Albert Slark Episode #4: Portrait Of An Artist

Being an award winning artist is one of many roles Albert Slark inhabits in his multifaceted career. Beginning with an interest in drawing superheroes Albert began exploring classical painting and drawing, he graduated from Alberta University of Arts. He continued taking classes at Michael John Angel, and even studied with Max Ginsberg in New York privately. 

Slark started working as an illustrator and began illustrating for ads for commercials, video game ads, and Sci-Fi covers. This led him to finally start illustrating paperback covers in a myriad of different genres from adventure to western to romance. He has become a sought after Portrait artist for his style has developed into masterful compositions that are uniquely original.

Albert's big break came in 2003 when he became one of only three Canadians who have been commissioned to paint celebrity portraits for the United States Postal Service on commemorative stamps. These stunning stamps are featuring celebrities like Marian Anderson, Spencer Tracy, and Betty Davis.

To connect with Albert: https://portraitsbyalbertslark.com/

Transcript

Carolyn Botelho Hey everyone, welcome back to the Creatively Thinking Podcast. Join Carolyn Botello as she uncovers the inspirations behind some incredibly creative minds that are orbiting our local communities. So hi Albert, is it Slark?

Albert Slark Um, it's Slark. Yes. Um, the the my my last name comes my, my granddad was English, so I'm mixed obviously, but, um. Yeah, I get the name from him. I was named after him. So that's where the name comes from. Okay. And I've got a family tree that goes back to the seventeenth century. So it outlines how they got the name and so on and so forth. So it's slark. Yes.

Carolyn Botelho Oh, nice. That's nice to know your family history.

Albert Slark You can go on forever. Let me tell you. Yeah.

Carolyn Botelho Oh it's good. It's good to know your roots.

Albert Slark Yeah. Absolutely. You know.

Carolyn Botelho So how are you doing? I am so happy to have you on the show today.

Albert Slark Yeah, I'm doing great. And once again, uh, Caroline, I wanted to thank you so much for having me on this podcast. You know, it means a lot, uh, to share, you know, my ideas, my work, and, um, and so on with with people. So this is just a great platform, uh, to, to to do that on, you know, so once again, thank you for that.

Carolyn Botelho Yeah. No problem. I love chatting with others.

Albert Slark Yeah, we're a great bunch. You know all that creativity rising to the top, you know.

Carolyn Botelho So yeah, it's just it's just nice to see what artists see and and how they think and stuff like that. It's just it's it's entirely just it's just wonderful.

Albert Slark Yeah. And I guess how we see the world and what makes us artists is, um, is unique because we express start, whether it be realism or abstraction or sculpture or whatever. And and that that is really it's our statement about our world and, um, the environment and the times we live in, you know? So I think art has always been, you know, a vehicle for communication in its various myriad forms of, of, uh, of style and, and, and periods and so on. Right. So, uh. Yeah. Absolutely.

Carolyn Botelho I found you online, and I just had to have you for an interview. Your award winning art is stunning portraiture that began as superheroes. You would illustrate as a child that developed into commercial ads, posters. And then they progressed into paperback illustrations and celebrity portraits on United States Postal Service stamps. I like to ask every artist how they decided on this as a career path when they were first beginning. Was it what you could do with your hands, your emotional insights, the mediums or something else?

Albert Slark For me, I was drawing and doodling as far back as I can remember. Um, I think it started at age four or five, you know? Um, I started I learned how to read by reading comic books, and I'd see my uncles and my dad and whatever, reading books and comic books. And, uh, I started reading, like, Richie Rich and Archie comics, you know, um, by by grade seven and eight, uh, you know, my friends and classmates were reading superhero comics like Batman, Superman, Conan, Tarzan, and the cover art was just back then. It was just spectacular, right? So seeing these covers just kind of like drew me, you know, uh, no pun intended. There. Just kind of drew me, Um, you know, to it, right? And then it was just a very natural, very organic, you know, process. And, and the cover art, especially like, especially Conan and of course, my favorite, favorite artist, you know, Boris, um, Vallejo and, um, Frank Frazetta illustrated a lot of those. Conan, you know, comic book covers, right? So seeing the art, there was something in me that just clicked. And, uh, by grade ten in high school, you know, that's when I really discovered the art of Boris and who Boris Vallejo and Frank Frazetta were, you know, and it was all really.

Carolyn Botelho I only know the second name. I said, I only know the second name, but that's I don't know. That's probably because my husband's all in books. So so you may have to explain who these these. Um.

Albert Slark So Frank Frazetta, of course, was a great Italian American, uh, illustrator slash fantasy artist, one of the best That ever existed. And Boris Vallejo, um, came a little after him. He was from Peru, and he started illustrating, uh, Conan and Tarzan and made a huge splash in the seventies. 80s and 90s as as the paperback cover illustrator. And these are the two names, really, that got me started, uh, doing what I do. So, um, you know, fantasy art kind of started from these two, you know? I mean, it existed a long time before, but these two brought it to the forefront and it became a market, uh, you know, and also in fine art circles, too, I mean, frazetta's paintings, you know, sell for six or seven million dollars, you know, uh, on, on auction blocks these days. So, uh, you know, uh, big, big, big names. Frazetta sadly passed away, but Boris is still around. And, um, I was very grateful and very, you know, thankful that I met him a few times and actually purchased, um, some of his paintings. So which I have in my personal private collection. But anyway, I'm digressing, but, um, how I discovered, um, the Art of Boris. His fantasy art was, um, living in Calgary. My parents would come to see our relatives here in Toronto, so we'd always drive down a flight or whatever. So one year it was like, I think my fifteenth. I was fifteen at the time, just before, you know, getting into high school and one summer at The Silver Snail, I saw this book, The Fantasy Art of Boris Vallejo. I said, what's this? You know, this looks fantastic. Again, no pun intended, because it was titled The Fantastic Art of Boris Vallejo. So, um, I opened up the book and wow. I mean, that is really the defining moment of my life. When I looked at this work, I said, My God, this is exactly how I want to paint. So, um, I had to buy that book. And funny enough, that summer I was gifted a box of oil paints by my aunt. You know, I guess my parents told them that I was sort of interested in art, and I was always drawing and stuff like that, and this really propelled me to the next level of where I wanted to take my art, because prior to that, I was just like drawing and working with watercolor. So I'd never really painted in oil. So having a set of oil paints and in high school and having the work of Frank Frazetta and Boris Vallejo, uh, this was the impetus to really, you know, start developing and growing and getting into painting. And of course, it took all the art and music electives in high school, which really helped, um, you know, um, get into, you know, doing what I do today. And again, just started by copying, copying the work to the best of my ability without any formal art training, you know, and back then in high school, I mean, like, these days they're kids are taught, you know, somewhat they're given a foundation. But back then it was kind of like, okay, this is what I want you to do. This is what I want you to do. Do some drawing, do some painting, do some sculpture. You know, so by grade ten, you know, eleven and twelve, um, I took art, uh, every year and won some awards. Won some art awards as well. And at that time, I was just like drawing and painting, you know, um, comic book covers and comic book heroes and stuff like that. So, um, and then of course I decided, you know, I want to go to college and now the Alberta University of the Arts and majoring in art. So that's kind of what led to it all.

