Bernie Smith - THE SOUTH GRENVILLE GUILD OF FINE ART

Bernie Smith

Bernie Smith grew up in Kemptville Ontario. and moved to Ottawa upon staring his career with Bell Northern Research and then Northen Telcom. With his wife Gail, they raised two sons and now have four grandsons. Durning this time Bernie became interested in art, going to various art studio tours and subscribing to art magazines. This turned into taking various art courses in the Kanata Ontario area with Susan Gould, Stephen Rothwell and others.
Upon Bernie’s early retirement they moved back to his parent’s property in Kemptville and built their dream home. Bernie began painting mainly watercolor at first and joined the North Grenville Art Guild. He then became Guild chair person and proceeded to build membership and set up shows in Kemptville. This experience Bernie still treasures as he met so many great artists as well as meeting numerous persons attending the guild shows.
After a decade Bernie and Gail decided to downsize property and seek a more rural environment, choosing Domville Ontario since they love walking and driving along the St Lawrence River. Again, nature all around them.
Bernie started to explore other media, experimenting with acrylics, pastel, air brushing acrylics and then onto using fluorescent paints that glow under black light. However, his main media remains watercolor. In 2024, Bernie joined the South Grenville Guild of Fine Arts to once again rekindle his artistic motivation painting and sharing with others.
Bernie’s joy comes from creativity and continuous searching for new and better ways to communicate through visual art. He is inspired by his special memories, nature, light and various other images that speak to him. He aims to create images that engage and provoke the viewer to escape and enjoy. Currently he is focussed on painting images that express visuals for songs he has recently written. Just another stepping stone on his art journey. As he enjoys retirement his expression is “What more can a person ask for”.