Pay it forward: Canadian artist creating an experience in Grand Bend, Ont.
It’s known as ‘Koffee with Art’ (pronounced Coffee) and it’s the brainchild of artist Mike Kramer from Oakville, Ontario.
"We meet in the real world, okay, for coffee with art, I paint a picture while we chit-chat like this, and when I am done, I give you the picture, we selfie and we post,” said Mike.
For the last few years, Mike, an engineer by trade, has been painting every day. He recently self-published a book with a compilation of his art work that includes paintings and sculptures.
Kramer said it’s all part of a bigger plan, “I am on a journey to be a grand master, and it’s going to take probably the rest of my life.”
The 50 year old self-taught artist says he enjoys ‘Plein Air painting’, which is a style of painting outside of a studio, in the element of your landscape. Today’s landscape was the river that flows out to Grand Bend Beach in southwestern Ontario.
“We come to Grand Bend a lot, and I love Grand Bend here, it’s beautiful, and what you can see down this river here in Grand Bend, is something that I find very inspiring, what I can see is the independent business owner, and I can see the character of this town and the people that built this through the years,” explained Mike.
Although Mike has started to generate a sizeable following on social media, his biggest supporters are his wife Nancy and his 12-year-old son James.
Artist Mike Kramer's live Plein Air painting, by the river in Grand Bend, Ont. (Reta Ismail/CTV News London) “It makes me very happy, because you’re happy and that’s probably the most important part about painting to me,” said James as he watched his father paint.
Nancy said she’s happy to see her partner tapping into his passion, “He is extremely, extremely talented, and it’s amazing how the passion comes out… very proud of him.”
Today’s painting was gifted to Bernadette Landry, a Grand Bend resident and photographer, who joined him for ‘Koffee with Art’, an experience that Mike hopes to continue across the region.
The cost? To simply pay-it-forward with kindness.
“I feel nice when I do nice things, and I think you will too, you know kindness… I think if you go out there with the intent to pay it forward, yeah, I am good with that.”
Mike said that he hopes to complete 1,000 paintings in his journey to become a grand master, he’s completed about 80 pieces so far.
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