Carolyn Botelho The nice background, for sure. As someone from Alberta, Canada, how has this region influenced your creative practice? Has it influenced your subject?

Albert Slark It's funny. I mean, Calgary, you know, some of the nicest people you'll ever meet. I mean, good gosh, what can I say about them? I mean, Calgarians and our stampede and the stampede breakfasts and the chuckwagon races and good gosh, that's Calgary and and growing up with the Rockies in my backyard. Um, you know, I mean, it's spectacular. But again, I mean, seeing that and constantly seeing it doesn't necessarily mean you want to sort of, you know, draw or paint it. And, um, you know, I mean, going into malls, right? I mean, what kind of deterred me from landscape painting at that time, growing up was, you know, um, when we used to go to malls, we'd see a lot of hobbyist painters who would be painting, um, you know, the Rockies. Lake Louise. Um, you know, the the immediate landscape surrounding us. Right. And they would do it in the Bob Ross, um, Bill Alexander method. Right. So any of you guys ever watched those Bob Ross, you know? Yeah, yeah. I mean, great stuff, don't get me wrong. But for me, it was just pitch, man. I mean, any way you slice it, it was just pitch. And I said, this is one thing I definitely don't want to do is paint the landscape like this, you know? And I'm not putting anyone down. Don't get me wrong. I mean, they sold their paintings, you know, people bought their work. It's it's it just wasn't for me at that time. Okay. Um, so. Exactly. Right. I mean, every time in any mall you'd go, you'd see all these different, you know, depictions of the Rockies and Lake Louise and so on. Right. So, um. yeah, it was kind of a a turn off. So for me, my, my comfort was sci fi fantasy and, uh, you know, uh, looking at book covers and looking at that kind of art and comic books. And I used to go to comic book store every Saturday, you know, and, um, that was my thing, really was comic book stores and bookstores, you know? So, um, yeah, especially on those cold winter. And that's the thing about Calgary, when it wasn't, you know, playing street hockey with my friends, you know, I'd be reading or drawing. Right? And that's the nurturing thing of it all was, was it gave me the time, you know, to just draw and really figure out, you know, and learn. Right. Reading, drawing, learning. That's what I did growing up in Calgary, you know. So I'm really thankful for, uh, growing up there, just a fantastic place, you know, to be. And my parents still live there. Um, consequently. And I visit them whenever I can. So, you know. So. Yeah.

Carolyn Botelho You were interested in superheroes as a youth. Did you ever consider developing your own stories with your own character designs? How did you discover your passion for portraiture or for.

Albert Slark Um.

Carolyn Botelho Portraying realistic images?

Speaker 3 For me, like comic book art had its had its limits.

Albert Slark And, um, I knew that. I mean, it could only take me so far, right? I mean, I was no genius comic book draftsman or anything like that. I mean, um, there was another guy in grade ten with me, and he could draw like nobody's business. And it came very naturally to him, and he shared a lot of what he knew, and we went back and forth. But for me, I was just enamored with, uh, with paint and, and, uh, you know, and and illustrations on, on book covers. Right. So, you know, uh, so it just naturally, um, kind of went in that direction of, of painting and drawn to those color, you know, compositions and the imagery on those fantasy book cover, you know, um, uh, on those fantasy books. Right. Uh, and going to comic book conventions, too, you know, I would see how some of these comic book artists like, for instance, one, one really famous artist, uh, in Calgary was Todd McFarlane. I'm not sure if you if you remember the name, like, spawn and so on. And just watching him draw what he could do in five minutes, I said, you know what this guy is like? He's a genius. He's it's brilliant, you know? So that's I realized very quickly that's, you know, not for me. I would have to be so, so, so, so good. You know, um, though I could always draw and draw well. But I realized going into that field, um, you know, not for me. Um, for me, it's it's painting and, um, you know, kind of kind of following in the footsteps of my heroes like Frank Frazetta and, again, Boris Vallejo. And that's really what I wanted to do was, was paint, uh, book covers, you know, which led me to go to the Alberta University of the Arts, you know, uh, and sort of, uh, seek after their commercial art program. I was in their visual communications program, and I took also a year of fine art and, um, you know, so I kind of graduated as a graphic designer slash illustrator, more heavily bent on graphic design and designing logos. And back then, this was before the computer age, right? Um, late eighties, you know, um, so you didn't have computers. So I had to learn typography and learn, you know, drawing, and they'd have models and they'd have a lot of graphic design, right? They had one, um, one semester of illustration where I got to dabble in doing basically what I wanted to do. And, um, which was again, you know, fantasy art and coming up with my own compositions and, and stuff like that. So kind of gave me, you know, um, the kind of background sort of like, kind of like the training I needed before deciding, uh, after I graduated to move to Toronto. Because here, this is where all the publishers are. This is where the art hub here in Montreal. Of course, is is the hard hub of Canada. And I knew I had to move because Calgary, as great as it is, didn't have the same art vibe, didn't have the same, uh, you know, the publishers and whatnot. It was mostly, you know, design firms and so on and so forth, and had a few galleries and again, you know, landscape based galleries. So I knew for me, moving to Toronto was this is where I had to be to seek to get into book book cover art and to get into publishing. Really. So and I moved here in about nineteen ninety or so. Right. So after I graduated, I moved here almost a few months later to start my career.

Carolyn Botelho Mhm.

Albert Slark Oh for sure, for sure. And, and New York being so close. Right. I mean there was a time when I used to drive there, you know, four or five times a month sometimes or fly there. Right, because of my work. So I'm glad I moved here when I did you know.

Speaker 4 Mhm. Mhm.

Carolyn Botelho Being passionate about realistic imagery, did you ever consider taking the route of landscape painting. Although you kind of already said that. Have you found yourself influenced or intrigued by the Group of seven landscape painting.

