Come and learn the art of composition with Doug Swinton! Please be sure to select both the demo and the workshop should you be registering to attend both.
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November 6th, 2026
Friday: Meet & Greet at the Lacombe Performing Arts Centre
Time: 6pm - 8pm
Location: Lacombe Performing Arts Centre | Fireside Room (5227 Calgary Edmonton Trail, Lacombe, AB T4L 1H8)
About: demo with a Q&A
The LPAC has several events on this evening, so they will have their bar running as well
Free to attend, drop by! Please select from our options below should you be planning to attend.
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November 7th, 2026 (Saturday)
Time: 10am to 4pm (break for lunch around noon to 1pm)
Location: Lacombe Memorial Centre | upstairs in the Servus Credit Union Room (5214 50 Ave, Lacombe, AB)
Instructor: Doug Swinton
Medium: Open for you to bring what you wish to work in ( if you plan to work in oils please make sure you only use OMS thinner, no smelly stuff )
Cost: $55 LAG Members | $65 Non-Members
Theme: Saturday will be a composition lesson with a how-to choose better photos and fix bad ones with painting time to follow.
Supplies list: bring what you wish to work in, and bring the supplies and materials you generally use. Please also bring along some photos or samples of thumbnails you might be considering painting - this class is all about composition and how to better plan them.
Please note: the Saturday class is by registration only, and has a maximum student number of 15
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About the artist:
“I am often surprised at how my life has unfolded. At no point do I recall making the decision to become an artist, yet as I reflect on it, the drive to create is central to my character. My grade school math books were embellished with countless doodles and drawings. My mom was a painter. Most days after school I’d find her in our kitchen – her makeshift studio – rendering images of Chianti in stemmed wine glasses, perennial flowers from her garden, and wicker baskets filled with the harvest of bright vegetables that my dad grew. The spectacular prairie and mountain landscapes of Calgary where I have lived my entire life, have provided endless inspiration. I have developed a fondness for the level of concentration required to paint well. It challenges me unlike anything else. The press of viscid paint from its tube - quinacridone rose…manganese blue – satisfies. The anticipation of first brush marks on blank canvas exhilarates. When a painting turns out just right, I still feel like my ten-year old self, racing into the kitchen to share my accomplishment, “Hey Mom, look what I made!” Hoping to make it on to the world class “refrigerator” gallery
My paintings are now housed in private and public collections around the world. I am fortunate now to earn a living from my art. I teach my craft to amateur and professional artists alike, and operate an art supply store in Calgary. Yet, art is and always has been more than a job. In many ways, I feel like I’m still discovering what it means to be an artist, filled with the same wonder and delight I experienced as a child. The early twentieth century American painter Robert Henri described my sentiment best when he wrote, “I am interested in art as a means of living a life; not as a means of making a living.”
Art is not about a living; it’s living the art.
Come and learn the art of composition with Doug Swinton! Please be sure to select both the demo and the workshop should you be registering to attend both.
—————————
November 6th, 2026
Friday: Meet & Greet at the Lacombe Performing Arts Centre
Time: 6pm - 8pm
Location: Lacombe Performing Arts Centre | Fireside Room (5227 Calgary Edmonton Trail, Lacombe, AB T4L 1H8)
About: demo with a Q&A
The LPAC has several events on this evening, so they will have their bar running as well
Free to attend, drop by! Please select from our options below should you be planning to attend.
—————————
November 7th, 2026 (Saturday)
Time: 10am to 4pm (break for lunch around noon to 1pm)
Location: Lacombe Memorial Centre | upstairs in the Servus Credit Union Room (5214 50 Ave, Lacombe, AB)
Instructor: Doug Swinton
Medium: Open for you to bring what you wish to work in ( if you plan to work in oils please make sure you only use OMS thinner, no smelly stuff )
Cost: $55 LAG Members | $65 Non-Members
Theme: Saturday will be a composition lesson with a how-to choose better photos and fix bad ones with painting time to follow.
Supplies list: bring what you wish to work in, and bring the supplies and materials you generally use. Please also bring along some photos or samples of thumbnails you might be considering painting - this class is all about composition and how to better plan them.
Please note: the Saturday class is by registration only, and has a maximum student number of 15
—————————
About the artist:
“I am often surprised at how my life has unfolded. At no point do I recall making the decision to become an artist, yet as I reflect on it, the drive to create is central to my character. My grade school math books were embellished with countless doodles and drawings. My mom was a painter. Most days after school I’d find her in our kitchen – her makeshift studio – rendering images of Chianti in stemmed wine glasses, perennial flowers from her garden, and wicker baskets filled with the harvest of bright vegetables that my dad grew. The spectacular prairie and mountain landscapes of Calgary where I have lived my entire life, have provided endless inspiration. I have developed a fondness for the level of concentration required to paint well. It challenges me unlike anything else. The press of viscid paint from its tube - quinacridone rose…manganese blue – satisfies. The anticipation of first brush marks on blank canvas exhilarates. When a painting turns out just right, I still feel like my ten-year old self, racing into the kitchen to share my accomplishment, “Hey Mom, look what I made!” Hoping to make it on to the world class “refrigerator” gallery
My paintings are now housed in private and public collections around the world. I am fortunate now to earn a living from my art. I teach my craft to amateur and professional artists alike, and operate an art supply store in Calgary. Yet, art is and always has been more than a job. In many ways, I feel like I’m still discovering what it means to be an artist, filled with the same wonder and delight I experienced as a child. The early twentieth century American painter Robert Henri described my sentiment best when he wrote, “I am interested in art as a means of living a life; not as a means of making a living.”
Art is not about a living; it’s living the art.
