John Presseault's love of nature stems from his early family outings taken with his parents Florian and Mary Presseault/Johnson and two brothers Guy and Raymond in and around his home town of Temiscaming, Quebec. This love can still be seen in the colorful landscapes that he creates today. He relocated to Toronto in the late 60's and stayed in the surrounding area while raising his three children, Kevin, Karen and Kimberly until 1985. John now resides in Toronto's West end with his present wife and loving partner Virginia and their family zoo.
His art education includes The Famous Artists School, watercolor, wildlife and many other painting classes taken at community colleges and schools in addition to his four years of formal art training at the Ontario College of Art and Design from which he graduated from their Drawing and Painting Department in 2000.
John believes that the most important part of his art training has been his years of struggle as a self taught artist/painter and his work en plein air (on site). From a very early age, John showed a keen interest in drawing and in art which both his parents encouraged. He has now been working seriously at his craft since the mid 80's. One of his favorite spots to paint in Toronto is High Park and John now understands how Claude Monet could paint hundreds of paintings from his own back yard and never run out of inspiration and subject matter. High Park is John's backyard.
He considers himself a realist/impressionist painter and he believes that his alla prima painting technique and choice of color palette have a unique flavor that reflects his youthful way of interpreting life and the world around him. John has spent the last thirty years developing his painting technique, he tries to absorb the feelings surrounding a scene and strives to transpose those sensations onto his canvases.
John's first year showing at The Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition
He paints landscapes, still lifes, city scenes, wildlife, etc... and he even does the occasional portrait and sometimes will even copy the old masters. John continues to accept the many challenges involved with commissions.
He feels a unique kinship with Gustave Courbet because of his methods and the myriad of subject matter that Courbet painted in France during the 1800's. John prefers to work from life but with his many years of experience working outdoors (en plein air), it now allows him to paint in his studio using his sketches , good quality photographs or just his visual memory. John is no longer a recorder of sights and locals but a creator of fine art. He takes from nature or man made subject matter and moves, shifts and replaces various items in his quest to create a stronger and more powerful work of art.
John's preferred medium is oil paints mainly because he finds that the colors are more natural and he loves its buttery consistency along with the textural effects that are more easily achieve. His brush strokes are used much in the same manor as a sculptor uses his hands to form his clay sculptures. He uses the water soluble oil paints in order to minimize his and our environment's exposure to additional toxic substances by not having to employ turpentine and mineral spirits.
John does teach the occasional painting (oil and/or acrylic) classes to all levels of artists, from beginner to professionals. He feels that it is his duty to pass on his knowledge and his enthusiasm for painting when asked. John no longer teaches children under 16 years old. He tries to grasp each student's unique style and then he helps them to improve through positive suggestions and critiques. His classes are kept to a very low number of students which allows him to paint along with them thereby offering insight into his methods and style.
His work can be found in private and corporate collections in Canada and private collections in the United States and Europe.