Albert Slark Well, never say never. And as I as I alluded to earlier about my experience with the Rockies and Mall painters, you know, um, landscape painting is a discipline unto itself. Um, like I said, never say never. Uh, once I retire, I'll probably do some landscape plein air painting in Europe, maybe. Or, you know, um, or maybe I'll travel or do some world traveling and take my little paintbox with me and, um, and find interesting places to paint. I think growing up with the Rockies, I've just sort of oversaturated with landscape, with the Rockies, with rivers, you know? Um, and I mean, don't get me wrong. I mean, this is, like I said, great country, great terrain. You have prairies, you have, you know, the mountains, and then you have the lakes and the oceans. Um, so for me, you know, um. We'll see. You know, don't get me wrong, it's not like I hate landscape or anything like that. It's something I probably will get into. But at the moment, um, no. And funny enough, ironically, I do teach landscape painting. I have a couple of students that are learning how to paint landscapes, so I'm guiding them through the process, you know? Um, but, uh, it's got its own charm. And I think as I mature as an artist and, uh, having done Still life and having done, you know, um, hundreds of paintings of figures and portraits, I think landscape probably, you know, probably might be a nice escape just to get away from doing what I do right now, uh, in terms of the group of seven and, um, yeah, I mean, wow, um, you know, proud to say they're Canadian, right? Love their work. Absolutely love their work. And a couple of years ago, uh, there was an exhibition. And if you remember that the, uh, Tom Thompson exhibit at the McMichael and a group of us from a life drawing group. We all went down to check this out and, uh, you know, it was just amazing seeing his work and seeing his little plein air paintings. I mean, hundreds of them that he did really small nine by twelve, eight by ten little paintings and just, you know, his brushwork and his color and his compositions just kind of made me fall back in love with, with, with, with landscape painting, you know, it's like, wow. You know, it's it's amazing what you can do, right? So, you know, I have a deep appreciation for, you know, what they did, um, you know, Tom Thompson, uh, Lawren Harris, Emily Carr, and so on. I mean, you know, it's it's their, their view of of the Canadian landscape, their view of the world, you know, and that's what they're portraying and their, their, you know, passion for what they did. I think a lot of them were commercial artists. So for them, painting the landscape was an escape and you can see their passion for it. You can see it in the brushwork, you can see it with the color combinations they use. So you know. Yeah, I mean, you know, I do have a deep appreciation, um, for them. So. Yeah.

Speaker 4 Um.

Carolyn Botelho And what I love is the fact that a lot of them went to Ontario College of Art and Design University. And so, yeah, a graduate from there just it just feels really good to know that they were there first, you know, like that they their energy was in there. Yeah, absolutely. Walls long before I got there.

Albert Slark It's amazing. Yeah. Something that we can call proudly Canadian right. So for sure.

Carolyn Botelho And we'll be right back.

Speaker 5 With the many awards you have received.

Carolyn Botelho Over the years. Has this humbled you, or has it inspired you to want to teach others to be able to draw and or paint in a similar fashion?

Albert Slark Well, um, I think humility is a key to growth as an artist and a person. Um, I still have a lot to learn. So, you know, uh, as I mentioned earlier, I started a life drawing group, uh, some years ago. Uh, we meet every Thursday to draw and paint from life. Uh, and the reason why I started that group is, in spite of all the awards and all the acclaim, uh, for me, I want to grow as an artist. I want to get better at my craft. You know, uh, just because you win something doesn't necessarily mean, you know, you're all that, um, to really get good, you've got to hone your skills. For me, honing those skills is painting and drawing from life as much as I can. So I kind of equate that to a musician who'll play in his basement and play like a master. But if you can't play in front of people, what's the point, right? So the same thing with life drawing, right? I mean, yeah, you know, you can trace or you can draw from a photo and, uh, call yourself. Great. But if you can't paint from what's in front of you or draw from what's in front of you, then you kind of question where you're at, right? And for me, really, um, it was it was my teachers. Uh, Steven Assael, Max Ginsburg, uh, Dorian Vallejo, son of Boris Vallejo, who actually became very good friends with who's an amazing portrait painter, uh, down south. And these are the people that sort of encouraged me, nourished me to sort of draw and paint from life and seeing how humble they are, you know, uh, considering their paintings, you know, sell for like one hundred thousand dollars. Plus they're represented by some of the best galleries in New York with the Forum Gallery and seeing their how they are, you know, kind of inspired me to sort of follow in that example of, of, of greatness, so to speak. I mean, these guys are brilliant, brilliant, brilliant artists, you know, and, uh, and I figure like, who am I? I'm, you know, I'm nothing compared to these guys, right? So, you know, my, my daily practice, uh, you know, of, of trying to trying to better myself and trying to get good um, of, of painting from life is really one way of learning, one way of staying humble, one way of seeing, seeing the, um, you know, seeing my, my teachers and people that inspire me, uh, the same way, uh, they're still learning and growing and inspiring that attitude in me, you know? So, Oh. Um, so, yeah, um, you know, learning and taking workshops. I used to travel to New York a lot to take workshops with Max, uh, and Steve and, uh, and my friend Dorian would put us up, and we'd hit our models and we'd paint and sort of feed each other, feed off each other, you know? And it's always good to have people better than you and people not so good as you. And then you kind of gauge where you're at. So looking at people better than you kind of inspires you to climb that ladder and push yourself to go further, not necessarily copy what they do, but push yourself and go further. And seeing people that are not as good as you, you kind of realize, okay, well, I'm a little better than that person, maybe not as good as that person, but this is where I gotta go. So, you know, drawing and painting from life, uh, for me, is just the best way to grow as an artist. And, of course, you know, going out to, uh, to to galleries and seeing contemporary artists and meeting with people and socializing. Though to be to be quite honest, I'm quite an introvert, um, you know, but getting out there and meeting people is something I also have to work on. But that also inspires you and also helps you grow as an artist by exchanging ideas with fellow artists and seeing where people are at and seeing the level of skill and realizing, you know, yeah, I've got so much further, you know, to go. I mean, I appreciate I mean, the fact that I've come this far. I mean, that's great. I never dreamed I'd end up here, but I am here. And once again, I'm thankful for being here. But yeah, it took a lot of hard work, some luck, some connections, doors opening. So, you know, all that combined? Uh, yeah. It leaves me humble because I definitely want to to grow, um, as an artist and get better at my craft and hone my skills and inspire my students to likewise do the same. And by the way, I do have some award winning students who studied with me and have gone on to win, uh, you know, awards at major art competitions. And one of them actually became the president at the Scarborough Art Guild. Um, so, um, you know, so, uh, having famous students says everything, uh, I guess to me, you know.

Speaker 4 And.

Albert Slark So I don't know if that answers your question or did I just totally digress here, I don't know.

Carolyn Botelho No, you answered the question, but I just I don't I don't believe that a teacher can be an introvert.

