Collection: Forrestall, Tom

Tom Forrestall was born in the Annapolis Valley in 1936. He grew up in Middleton and Dartmouth and began attending classes at the Nova Scotia Art College at an early age.

In 1958 Forrestall graduated from Mount Allison University and in the same year received a Canada Council Grant (one of the first granted) for travel throughout Europe. In 1959 he became the assistant curator of the Beaverbrook Art Gallery in Fredericton, New Brunswick, and in 1960 received his first major commission--a painting to be presented to Princess Margaret as a wedding gift from the Province of New Brunswick. Shortly thereafter, Forrestall began to devote himself to full-time painting. His solo exhibits include: Kinsman Robinson Galleries Toronto, Trenta Dua, Milan, Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, Beaverbrook Art Gallery, Fredericton. Among the many private collections which include his work are: Rideau Hall, Ottawa, Confederation Center, Charlottetown, and the Canada Council Art Bank.

He is currently completing a portrait of the Speaker of the Canadian Senate, to be hung in the Parliament Buildings.

In 2008 an exhibition of Forrestall's works was displayed at the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia.

ARTIST STATEMENT

The renowned Canadian realist creates his highly detailed egg tempera images with ever-finer brushes until he can no longer apply paint to panel-which can go hand-in-hand with the inspired works of nature he creates in watercolour.

"Watercolours are the most enjoyable side of my art, while egg tempera painting in the studio is the most satisfying. Painting outdoors, on site, I feel all of my senses turning on, I taste and feel, see, hear and smell the place and it is the life experiences that I carry back to my studio to paint with."