Geoff Slater Line Painting

Geoff Slater

Geoff is a New Brunswick artist who lives near the resort town of St. Andrews by-the-Sea. He is best known for his line paintings -- images that are created using one continuous line.

 Geoff studied landscape design at Fanshawe College, fine art at Georgian College and printmaking under a master printer. His work is collected worldwide. Born in 1969 in St. Mary's Ontario, Geoff Slater has lived in New Brunswick since September 2000. His artistic career began in the mid 1990s, after studies at Georgian College in Barrie, ON.

Acceptance into the Tom Thomson Memorial Art Gallery Annual Juried Exhibition in Owen Sound several years in a row was pivotal. From there he was introduced to art dealer Ben Goedhart of Circle Arts Gallery in Tobermory. Ben took Geoff under his wing and provided him with a place to paint in the Bruce Peninsula. This is when Geoff adopted the method of painting outdoors - hiking into the wilderness with watercolors, later developing sketches into larger pieces in the studio.

In 2000, a family move to New Brunswick brought Geoff to St. Andrews where he continued painting outdoors. A mountain bike ride up Chamcook Mountain, brought inspiration – and along with it - the idea to paint images with a single line. Today, Geoff continues to work with youth, helping to facilitate creative thinking through project-based learning while his artistic focus is line paintings of people who inspire him – prompted in part by the birth of his daughter and the sudden loss of his father-in-law.

His latest allegorical portraits involve line as a both metaphor and as a way of connecting individuals with their environment and circumstances.

Painting in a single line, using both watercolors and acrylics, has for the past ten years been a strong focus of my work. What began as a concept that came to me, literally overnight - a method of creating an image with a single line that never touches or crosses itself - has progressed from being strictly a technique, to a way of introducing metaphor into my work.

As I have moved from painting places to people, the line has allowed me to tie many concepts together. In my portraits, an unbroken, narrative line links individuals with their environments.


My line paintings are painted using one continuous line with a beginning, and an ending. Although it changes color, the line never touches, or crosses itself.

First, I draw the basic image, however, that is where the planning ends. The line takes shape, as I paint it, with no set path or direction.

Intellectually, the line is one of the most basic elements of art and is nearly impossible to escape as an artist.

Fundamentally and spiritually, the line represents a certain connectedness - a thread that ties objects and individuals together.

Water, trees, land and man-made structures are all linked together.

Visit examples of his work:  http://www.geoffslater.com/linepainting.shtml

Your first part of this project will be a simple line flower painting following the style of Geoff Slater.

1.  Draw a simple flower shape on a sheet of watercolor paper 8.5' x11'' using one simple line to define the flower shape.  Keep the flower shape simple for now.  
2.  Prepare your watercolor paints.  You will need orange( mix red &yellow), green (mix blue & yellow) and pure yellow
3. Begin at the bottom of the flower, using green paint.
Continue with the green until you reach the petal area, at which time you switch to the orange paint.  Blend the green and orange together on the page so there is a nice transition between the two colors.
4. Paint the petals of the flowers, taking care to move your paintbrush around the areas in a back and forth motion. Complete the entire petals section before moving into the canter area.
5. When you reach the center of the flower, transition form orange to yellow paint.  Continue with the yellow until the center of the flower is completed.  Blend yellow paint with green as you transition back to the stem and final leaves of the flower. Paint the stem and leaf with the green paint until the picture is complete.