Albert Slark Um, I yeah, you know, um, I think a lot of artists, to some extent are, are introverted. Um, you know, for me, I'm very much an introvert. I try to balance it out, like I said, by, by going out and meeting people. But for me, I'm more comfortable at home reading, drawing, painting, learning.

Carolyn Botelho Those introspective sort of individual things. Right?

Albert Slark Exactly. I mean, studying philosophy and religion, that's another hobby of mine. So, yeah, you know, very much so, you know. Absolutely.

Carolyn Botelho Let's talk about the elephant in the room before it takes over the interview. What is it like? What is it like painting celebrities? Are they really regular people, or has their wealth made them unreasonable? Or are you totally engaged in the practice and professionalism? Professionalism of it? You can't tell.

Albert Slark Um, the mini celebrities that I've met. And of course, going to New York, um, you know, a lot, especially on fifty seventh Street near Carnegie Hall and the Radio City Music Hall. You see a lot of celebrities there, and I've run into many of them, and many of them have been, uh, really nice, um, very professional. At the same time, you kind of know their, your boundaries. You don't push it. So the big celebrity, of course, that I met is Mike Holmes. Um, as you know, and, uh, you know, he's very, very professional. Uh, he was very nice. Um, the whole star portraits, um, the whole episode was filmed at his house. Um, you know, so we were all, uh, transported to his place where we all kind of did, you know, uh, studies. And we did a photo shoot with him, and he sat for us for an hour, and you can see, actually, you can see all of it on my website, uh, star portraits, Mike Holmes, um, part one and two. And of course, it's on YouTube as well. So, um, yeah, I was really fortunate, um, having met him and, um, and having, you know, painted his portrait, you know, and, and painting on live TV. I mean, you've, you've got a camera and you're trying to capture a likeness. And basically on that episode, I was just trying to sort of get some color studies and just kind of, I mean, I really only had an hour, hour and a half to work on it, and it was constantly moving. So that's part of the challenge of painting people, is they're not going to stand still. If you want a person to stand still, just take a photo. So I had to I had to deal with the fact that, you know, he was, you know, moving and talking and and that's what celebrities do. So you can't tell them, hey, man, can you just sit still for like fifteen minutes and shut up, you know, on live TV too, right? I mean, sorry, it wasn't live. I mean, it was being taped, so, you know, and the lighting, too, was terrible. And I think I made a comment on Star portraits that the lighting was terrible because it was like, you know, sunlight seeping through. So I didn't really have a definite light source. Right? So I kind of sort of went with it and kind of worked with it. And then when we did the photo shoot, I came home, tweaked it, and then started working on his portrait. So to make a long story short, yeah, working with celebrities, you know, um, there are boundaries and you got to sort of work within that sort of, you know, frame, so to speak, and, and respect their, their boundaries and respect them, you know, um, and, and trying to make it work, you know, so that's, that's been my experience with, with celebrities.

Carolyn Botelho That's good to know that, you know, they got the professionalism and and you know they just they just stick to you know what they're doing.

Albert Slark Yeah. Exactly. And and again I mean, you know, with, with being famous, um, and all the fans and all the adulation and, and so on. I mean, after a while it just gets to them, right? So again, you have to respect that, you know, and, and realize this is, this is who they are. Give them their space, let them do their thing. And, um, you know, uh, leave it at that. Right.

Carolyn Botelho In your experience working as a paperback illustrator, has the clientele been competitive or has it been more of a straight line for you due to your distinct style and reputation? What was your experience with other illustrators as you were establishing yourself in this field?

Albert Slark Well, um, working as an illustrator, I started in the mid nineties, uh, first working with young adult publishers, uh, then Harlequin Romance illustrating in traditional media like oil paint. Um, you know, drawing it out and then painting it and working from photo reference, um, and some of that, sorry, some of that work can actually be seen on Pinterest. Um, you know, and by the late nineties, uh, the whole industry started to shift, so everything went digital. Um, and so I jumped on the bandwagon and figured I had to learn this stuff. I got to learn the software, and it just made my life so much easier and really made made everything so much lucrative, so much more lucrative for me because I could take on way more work than I was doing, um, you know, drawing it out and working in, uh, in the old, uh, in the old way, so to speak. Right. So, um, doing digital covers, I could do, you know, four or five, six a month as opposed to doing two or three, a traditionally painted, uh, Painted oil paintings for for for book cover publishers. Right. So we just made more sense to jump and do everything, you know, on the computer and learn Photoshop and painter and so on. But along the way, I made a lot of friends. And yeah, there was healthy competition. And but I think ultimately we're very supportive of each other. You know, no one was trying to cut my throat and I wasn't trying to take work away from them and whatever. And if we couldn't do something, we always recommended this person could do it or or so on and so forth. So I think there's always been a lot of healthy competition, um, which is, which is good, you know, uh, to have and, and feed off each other and work off each other as opposed to being, you know, uh, highly competitive and not, uh, you know, uh, not be friendly, not not be, you know, uh, not have that rapport with each other. Right. So.

Carolyn Botelho Oh, yeah. Well, no, I was just thinking so sort of the artist that you would deal with or you would be familiar with. They would each have sort of their little sort of style. And then that's how each one would know, you know, okay, will you do this job? And and then I'll do that job. And that's how you'd kind of spread it out kind of thing.

Albert Slark Yeah. I mean, I.

Speaker 4 Think, I think.

Albert Slark Working for Harlequin, I mean, at that time they had over three hundred titles and a lot of it looked very, very similar. So if you wanted to work for Harlequin, you kind of had to have a sort of Harlequin esque style. It is kind of formulaic and and in order to get work, you kind of need it to be in that style, right? So a lot of the artists, we had very similar styles. So if you look at a lot of the covers, a lot of it looked the same. And because they had that much volume, they they needed, you know, these many illustrators to crank out that, that kind of volume. And sadly, I think at that time they only had maybe, you know, four or five Canadian illustrators working for them, and thankfully I was one of them. You know, the majority of it was in the States, right? Because a lot of the traditional painters were from from the US that had that high realistic style. And at that time, you didn't have the the academies and ateliers that you do now in Toronto. So, you know, so to learn that style, um, you know, when I first came here, I took some classical realist, uh, you know, drawing and painting classes after graduating from the Alberta University of the Arts. And I came here and, uh, you know, started learning how to really draw realistically and paint realistically in the classical vein. And then I went to New York and studied at the Art Students League and took workshops there and with with Max Ginsburg and Stephen Assael, who were funny enough, they were they also worked in publishing, and that's how I got to meet them. They also did a book cover illustration before they became full time fine artists. So, you know. Um, so going to New York and learning this style and then coming back and getting into publishing, you know, and, um, um, that's basically how that sort of transpired. You know, I don't know that answer your question. Or did I totally go off on a tangent?

