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As a journalist my job has thrown me into all kinds of precarious, death-defying situations. I鈥檝e repelled from a tram car, flown over wildfires, driven on ice roads, come face to face with criminals, and I鈥檝e even spoken in public.

But, nothing has scared me more than picking up a paintbrush.

I don鈥檛 paint. I don鈥檛 even draw and I generally don鈥檛 partake in activities that require me to do either of the two. But, when duty calls, somehow I always find myself answering with a trepidatious

鈥淲hy not?鈥�, no matter how unpleasant the task.

That was the case earlier this month when I interviewed portrait painter and artist-in-residence John Webster about his upcoming portrait workshops.

Now, one thing to know about John is he has a background in advertising, so not only is he a smooth talker, he knows how to sell. And sell me he did. I think he said something like, 鈥淵ou know, if you鈥檙e going to write about my workshop, you should probably attend one. What night鈥檚 good for you?鈥�

In that moment I had two choices, I could laugh in his face and run for the door, or I could pull out my agenda and pencil in a date. I did the latter and we landed on Thursday.

Before the class, John told me to bring two things: wine (check) and a picture of the person I wanted to paint. Although that might seem like a simple checklist, I agonized over the second item.

With my lack of painting prowess, I figured no matter who I tried to capture, I鈥檇 end up painting them into a mangled mess, so I couldn鈥檛 in good consciousness bring a picture of a friend or family member.

So, I opted out of that minefield of hurt feelings and chose a fictional character who鈥檚 already a little bit messy and mangled in his own right.

I chose Kramer. (Now, in case you鈥檙e like my friend Rachel and you managed to block out the 90s, Kramer鈥檚 the kooky next door neighbour of Jerry Seinfeld in the hit comedy series Seinfeld. You know that show about nothing that aired for nine seasons? Yeah, that one.)

So Thursday night rolled around and I made my way to the Mountain Galleries building in S-Block, bottle of red wine in hand, and once there, I discovered I wasn鈥檛 alone. Two other brave souls had come along for the ride, pulling up a canvas and their own bottles of wine.

And so the class began.

鈥淚 want to show anyone that they can paint,鈥� said John, much to my amusement.

To be honest, I don鈥檛 recall my response, but I do know it was both sarcastic and self-deprecating.

That didn鈥檛 seem to scare John, though. He鈥檚 clearly dealt with a few tough students in the past. He brushed off my hesitation and forced me to face my fear head-on.

Our first step was to use a program called Procreate to overlay a grid on top of Kramer鈥檚 headshot. We then copied that grid onto our canvas and began drawing Kramer鈥檚 features into the corresponding squares using a watercolour pencil.

Now, let me remind you, I don鈥檛 draw, so this process was a slow one for me. The other students, on the other hand, flew through the task, penciling in a face before I had even finished Kramer鈥檚 eyes.

Thankfully, seeing me struggle, John was quick to swoop in and save me from myself, adding a few lines here and there to fill out the outline of Kramer鈥檚 face, leaving me to finish his mouth and nose.

We then traced Kramer鈥檚 major features with a Sharpie and painted over the entire canvas, washing away the grid and pencil marks from our original sketch.

I was a little overzealous with my paint application, so John ended up having to blowdry my canvas before we carried on to the actual painting aspect of the class.

In the beginning, I obsessively copied what John was doing on his own canvas, grabbing the same highlight colours and mashing them around in similar locations and mixing the same colours to create mid and dark tones.

Unfortunately, though, I couldn鈥檛 keep up with his fast moving strokes, so I instead found myself floundering on my own, tentatively applying different colours to create layers of texture and colour in hopes that by some miracle Kramer鈥檚 face would eventually peer out of the canvas and back at me.

Then, suddenly, before I knew it, three hours had flown by and Kramer鈥攄espite all odds鈥攚as beginning to shine through. The more I painted, the more I could see him and the more excited I got.

I literally went from naysaying and cracking jokes to strutting around the gallery like a rockstar.

Now, don鈥檛 get me wrong, I know my painting is far from perfect. In fact, there are numerous things that I would change if I were to do it again, but that鈥檚 not the point. The point is, the girl who walked into the workshop full of fear and trepidation was able to create a portrait.

Of course, I can鈥檛 take all the credit, John led me in the right direction; he held my hand through all of the scary bits, teaching me the fundamental skills I needed to see my painting through to completion, and hurried me along when necessary by filling in the blanks in my pitiful pencil drawing.
But, ultimately, with his help, I overcame my fear of painting.

John Webster

John Webster always knew he could paint, but it wasn鈥檛 until 2012 that he finally picked up a paintbrush.
After 25 years in the advertising industry, working with layout, composition and colour, he said he knew he had an aptitude for art, but it wasn鈥檛 until he faced a tough time in his life that he finally tapped into those abilities.

鈥淭here was just a time in my life four years ago that was really a difficult struggle and I needed a place to park my brain, and art, whether it鈥檚 sculpture or painting, it鈥檚 really therapeutic, you lose the concept of time and you get immersed in it.鈥�

After completing two paintings, Webster鈥檚 long-time friend Wendy Wacko鈥攐wner of Mountain Galleries in Jasper, Banff and Whistler鈥攈appened by and saw what he was working on.

鈥淪he was closely examining it and she was kind of blown away at what I was doing in just two paintings,鈥� recalled Webster, who works at the Banff location of Mountain Galleries and is currently the artist-in-residence at the Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge location.

It wasn鈥檛 long after that that Webster started painting portraits for the gallery, primarily showing his work in Banff where he鈥檚 the senior sales representative, but also hanging work in Jasper.

As part of the Jasper in January festival, Webster is hosting portrait painting workshops at JPL for a maximum of six students each day.

He said, more than anything, his goal is to 鈥渒ick start people鈥檚 brains and show them 鈥業 can do this!鈥欌��

To learn more about the workshops, visit www.jasperinjanuary.travel.

Nicole Veerman
[email protected]