"A few years ago I drew flowers and plants in our garden as a way to sharpen my eye. And by looking closer and closer, I discovered how to see a world which I am still exploring and learning about, both when I look and when I make paintings. It's the hardest thing I know to do, paint from nature, and I don't see any end to it. I like working small and sometimes big. Lately I've been dreaming of painting a forest life-size--on a thousand foot canvas." Russell Yuristy holds a B.A. degree from the University of Saskatchewan, and an M.S. degree from the University of Wisconsin, USA. He has had major commissions throughout Canada and his work can be found at the National Gallery among many other collections, national and corporate. He has been written about and filmed extensively and his sculptures can be seen in public places, for example, Switch Hitter, an aluminum sculpture at the Ottawa Triple A Stadium, now known as Jetform Park. Russell teaches Woodcut Printing at the Ottawa School of Art.