Carolyn Botelho That's okay, that's okay. No. Well, I was just thinking that it's just from what you're what you're saying, it just sounds like so many parts of all of this just sort of weave together. Yeah. You know.

Speaker 4 Yeah.

Carolyn Botelho Isn't that just such a weird thing that it just how it how it works out that way?

Albert Slark Yeah, absolutely. And I think what I should also mention too, what opened up a lot of doors for me was getting an American rap, Sal Baraka. And how how that happened was I was in a book, uh, I used to publish a page in various source books, and, and he saw my work and I didn't have any representation. And he said, you know, do you need a rap? And I said, yeah. And basically that that's really what got me into the stamps that that opened the door for me for the, for the US Postal Service. And that got me into some American publishing, um, companies like Kensington Publishing and Avon and various other big publishers. So having a good rep can open up a lot of doors for you. So, um, you know, so highly recommend that for people starting out, if you can get in with a good agency, you know. So, um, so, yeah.

Carolyn Botelho Well, that kind of just defeats our eighth question. It seems like. Well, maybe not. Okay. So when you worked as an illustrator or commercial, uh, on commercials and ads, what was it that led you to focus your creative practice more towards realism and portraiture? Was it your initial inspiration or something else? See, now it's just sounding like, well, it was the rep that helped you get off.

Speaker 4 Well, it was part rep two.

Albert Slark Right. So, um. Uh, so I'll just just sort of backtrack a little bit. So how it started was I used to have my work, uh, published in the creative source. So Canadian, uh, the creative source was a Canadian directory for artists. So ad agencies sought me out. So I did some posters for club med degree, deodorant, M&Ms and so on. Uh, and then the whole digital age began. So I learned Photoshop, corral, painter, as I mentioned earlier. And then once I got into publishing, uh, I didn't take on as much commercial work, so I focused on, you know, uh, the book cover art, um, which is all about people on the cover, you know, um, illustrating was a natural stepping stone towards portraiture, um, because illustrating, um, covers was people in different backgrounds, different environments, different, uh, lighting situations, which really was a natural extension, uh, towards, uh, painting portraits of people right, in different lighting situations, you know, uh, like, for instance, Marian Anderson, uh, the stamp of Marian Anderson. Um, I got a black and white photo from the USPS and doing a little research about her background. Um, you know, I realized she was a singer. So the light that I depicted on there was sort of like the stage lighting where you have, like, a yellowish light and then a purple background, like purple grapes, you know, um, and that kind of, sort of really helped me, you know, those years of illustrating book covers. So when I got these commissions, it just it came very naturally, just, you know, sort of, um, uh, really came together, uh, like that. And I.

Speaker 4 Think.

Carolyn Botelho Just your understanding of color, color and lighting and all of that from all of the.

Albert Slark Exactly right, like after having done so many hundreds of book covers when you get these commissions. Now it really, really kind of, you know, helped me understand lighting and, you know, have some exciting for have some exciting, um, what's the word imagery. Uh, on my portraits, I suppose. Just a lame person sitting there looking, you know, bored out of their skull. Right. So by adding some some yellow lights or purple lights or blue lights or whatever, just gives it more interest. Gives it gives the portrait, you know, more interest. And again, uh, years of illustrating propelled me towards portraiture and, and really it was, it was the stamps, you know, it was the stamp commissions. Uh, when I realized, you know, I can possibly do this for a living, you know, and as, as people know, as as artists, I wear many hats. So from teaching, illustrating book covers, uh, painting portraits, you know, this is what I've got to do to survive as an artist and a full time artist. I've been a full time artist for the last thirty years. That's all I've done is draw and paint and and so on and to make a career of it. Right. So thankfully, knock on wood, I haven't had to get a full time job. But you never know with the times we live in, um, you got to do whatever it takes, right? To, to support yourself.

Carolyn Botelho And the price of groceries.

Albert Slark Price of groceries. My gosh. You know. Yeah. A loaf of bread these days. Good gosh.

Speaker 4 Hot hot.

Albert Slark Dogs. I mean, almost eight dollars for, you know, a thing of hot dogs. Come on. Right.

Carolyn Botelho Wow.

Speaker 4 Yeah.

Albert Slark So yeah. And not not not only that. I mean, the price of art supplies. So have you been to an art store lately and seen what paint and brushes go for?

Carolyn Botelho So I don't even want to think about it. I've got so much paint and so many brushes. I'm like, I'm not going to buy any for a while.

Speaker 4 Yeah, yeah. Good for you.

Carolyn Botelho Yeah.

Albert Slark And that's and that kind of really when I, when I price a portrait, I have to think of my art supplies and my time. And oftentimes, I mean, I can't really charge by the hour. I mean, who's got that kind of money, right?

Speaker 4 Yeah.

Albert Slark So, you know, all of these things are taken into consideration, right? So, um, so anyway, um, where was I? Um.

Carolyn Botelho And we'll be right back.

Albert Slark With, with the question about, um, publishing and fine art. So portraiture, um, illustration was a natural extension towards portraiture. And things kind of thinned out in the industry towards the mid two thousand. Um.

Speaker 4 Um.

Albert Slark When a lot of the art directors figured they could sort of eliminate the illustrator. And because, again, Photoshop was a double edged sword, so many of them thought they could learn the program and kind of just do it in-house. And sadly, a lot of the illustrators, um, you know, um, weren't hired anymore to do that, but, um, one company that I still work for in New York, uh, I still get the odd, uh, Western paperback cover. So from romance, I kind of went into Western, uh, covers, and, uh, and that's something I really, really enjoy as well. Is painting, like, different gun battles and, uh, different, uh, you know, like cowboys on horses, galloping horses and and fighting, you know, the bad guy. And, um, and having, you know, the American landscape in the background. Uh, it just adds a lot of excitement. You know, that's something I really, really enjoy doing. And I'm really thankful that the art director, um, that I work with for Kensington Publishing is just just one of the coolest guys. Uh, you could work with, you know, because, um, I guess this is going to bleed into question nine, I think. Right?

Carolyn Botelho Um, over six hundred books.

Speaker 4 So, uh, anyway.

Carolyn Botelho Do you read the books, or is the work based mainly on what the author requests you to illustrate? Do they leave room for your creativity to flourish, or is it more transactional? Is the illustration field very strict, or is there a fluidity depending on the director or the firm you are working for?

Speaker 4 Um.

