Silver Bridge Gallery is pleased to have recently introduced Travis Shilling’s work to Muskoka.

Operating from his base in Rama, Travis inherited a strong aesthetic legacy from his father, Arthur, a painter whose figurative works are still recognizable for their singularly bold use of form and color.

The artistic environment Arthur Shilling provided his son has proven to be a source of unending creativity for Travis. “This was probably my first art school,” he says of the studio his father built and in which he himself now paints.

Although he spent brief periods of time at both the Toronto and Dundas Valley schools of art, Travis is basically self-taught; at only 28, he has been showing his work professionally for 10 years. His portraits and

Sky
60" x 60", oil

landscapes are deep studies that reflect his connection to, and compassion for, his sitters. He has an immediacy of application that is reminiscent of his father’s painting style.

Lately, his facility with form firmly established, Travis has been experimenting more with backgrounds. As a seasoned painter, he says he is “motivated by different things” than he was when he was younger and experimenting more.

“Now,” he says, “I’m reacting to myself.”