“This is my little studio. I sell little reproductions of my work, and I also paint while I’m here. This one I started in Mexico, so that’s the same canvas here (points to photo of him painting). I put on some Spanish music so it feels like I’m still there.

“I went to university to study business in London, Ontario. After graduation, I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do. Back in those days, everyone went to Europe to find themselves, and so I went to Europe. I hitchhiked to seventeen countries in Europe, and I ended up visiting most of the major art museums. After that, I got hooked on painting. Nothing else gave me that kind of joy — just looking at paintings. When I came back, I studied art in Toronto, and I’ve been painting ever since.

“My wife and I went to Guatemala in 2019 for three months to volunteer teaching art to [Mayan] children. It was my third time to Guatemala, so I have quite an attachment to the country. Just hanging around those kids for three months made our hearts grow larger. You learn that the people with the least are the most generous. Guatemala is a poor country and they lived in homes with dirt floors, corn stalk walls, no running water. I also love everything Spanish. The Spanish language sounds like music to my ears, and I’ve been studying Spanish through the pandemic with my [Guatemalan] teacher on Zoom. It’s a case of me helping them, and them helping me at the same time with my Spanish.

“Although I studied colour in art school, there’s a certain logic and science to using colour [that] goes beyond science. The way that they use colour in Guatemala in their weavings, and buildings, you wouldn’t think those colours would work together, but somehow they do. In the sun, those colours sing.

“You always meet people along the road, and they almost seem like they’re just messengers you meet. Even people in Gastown may tell me a nugget of wisdom. I think they showed up for a reason. They might not buy something, they may just be a spirit. I think even learning from the kids in Guatemala — kids are present, they live in the moment, and we tend to think about the past and the future, when really all we have are our daily lives.”

You can view more of Sam’s art on his website, samlogan.art.