. . He's a charming cliché and knows it, in that Milé began painting early in life -more than 20 years ago now- and chose watercolour for his favourite medium as a way of defying a teacher who said it would prove too challenging. He found inspiration in greats Jon J. Muth, Bill Sienkiewicz, John Singer Sargent, and his next and most influential art teacher, watercolourist Anthony J. Batten. What began with figurative pieces, which has remained a life-long love, has coloured over the lines into lush oils and sparse ink of varied subject matter. Whatever the content, a theme runs through Milé's body of work: the exploration of light and dark. Very literally, his paintings convey emotional energy through the precise and careful rendering of light. He's captured the beauty of soft shadows, of glowing reflections, of the way morning sun hits a bird feather or moonlight is absorbed into brick. But no study of light is complete without investigating the unlit - and it's there where Milé departs from the literal. His most recent endeavor, a comic book series titled Weak Species, addresses the darker side of human habits and fears in elemental black and white. Milé's held numerous solo and group exhibitions in galleries ranging from Toronto's Outdoor Art Exhibition to the Cedar Ridge Gallery, and was part of the Canadian Society of Painters in Watercolour's 2009 "Open Water" juried exhibition. He also finds joy in his commercial practice, creating architectural renderings, theatre posters and advertising illustrations. And when he's not drawing or painting, you may find Milé teaching a class in stilt-walking.

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