Albert Slark Yeah. So that really depends on on the company and the art director. Um, so um, for instance, you know, um, working with Harlequin, I would get, you know, a five, sometimes ten page synopsis which broke down, um, you know, the scene, the characters, what they were wearing. Um, is it going to be the usual clinch, or is it going to be super passionate? Or maybe scale down the passion on the cover? So it definitely had its restrictions in that. I mean, um, the covers did get quite heavily art directed, understandably so, because it's a product. Uh, it's got a sell. It's got, you know, uh, a big name author on it. So it's her reputation as well. So, yeah, there's a lot of confines and working in commercial art like that, and you've got to work with different personalities. And some of the art directors can be extremely pleasant to work with, and some can be, well, a little more managerial. So it can be a little your creativity can be, you know, a little what's the word? Um, restrained. Thank you. Um, it can be a little, you know, constricting and, uh, and that just goes without saying, like anything, they sign my, my paycheck. So I've when they say jump, I gotta say how high, right. As a as a professional in the industry, you know, these are the people that are paying you. So yeah you've got to play by their rules.

Carolyn Botelho Yeah. And then.

Speaker 4 You just.

Albert Slark Like a fine artist where you do your own thing and you don't have any money for months on end because no one's buying your paintings. So, you know, um, so as a commercial artist. Yeah. The as a professional in the industry, working with, with people, working with art directors, you've you've got to give them their thing, let them do their thing and you do your thing. Meet in the middle somewhere and, um, you know, create the art, right. So, uh, and as I mentioned earlier, uh, working with, with another publisher, you know, it's the total opposite where this guy is so cool. He said, man, I'll just do your thing, man. Just, you know, don't bother me. Just just do your thing and and and have. I'd have a one page synopsis of what the characters are doing in the scene is a typical gun battle, and you've got like, Wyoming in the background and it's a sunset and that's it. And then from there I would do three sketches, like all on the computer in Photoshop, and send it to him. They'd pick one and then I'd finish it. So and that's really, really, you know, really easy, uh, really easy job, uh, working like that. And I think for me, um, having that kind of freedom, uh, I think it says it all on the cover where, you know, you're not you. You really try things, you push your boundaries. And more often than not, you know, it's a great piece of art which, you know, sells the product, and then you get another job. So, you know, that's that's basically how it works. So I've worked with very confining art directors, very restrictive art directors, and I've worked with some that are really, really cool, that are really do your thing, you know, very, very free with what you can do on a cover, you know. So. Yeah, exactly. And they're very comfortable working with you. And that's part of it too, is your reputation. How long you've worked in the industry, how comfortable you are, how comfortable they are with you. And you do your thing right. So you know.

Carolyn Botelho Yeah, exactly.

Albert Slark Well, this is it. I mean, in the industry, if they're signing your paycheck, well, then there are some rules. You know, uh, as to how how far you can push it, right? And that's the whole thing. Working as working for anything for anyone who's signing a paycheck. There are no rules and there are restrictions. And, um, and basically, if you want to do it, then you got to abide by those rules, right? You know, so yeah. And you kind of sort of define okay, so this is my art. This is what I want to do on my own time. No one's going to tell me what to do. And that's in the realm of my own paintings, my own fine art that I do. And then when I worked for portraits, which is kind of like, you know, I mean, it's very commercial because, again, the person that's painting your portrait, you know, they're signing your cheque at the end of the day. So you kind of got to meet what they want, and you kind of kind of, you know, have have to go by by how they see certain things. So there is a bit of a compromise. And if you want to work for people, whether it's portraiture or illustration, it's very, very similar. You're working with people and basically you want to make your client happy. And that at the end of the day, is making your.

Carolyn Botelho Client happy in your community and your.

Albert Slark Surrounding.

Carolyn Botelho Area. So yeah, successful. Do you find it has given you a specific clientele? How would you describe this clientele? Are they of more of a professional blue collar background, or are they of an elite and contemporary categorization?

Albert Slark Well, I get commissions, um, from all walks of life. Right? So, um, not so much in my community, because I think a lot of people in my community don't kind of want to spend the money that I would charge for a portrait, and they would go to Walmart and get a Walmart, you know, portrait, um, of their family or themselves or whatever the case is. Um, right. But the commissions I get basically are from all walks of life, everyday people, as you can see on my website, people who wanted their daughter's, um, communion to be commemorated or maybe, uh, their father who passed away, they want a portrait of them to remember or their mother or some anniversary, you know. Um, and then I have big institutions like Toronto Western Hospital who basically found my website on the Portrait Society of Canada. Uh, you know, and I guess they had like, I don't know, thirty different artists that they were going through, and they kind of landed on, on, on me and saw my work and, um, you know, interviewed me. And I guess it all came down to budget and how flexible I was. And, um, for me, like, I, you know, I accommodate pretty much, you know, all budgets within reason, of course. Right. Um, you know, so that's how they found me. And a lot of it is word of mouth, you know? Um, and then, of course, my ex-wife, uh, some of her friends wanted their kids painted, you know? So, uh, that's how I also got it. So part of it is word of mouth. Part of it is is luck. Part of it is, you know, if if, um, big institutions want, you know, their, are doctors or lawyers or whatever, uh, to be commemorated, then, you know, they'll find you, you know. And, um, so basically that's, you know, how I, I've gotten a lot of my, my, um, uh, commissions, um, so far. And of course, I've got to be more diligent and, uh, you know, really take more time in promoting myself and marketing myself. And now that I just finished, I revamped my my website for this year. And, uh, now the next step is promoting it and and marketing it, and that's, that's a huge thing. And these days with a lot of social media like Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, whatever, you've got to constantly, you know, uh, every day put up something new to, to gain clients, to gain patrons, to gain, you know, followers to, you know, constantly do do do. Right. And that takes a lot of work. And that's a full time job in itself. So, you know, that's and and quite frankly, I haven't really been, um, you know, um, that, um, what's the word? I haven't been posting as much as I should be to promote myself. So this is my, my resolution for twenty twenty six is definitely, you know, get out there, uh, post more, make more YouTube videos of me painting and so on and market my myself, market my website, promote myself. And and hopefully I'm in the process of trying to get representation in portraiture. And of course, um, the only kind of representation I found is down south. And now with all the political and the tariffs and all the stuff going on, it's like a lot of them, no matter how good you are in all the the acclaim and all the awards you won, uh, if you're a Canadian these days, it can Backfire, you know, ten, twenty years ago, like I mentioned, the American reps and the and the clientele, that wasn't an issue that never, ever, ever was. It didn't matter if you were Canadian. It just mattered how good you were, you know, and how reliable you were and how you could deliver a product. Right now it's an issue because one of the reps told me, yeah, your work is, you know, brilliant. But we got forty artists to feed. And the fact that you're in Canada, you know, and coming to, to to shoot like to do a photo shoot, you know of our patrons. How is that going to work, you know. So yeah. So these are some of the replies I got back, um, you know, from them. So anyway, painting portraits. Yeah, it's a passion. It's a hobby. But it's also very, very difficult, uh, to make it solely as a portrait painter.

