This Page, above, Ray (RE) Swirsky, painting in the mountains Following Page, Sunwapta Falls, oil on canvas, 30” x 20”
“I found myself excelling in the sciences in high school, but my secret desire was to pursue a degree in the arts. I played clarinet and loved to draw. “There is no future in the arts” I was told repeatedly by my counsellors. I followed their guidance and soon found myself enrolled at college in Calgary as an electronic engineering technologist, a field even today I’m not sure why I chose.” “It was only after I had settled in Calgary that I
saw my very first original oil masterpiece in a small gallery near the college. In the rear of the gallery was a tiny dark room where it seemed the original oil paintings were secured.