Biography

Roger Quesnel is an award-winning Canadian contemporary impressionist artist best known for his ethereal, atmospheric cloudscapes and landscapes.  He was born in 1961 in Ottawa, Ontario and currently resides near Toronto. His paintings have won numerous awards and features and are held in private collections and art galleries throughout Canada. He received his formal art training in high school under the guidance and mentorship of artist and teacher, Samuel Saunders and studied Fine Arts/Visual Arts at York University in Toronto.

Roger's emotive and atmospheric, contemporary cloudscape and landscape paintings aim to connect the viewer to a feeling, or emotion, or forgotten memory or place, that touches them deeply.  To connect them to that part of their soul that yearns for peace.   Roger is not concerned with creating "pretty paintings", but more with creating mystery and capturing the feeling, the mood, the emotion or the spirit of the scene.   It's about capturing a glimpse of that elusive homeland the viewer seeks within.

Roger's contemporary paintings exhibit classical training and influences of impressionism, expressionism, tonalism and minimalism, bordering into semi-abstraction.   His limited muted colour palette is refined and gentle, soothing the viewer with subtle tones and shades.    He favours painting with large brushes in a loose-brush technique, purposely not getting too detailed, thereby allowing the viewer to engage in the painting with their own imagination and perceptions.   He paints emotively with emotion and his goal in each painting is not to paint a photographic, realistic image, but rather to create mystery and to capture the overall mood or emotion of the scene through light, tone and colour, in the hope of creating an emotional response in the viewer.

Roger's primary medium is painting, using both acrylics and oils.   All of his paintings are original and hand-painted, usually done alla prima, applying real paint to canvas.  

His work has a freshness, a one-of-a-kind quality to it, that stems from the fact that his paintings are all created from his imagination, stored memories and emotions, that he intuitively creates on his canvas as he paints. He paints in both large and medium canvas sizes.    He does not use AI, digital mixed media or computer art software to create any of his works.    

Roger also has his own YouTube channel where you can watch his painting demos and see him create his paintings and the process he uses.  

His goal and hope for the viewer of his work, is to create in them a sense of peace, joy or even a nostalgic familiarity to his painting, that speaks to their soul and leaves them in a happy state of mind.   To help the viewer in their never ending search for that elusive spiritual homeland within.

Art Gallery Representation:

ArtMatch Art Gallery
Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Artmajeur Gallery
Paris, France

Biggs Art Gallery 
Aurora, Ontario, Canada

Fine Art America
Chicago, Illinois, USA

Influences

J.M.W. Turner, Claude Monet, John Constable, George Inness, Maurice Sapiro, Kerr Ashmore, Richard Whadcock, Adriano Farinella

Education

The artist at work