Teaching_Writing

*Background* Blair Thomas Paul was born in Almonte, Ontario in 1951 and completed his formal art education at The Ontario College of Art and Design in Toronto, 1974. He studied art history at Carleton University, Ottawa, and in 1984 graduated from the Technological Studies Programme, Queen's University in Kingston. Since then, he has been a fine art educator at various institutions as well as continuing as a practicing artist. His work is in private, public, and corporate collections in Canada and abroad. In 1986, he was unanimously elected to The Ontario Society of Artists in Toronto, and received an award of merit for a drawing entitled "CC 2000". In 2006 he was artist-in-residence at “AIR Vallauris”, France.

Teaching
Since graduating from the Technological Studies Program, Queen's University, Kingston, I have been a teacher in various institutions from the public school system to Algonquin College where I have been employed since 2002. At this time I teach drawing to first year students in the Design Studies area, General Arts and Science Program, and also co-ordinate and teach painting in the Introduction to Fine Art Program which I designed and introduced to the college in 2008. In 2002 I began teaching landscape painting to adults at the Ottawa School of Art. It is a great pleasure to work with young students who are interested in learning about fine art, and pass on the technical skills needed to be successful. The fine art field is a very difficult and competitive one, demanding great focus and dedication. Not all who enter succeed.
Algonquin College, Ottawa, ON	Professor of Drawing, Pre-Design Program
The Ottawa School of Art, Ottawa, ON	Painting Instructor

Writing
In 2008, work began on my book "On the Edge of Discovery: contemporary paintings in a personal context". Where to start? I had not written before, so talking about my life and art from childhood to the present time was a daunting task, but one I grew to enjoy the further I got into it. In about one month, and after several edits, the text was completed. I have now written a draft for a second book dealing with my travels and adventures in Ireland, but whether it ever attracts the interest of a publisher I don't know. Creating a book is a very labour intensive activity involving a talented team of individuals. I learned a huge amount from this experience and have an even greater respect for books than I had in the past. More information is available on this page.