Carolyn Botelho Mhm.

Albert Slark You know, so like I said before, I've got to wear, you know, different hats to, to, to basically survive. right? So, you know, but God is say.

Carolyn Botelho Uh, you can say.

Albert Slark That I love doing what I do.

Carolyn Botelho Yeah.

Albert Slark Uh, all all over again. I would, uh, you know, um, and. Yeah, I mean, yeah, I've, I've done it for thirty years. I've realized my goals. I've followed in the footsteps of, of my heroes like Boris and Frazetta and, and did what I set out to do when I left Calgary at the age of twenty four and never looked back, you know, and moved here and, um, you know, uh, started a life. And thankfully, it's been a fantastic path. It's been a fantastic journey.

Carolyn Botelho Yeah.

Albert Slark Uh, to do just just picture this. Do what you love doing day in and day out and get paid for it. Wow. Again, going back to, uh, being thankful again. Yeah. You know, I'm thankful and, um, you know, um. Yeah. What? What else can I say?

Carolyn Botelho You know, but I did have a couple other questions. I not I didn't really.

Albert Slark Yes, absolutely.

Carolyn Botelho I didn't write them out or anything, but I just thought of them while we were chatting. And I was. When you said you worked for Harlequin.

Speaker 6 Sure, sure.

Carolyn Botelho One of my teachers was, uh, one of the artists that worked with Harlequin. I don't know if you remember Bob Biddle.

Albert Slark No, I don't. No, that was before my time or after my time. The only illustrators that, um, when I. That I knew when I, when I got in in the mid nineties, mid to late nineties was Will Davies, uh, Greg Rule and Tony Myers.

Carolyn Botelho Oh, probably would have been after.

Albert Slark These are the only three that I knew, uh, who worked, uh, in Toronto, uh, at that time. Uh, yeah. And then and then, um, you know, and then I got in and, um. Yeah. So, uh, no, sadly, that's that's all the people I knew. Uh, but of course, I know they had a lot of, uh, because I think at that time they had, I think ten or twelve art directors, like in the nineties. Right. So they had a lot of art directors. They worked with a lot of people. But these were just some of the people that I knew. And as I mentioned earlier, I used to publish my work as to take out one page, um, at that time, I think it cost like twelve or fifteen hundred dollars in the creative source every year. And I'd get the book and I'd go through the book and see all the different, uh, artists in there, and from all the book publishing artists that were just like a handful, you know, I was one of them. Tony Muse used to take out a page, and then we'll, um, Greg Rule used to always take out a page in Canadian at the Creative Source. So it was just like a handful of of us who actually worked in publishing. Right. So, um, you know, um, but but yeah, I, I've met quite a few, um, illustrators and we became friends and through through this book, by the way, because they used to have an annual opening, like a book opening up, when the book would come out and your page was in there, so they'd invite all the artists and and that was a real treat because it had like a wine and cheese thing. And you'd go down and you'd meet art directors and you'd meet friends and you'd meet other illustrators. And, you know, I really miss that part of it, because once the book, when once they stop publishing the book, all of that kind of ended. And of course, everything now is all digital, everything you have all these digital platforms to go on. So that's something I'm still working on. Of course, you know, you've got Facebook, Instagram, YouTube. Uh, that's something I, I.

Carolyn Botelho Definitely wasn't a favorite teacher of mine.

Albert Slark I really miss doing. But no, to answer your question, sorry, I never, never ran into him.

Carolyn Botelho Uh, I remember that that name, I think, but.

Albert Slark Oh, okay. Okay. Because I know Will, uh, I know Will Davies taught. Yeah, taught. Uh, taught at OCA. And I know I went down a couple of times, and I met with him, and he invited me to a life drawing, uh, class. When I first moved here and I was trying to get into Harlequin, I approached some of these guys to help me out, and, uh, I used to go there at at OCA. I think it was a Thursday evening or something like that, uh, to draw and paint from life. Right. And he did some amazing work. Will Davies, big fan of his work.

Carolyn Botelho But yeah, don't miss those six hour drawing classes. Oh.

Albert Slark But I think sadly, he, uh, he passed away. Right. So, uh, and there was a book of his work, uh, because he had a very unique style, a very, uh, sixties illustrative kind of, you know, uh, kind of style. He was a really, really successful commercial illustrator. Will Davies, one of the Giants, uh, you know, one of the Canadian giants, uh, in the industry for sure. Yeah.

Carolyn Botelho And you were talking about, uh, when you when you got into digital, and I just was thinking about how if you're doing the, the book covers, I guess you'd be able to do a lot more because you'd be able to sort of interchange backgrounds. Right. With, uh, like, that's how you'd be able to do more is by being able to use like, different backgrounds, sort of for different, uh, covers and things like that. I'm just thinking of illustrator, and I remember all the different layers and stuff like that. Or did you never use illustrator?

Albert Slark No, I didn't I didn't really learn illustrator as much. For me it was more Photoshop.

Carolyn Botelho Okay. Because yeah, illustrator is so hard.

Albert Slark It is. It's a vector based program.

Speaker 6 It is.

Albert Slark And it's very mathematical with the pen tool having to draw stuff out and stuff like that. And um, that just wasn't for me.

Speaker 6 Mhm.

Albert Slark For me, Photoshop was much more intuitive. I can say basically initially I was kind of shown how it worked, but Photoshop, I basically taught myself Photoshop and I taught myself Corel Painter. So a lot of my, my book covers basically was self-taught and a lot of the backgrounds, um, I would import or create using different photographs and composite different photos to come up with any one given scene. I never blatantly used any one anyone's photography. Right. So I take my own reference sometimes, or I get, you know, um, a licensed, uh, image, you know, from Photobucket or whatever the case was, and then make it my own. Right. So there's still a lot of those covers were still painted, uh, but in Photoshop and Corral painter would make it even more expressive where you could really make it look like something you actually painted, but do it in in a fraction of the time. Right. So, you know, so going the digital route really was was a blessing for sure, because I remember the days when I used to paint and with with certain companies, they'd always have changes. And I remember one time they sent this painting back to me. Um, why? Because his fingernail was a little too long, and they wanted me to paint out the fingernail. Can you believe that?

Speaker 6 So that's.

Carolyn Botelho That's pretty ridiculous.

Speaker 6 Right?

