Samir was born in Baalbek, Lebanon. He pursued his formal education in Beirut, first graduating in Political Science before taking up studies at the Institute of Fine Arts. Since his arrival in Canada in 1975, he has been actively involved in the arts scene. His numerous exhibitions and his memberships in art associations have earned him a place on the National Gallery of Canada list of recognized active Canadian artists.
Samir loves to paint. He is an industrious sort who spends five to six days a week, many times into the early morning in his studio creating new images. Samir has had many choices in life, having received a degree in Political Science as well as his formal training in Fine Arts. It was painting however that drew him in and wouldn’t let go; it became a passion for him.
Samir has embraced painting in an all encompassing manner. As always, he continues to educate himself not only through the evolution of years of trial and error in painting but also through extensive reading on the great painters of the past. In fact Samir has a collection of art books exceeding one thousand books.
Samir is essentially a landscape painter and works primarily in oils. However, his work in watercolour and pastels reveal transparency and light qualities that are unique.
Canada’s four seasons created quite an impression on Samir; his forages in Ottawa area glens and forests have supplied him with a wide variety of subject matter. Living in the Ottawa region he had been enlightened by the pastural landscapes of the Ottawa Valley and the forested hills and valleys of Southwestern Quebec. Often you will see a distant farmhouse in a painting of a “valley ladscape” or a warm and inviting country home in a rural Quebec landscape, all painted in a classic impressionistic style using rich and heavily textured oil paints. His powerful renditions are done in brilliant colours, using sharp contrasts and built up by impasto technique.
