Bernie started a simple form of relief in the early 1990s. In his profession as a drywall finisher, he was experimenting with raised panels on wall surfaces where natural light had a positive effect as a relief form. Then he began using items such as wheat and barley stalks to leave impressions in the wet joint compound, and his experience with large pictorial carvings in leather led him to applying the same ideas as wall relief.
Today, Bernie is a drywall contractor and he puts his creativity to work designing, constructing, sculpting and finishing specialty features in shoreline homes and cottages. He prefers to use birds as his main subjects – blue heron, osprey and loons – but he also enjoys sculpting horses, wolves and dogs. This website was established so Bernie could teach his unique skill set to others through video tutorials.
Bernie lived in Alberta for 23 years, and spent lots of quality time travelling with his family throughout British Columbia, the Northwest Territories, Yukon and Alaska. These beautiful surroundings are evident in all of the scenes and subjects he’s chosen for his sculptures.
Bernie and his family live on Pigeon Lake, in Ontario, Canada. He takes his family on canoe trips every summer, and his pride and joy is a cedar strip canoe he built himself.
To read more about Bernie, check out the following links:
- The Journal of Light Construction article titled Mud Michelangelo.
- Tools of the Trade article titled The Master of Mud.
- Right This Minute article titled If Bob Ross Had Used Drywall Instead of an Easel, it Would Have Looked Like This