Graham Forsythe, Vancouver, BC, Canada  2005

Graham Forsythe, Irish born Canadian (1952 – 2012)

Graham Forsythe was born in the scenic town of Ballymena in County Antrim, Ireland. The easy going young lad loved the scent and feeling of the outdoors, but his eyesight was so poor that the colors and beauty of nature remained a mystery to him. In 1958, Graham and his family immigrated to Canada and his humble beginnings required him to work from a young age. By the time Graham was ten years old he was no stranger to work, he toiled in a potato farm just outside of Toronto. Two years later, his likeable personality landed him a job as a caddy at the exclusive Hunts Club in Toronto. He worked his way through college and graduated with a degree in Political Science from the University of Guelph in Ontario. He completed his formal education in 1974 and decided to spend some time traveling.

Graham’s adventures took him on a journey along the eastern and western seaboards of the United States. He roamed from one end of Canada to the other, always interested in meeting new people and setting foot on new land. In 1975, he traveled to New Zealand and for the next two years he worked on a sheep and mixed crop farm. Then, it was off to Australia where for three years he worked various jobs, including a one-year stint timber cruising in the Queen Charlotte Islands. One day in 1979, he woke to feel the pull of Ireland at his heart strings. Longing to be in the land of his birthplace his journey took him homeward. For the next year he worked as a fisherman in the little town of Killybegs in County Donegal. Finally, completing a six-year quest, he returned to Canada and worked on a commercial salmon trawler off the west coast. Not afraid to put in a hard day's work for wages, Graham started his own business paving roads. In 1981, he employed a dozen workers and the work was steady, but he had a desire to do something more creative.

Finally, at the age of thirty-eight what seemed like a miracle happened, Graham was told that an operation may be able to improve his eyesight. Keen to see what he may have been missing, Graham had the operation and it was a success. Graham said that for the first time he could see the beauty of nature all around him. He could see the glorious hues of autumn in the mountains, flowering bursts of color in the summer, and sunsets on the water; he fell in love with the beauty of nature. His desire to paint was born at once; he took canvas, brushes, and oil paints out into the meadows and beside cool running streams and began to paint. Graham was a natural, his career in art began with a flourish, collectors and gallery representation was immediate.

Graham Forsythe’s jewel colored impressionist paintings offer something more than most works of art; they offer a look into the soul of an artist who did not take the beauty of nature for granted. Graham was thankful to spend his adult years as an artist of nature. He liked to say that he enjoyed pushing colors around. His paintings are luminous and rich, spilling over with passion and color. His paintings show us what he sees that perhaps we do not, every living thing reflects another; a wet spot on the white bark of a birch tree reflecting a teal-colored pond nearby, leaves dappled with the color of the sunset. To look at a painting by Graham Forsythe is to discover the secrets of color.

Graham Forsythe was a member of the Federation of Canadian Artists, and Oil Painters of America.

Click for larger images and information:

Golden Veil	Forest Totems	Heart of the Woodlands
Old Friends in Banff	Rock Lake, Algonquin Park	Forest Walk
Brothers	Three Punts	Government Wharf, British Columbia
Tranquility	Highland Triplets	Maples After the Rain
Windrows and Silos	Prairie Gold	The Hayfield
Algonquin 2	Algonquin 1	Inside the Hardwood Forest
First Snow	October Tapestry	Mizzy Lake
Dogwood	Sunflowers	Conversation