In person he looks and sounds nothing like you thought a painter should. He is physical person, built thick and powerful, with hands that could grip a miner’s sledge as easily as he wields the daintiest of brushes. His maniac energy is of a man decades younger than his 73 years.  And he is talker; he offers his opinion as freely as his smile; and he is honest in both. He is kind but candid, a man born in an age when political correctness meant appreciating the right to vote rather than obeying the pressure to be silent.

Since he started teaching others his renowned techniques in 1971, more than 11,000 people have attended his watercolour workshops, demonstrations and foreign tours, and each year more student add themselves to the list. His passion is infectious and invigorating.

Reid’s career spans six decades and the honours have been many. Today his paintings endure in the collection of major corporations, ordinary Canadians and the Queen of England’s own at Windsor Castle. In 1992, he was awarded the Commemorative Medal by the federal Government for his contribution to Canadian Art and Honoured to be Arts Person of the Year in his hometown of Brampton.

But Reid hasn’t always supported his eating habit by watercolour painting. He worked as a graphic artist until 1970, and only then did he venture into the world of  “Pure Art” full-time, with little security and no formal training. What he knows, he taught himself; what he paints is what he feels.

Reid lives with Maggie, his wife and friend of 32 years, in a rambling country bungalow near Brampton, Ontario, amidst the rolling fields that hug the Credit River. His home holds his studio; his work is his play.

His love of the art of watercolour is total.

“There’s a tremendous attraction that the transparency of watercolour holds for me”, he says. “The things I want to paint have to do with water-snow, rain, fog and reflections. I’m fascinated by their translucent nature. And what do I paint them with? A water-soluble pigment! It’s profoundly appropriate.”

Despite the success he’s achieved, Reid says his search is far from over, and the greatest joy he gets from his work is in the people he meets through it. The patron who hangs Reid’s work in his home and the weekend painter who shares his humour and enthusiasm over the magic of watercolour-these people contribute to the ongoing process that is Reid’s life as a painter.

“I didn’t get this far without help from a lot of people,” he says, “and I thank them all”.