I'm a painter, writer, and songwriter working out of Hamilton, Ontario.

underlying everything I do is the hope to create, communicate, and compassionate (yes, it was once a verb!). I notice the beauty in the everyday, even the brokenness. I sit with it then make something of it. Put it into words, into paint, into song, and offer it back.

In artistic endeavors, like in pastoring, I want to help people slow down long enough to notice grace, and to ask where their hope comes from.

I paint moments of beauty and grace in the everyday. I try to slow down enough to notice. I'm drawn to old, worn things, the beauty in the brokenness, and the renewal it sparks. Each piece follows the same process: I notice, I meditate, and I create or cultivate something of that beauty. I'm guided by the words of Isaiah 61 and long to participate in the restoration of which it speaks, "beauty for ashes." My hope is that the work helps others slow down long enough to notice, to celebrate, and to ask: where does my hope come from?

That same question runs through what I write and record. It shaped The Nine Lives of Ross Fordham, staged at Theatre Aquarius, and it's in the music I write and record. Painting, writing, and songwriting aren't separate practices for me. They are the same act of noticing, meditating, and making, in different materials.

This September, that instinct comes full circle in Beauty From Ashes, a solo show opening on the anniversary of the house fire that reshaped my home and my work. More than just a phrase, it is a lived reality.