seen, inks and watercolours, and rows and rows of paintings. Eventually I will have to discount some of them. I paint for myself, if somebody likes it, great.