Several years ago I took a month-long artist's retreat deep in the woods of British Columbia, living in a tent on a mountainside with no electricity or running water. I intended to focus on photography, which had been a passion of mine for at least a decade, but when my camera broke on the first day there, I purchased some paints and started painting in earnest.

Initially, I worked exclusively with a palette knife and acrylics on found wood, and while I still prefer wood surfaces and knives, I now primarily paint with oil. Simply put, I stand in front of a blank panel aside a table of colors and all I want to do is create something beautiful…

And when I am not painting, I am a high school math teacher.

A gallery of my paintings can be viewed at http://www.flickr.com/photos/pbusso.