Neil Hamelin, Artist

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Canadian artist Neil Hamelin finds his inspiration telling stories of our heritage through the weathered wood and flaking paint that stand vestige to our past. His oil paintings capture the feeling of forgotten stories and adventures told through the people, the homesteads and the land long dis-
remembered.
A life altering injury led to Hamelin picking up a paint brush for the first time in 2010 in an attempt to find an outlet for the creativity he felt locked away. As a self-taught artist, he challenges himself to capture in oil paint the stories and subjects that have been lost to our past. Creating from his own experiences requires the artist to spend time travelling our backroads and ghost towns, seeking stories to be painted. A lifetime’s interest with our Canadian history has inspired Hamelin and the paintings he creates. From tales of his Metis grandparents struggles to create a way of life on the prairies to the earliest recorded stories of adventure and travels across Canada, Hamelin looks to the past to inspire his work and bring those stories along into the future. Living rurally on the Canadian Prairies with his wife Cheri, and menagerie of animals at their side, their days outside the studio are spent with a direct contact to this history. Cheri works for a traditional carriage and wheelwright shop in Alberta as a teamster, and they spend their time together caring for and working with draft horses, employing traditional farming techniques and equipment throughout the year. They also spend time in the summers travelling the Rocky Mountains near Calgary Alberta by horse and wagon. Hamelin has the incredible opportunity to live along the subjects and lifestyle he records in his work allowing him the ability to capture the moments with honesty and personal experience.
An established portrait artist, Hamelin has received National recognition for his artwork released through the Royal Canadian Mint and has created multiple portraits of Queen Elizabeth II among other subjects, that have been featured on Canadian coins. Hamelin was awarded ‘Best of Show’ for 2-D Art at the 2016
Western Showcase at the Calgary Stampede and from 2017, to 2023 Hamelin has been selected to participate in the prestigious CM Russell Auction in Great Falls, Montana. His paintings are found in the homes of private collectors and corporations internationally.

                                                                                                       Neil Hamelin, Fine Art Painting, Realism