Jack Neilson WHAT Oil Painter WHERE Home studio in Arnprior, 622-5568 Bridge Street Gallery and Fine Gifts, 77 Bridge St., Carleton Place, 257-1301 WHEN Current, until…? (You can check by calling 257-1301) WHY "To me, painting is all about using colour to intensify interesting images."   See samples of Jack's work	Previous Artist Trading Cards

Jack Neilson - Moooving Right Along
By Sally Hansen

Five years ago Jack Neilson rode away from a twelve-year career as a bike messenger in downtown Ottawa to embark on a new career as a painter and carpenter. But in Jack's case, the painting comprises striking canvases done in oils, and the carpentry has become a necessary diversion to pay the bills while he builds his career as an artist.

Bovine Buzz
Jack burst onto the local art scene recently when Deborah Langlois, owner of the new Bridge Street Gallery and Fine Gifts in Carleton Place, took one look at Jack's bodacious and totally engaging painting of a cow silhouetted against a purple background. She immediately hung it in the front window of her gallery, and an unprecedented bovine buzz ensued. "I thought there had been a break-in," she told me, "when I turned the corner and saw about fifteen people all huddled around my front door." The other day a customer from Perth told her, "I heard about the cow, so I had to come in!"

Unlike Canadian sculptor Joe Fafard, however, cows represent only a small portion of Jack's rapidly growing body of work. His formal still lifes are alive with colour, but it is the movement and sensuality of some of his portraits that excites Langlois. "He is so talented! He isn't afraid to use colour and texture; his paintings of the belly dancer feel so free - they're really him!"

The Arnprior Connection
Well, actually they're his fiancée, Diana Gervais, who takes belly-dancing classes at Parvaneh Dance Studio in Carleton Place. Three years ago Jack and Diana moved to an apartment in a row of buildings owned by Jack's parents in the old Victorian section of Arnprior. Jack learned his carpentry skills from his dad who is a general contractor. According to Diana, Jack is a real handy man, able to build anything, including lots of the furniture in their apartment.

For Jack, that's a mixed blessing. He wants to spend his time painting. "I love it. To me it's all about colour. An image is a repository for colour. I want the image to look true - proper proportion, depth of field, perspective - but then I want to create and intensify with colour. I'd like to call myself an Impressionist with Realist tendencies." He has read a lot about art history and is fascinated by the different approaches taken by various artists and schools of art. He particularly admires Manet and Cézanne for their command of composition and mood, but he believes that Claude Théberge of Québec displays "mastery of colour second to none."

Neilson started painting as a kid when his mother was taking watercolour classes. He became a photographer while he biked a quarter of a million kilometres as a bike messenger. He bought a special clamp to attach his Yashica SLR camera to his bike, and shot a lot of film as he observed the inner workings of an entire city every day. A black and white action photo showing an unnerving proximity between his handlebars and an OC Transpo bus won him a new camera from "The Ottawa Citizen" in a photography contest a few years ago. He has a good eye, and a talent for composing interesting images.

He got serious about his painting three years ago after he gave up "the best job in the world" to re-enter mainstream society as a self-employed carpenter. He took a course in acrylics from Rob Hinchley and really liked it. When he discovered that oils, not acrylics, suited his painting style and temperament, he sought formal instruction; he took a course with Carol Gaughan at the Almonte School of Fine Art, and another course with Hinchley at Algonquin College. Friends and acquaintances immediately started requesting his works, and he received encouragement from everyone who came into contact with his canvases.

When Deborah Langlois opened her new gallery in Carleton Place just before Christmas, a mutual friend told Deborah she had to see Jack Neilson's paintings, and then told Jack he had to take some paintings in to show them to Deborah. The cow was the clincher, and Jack's paintings will be on display at Bridge Street Gallery and Fine Gifts, 77 Bridge St., Carleton Place, 257-1301, for the foreseeable future.

Langlois' new venue for local art is a very welcome addition to the Carleton Place scene. Among the artists on display are several who have been featured previously in theHumm: Craig Angus (June 2004), Arlene McGee (August 2001, www.thehumm.com/hsn/arlene/), Norman Takeuchi (February 2004) and Angelique Willard (June 2001). A visit to previous artist trading cards provides the opportunity to see samples of their works, while a selection of Jack's paintings can be seen here. And you can read more about the new Bridge Street Gallery and Fine Gifts in next month's edition of theHumm.