Albert Slark So that's what I was dealing with. And having painted it in oil, I had to gesso it out and then redraw it, you know, and then repaint it and wait for it to dry and then varnish it and then send it off. And sometimes they say, well, you know, I just don't like his face. What can you do? Like, you know, just just change his face. But this is the model that you picked. We shot it, and now I have to change it. But again if if, if um, if you're going to work in this professional capacity, then. Yeah, this is what you have to expect. They sign your paychecks and you got to make the changes. So, um, so painting in oil, uh, it was a real pain to make these changes, but when I made the transition, uh, into the digital world, those changes you could do instantly. Yeah, right. Instantly, on a different layer, you just, you know, paint it out, and instantly in minutes, you can send it back to the art director.

Speaker 6 Yeah.

Albert Slark So that it's been a huge blessing, um, you know, learning the software and learning it, you know?

Speaker 6 Yeah.

Albert Slark For sure. It just made life so much easier and just gave me much more time to pursue my own work, my own fine art work, and, um, you know, um, and basically just gave me more time to take on more work, take on more, more book cover, you know, more book covers and more assignments. Right. So, uh, yeah. Um, I welcome technology. And what I'm learning now is, is AI and how to deal with it. And of course, my students are constantly bugging me to learn to learn it. Right. So, you know, um, check out ChatGPT and and check out Gemini and and and how it works. So honestly in in designing my website, my latest website, uh, I did use a fair bit of AI for like the text and some of the, the images and some of the, the, the compositions on my, on my page. Right. So AI is, is is a brilliant tool and I really, definitely want to learn more of it. So for me, I welcome technology because when the whole industry shifted from doing everything traditionally to digitally, a lot of people said, forget it, I'm not going to do it, you know, and, I guess they made different career choices. And, um, you know, the ones that stayed with it, uh, did what they did. Right. And a lot of them just turned towards fine art and just, you know, taught fine art or just did portraiture or just whatever, right. And stayed with oils. But for me, um, I saw where the market was headed and I thought, you know, I'm going to jump on the bandwagon and, uh, and do what I can, and now it's AI that's taking over. So that's something I'm definitely going to pursue and definitely learn and see how it can benefit me in my art and my work and my world and make it easier for me, you know, or more difficult for me.

Carolyn Botelho Yeah.

Speaker 6 You know.

Carolyn Botelho There's going to be some benefits, I think.

Speaker 6 For sure.

Albert Slark And the growing fear in the art community is, oh my gosh, AI is going to take over. You know what? They said the same frigging thing twenty years ago. Computers. It's going to take over. And yes, it did, it did take over. So everyone and their dog has a computer or has an iPhone or, or has an iPad or has a laptop. right? Yeah, but, I mean, it was fear talking, right?

Speaker 6 Yeah.

Albert Slark So either, you know, you progress and you jump on the bandwagon and you embrace technology or you're going to get left behind.

Speaker 6 Right? Yeah.

Albert Slark So for me, um, I love technology. I've got two computers, I've got several iPads, I've got an iPhone, I've got it, I've got it all. I'm learning, I'm learning. I'm constantly learning. The learning never, ever, ever stops. Whether it's like I said before, uh, traditional, uh, you know, drawing and painting or whether it's digital, I'm always learning new things. And back to one of your questions about being humble. Well, you know what? If you know it all, then you're not humble.

Speaker 6 Mhm.

Albert Slark Right. So if you want to learn and you want to grow as a person and as an artist, well I think you need some, some sort of humility to learn and grow as a human being and as an artist. So, um, you know, um, that's that's where that is.

Speaker 6 Mhm.

Carolyn Botelho Yeah. It's good to, good to be always learning and always thinking and, and just, you know, helping your brain grow and helping, you know, just just keeping your body and your mind focused and, and just energized and just, you know, because if you don't then what's going to happen then you're just, you know, it's going to go the other way. And that's not healthy either.

Speaker 6 Yeah.

Albert Slark It just kind of, you know, you just kind of stagnate.

Carolyn Botelho Yeah.

Speaker 6 Right.

Albert Slark I, you know, and and that's the last thing I want to do, you know, I want to stay fresh and I want to, you know, see what's around me and be relevant as opposed to just be a dinosaur stuck in my studio, you know? Uh, comfortable in my little world. Right? So. And oftentimes I've seen, I, I've actually experienced I've seen it firsthand what that does, um, you know, two people. So, um, yeah, it is really important to, uh, to grow and get out there and, and embrace technology and, um, you know, and see what, what the rest of the world is doing. Right? You got to have that mindset of staying relevant and being contemporary. Right?

Speaker 6 So, you.

Albert Slark Know, that's important.

Speaker 6 Yeah.

Carolyn Botelho Well, thank you, Albert, for being on the show today. We have actually reached the end of our our questions for your interview. It was a very engaging to learn about your creative practice, and I hope to speak to you in the future to see where your creativity takes you.

Speaker 6 Absolutely.

Albert Slark And, Carolyn, once again, thank you so much for having me and taking the time out of your busy schedule to have me on this podcast and, uh, you know, thank you so much and hopefully we can touch base soon.

Speaker 6 Yeah.

Carolyn Botelho If you have anything to add, now is the time.

Albert Slark All I can say is if you want to be an artist, you got to persevere. You got to promote yourself. You have to believe in yourself. You have to have faith and walk the journey. I think having talent, um, I don't think having talent is the end all or be all of anything. I think a lot of it is, is, you know, ten percent, uh, what's the word, ten percent inspiration and ninety percent perspiration? I think that says it all because, you know, if you want anything, you have to go after it. You have to work, work at it, and you're going to have ebbs and flows, hills and valleys. So it wasn't all, you know, uh, a rosy, uh, journey. There's been some difficult moments, especially when when first starting out and first getting into the industry and first and moving from from Calgary to Toronto. Um, yeah. The initial years were were difficult, but nonetheless, you know, I knew what I wanted to do, and I did everything I possibly could to get to where I am. And this is just the midway point I still have further to go. So with my portrait career and whatnot. So, you know, it's constant. Um, you know, work, diligence, um, persevering and going after what you want. And eventually it will happen, you know? So don't give up on your dreams. Go after what you want with gusto, and you'll get it. That's that's my two cents worth.

Carolyn Botelho Well, that's a that's a good way to leave it for sure. All right. Okay. Thanks so much. Albert. And I will talk to you again soon for sure.

Speaker 6 Take care and.

Albert Slark Thank.

Speaker 6 You again.

Carolyn Botelho Okay. You too. Take care.

Speaker 6 Alright. Ciao.

Carolyn Botelho Join me next time.

Speaker 7 As I go down another rabbit hole with another creative professional on their insights, their inspirations and their ingenuity.