After spending several hours painting, and hundreds of dollars on supplies, Serge Dub茅 feels no remorse in destroying his own artwork. As an artist who produces 300 to 400 paintings a year, cutting up a few is just quality control, he said.

鈥淭here鈥檚 been a lot of paint that鈥檚 gone down the drain,鈥� Dub茅 said.

鈥淭en, fifteen thousand dollars in materials because it didn鈥檛 work. And I can鈥檛 do anything about it except try again, so it鈥檚 taken me a while to master this technique.鈥�

But all that wasted paint has been money well spent in that Dub茅 has developed a style very different from most artists.

He doesn鈥檛 use any brushes, for one, and also prefers to dump an entire container of acrylic paint onto the canvas 鈥� to get the brightest, strongest pigment possible 鈥� than use just a few dabs.

He calls it a 鈥渉appy accident鈥� that happened about 10 years ago while he was experimenting with new ways to use paint.

鈥淭his is not abstract, it is very impressionistic,鈥� Dub茅 said. 鈥淚 can control the dripping and the fluidity of the paint more easily.

鈥淭here are two special formulas that I put into my work, and if I push the formula to one side then I get a lot more movement in the paint, or I can keep it really sticky and really thick. 鈥淓very painting here, to get this colour impact, I would need to go 10, 15, 20 times over with a brush. But when I pour the paint, it鈥檚 like pouring 35 per cent cream onto the table. You know how thick it is? That鈥檚 the same thing. When it dries and all settles it gives it that powerful palette.鈥�

Dub茅 estimates that he spends close to $7,000 a year on paint, which has translated into more than 11,000 pieces sold over the last 30 years.

鈥淚 never run out of ideas,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 have the white page syndrome. I don鈥檛 have to think twice about what I鈥檓 doing. I do something and then figure out after what it means. I just go and then let the public figure it out.

鈥淭hat鈥檚 why I do a lot of quality control. There鈥檚 some pieces in there that are at the end of their life expectancy, they haven鈥檛 grabbed anyone, so I鈥檒l either destroy them or keep them as a souvenir.鈥�

Prior to developing his impressionistic acrylic technique, Dub茅 did all types of work 鈥� spray paint on plexiglass, watercolours, oil, surrealism.

鈥淎nything to make a living,鈥� he said.

Dub茅 first moved to Vancouver from Montreal in his early 20s with $35 in his pocket. A friend found him a job in Vancouver as a postman, but a visit to an art studio in White Rock quickly changed all of that.

鈥淭here was a call for me with the art, I quit my job, and I became an artist,鈥� he said.

He has had many studios over the years, and has largely been based out of White Rock, until a recent move to Salt Lane in downtown 91原创 last April.

Art lovers who are planning to take the annual 91原创 Art Studio Tour this year will be able to watch Dub茅 at work in his 鈥極xford Street Studio,鈥� named for the small building he formerly occupied in White Rock.

No matter where Dub茅 is situated, his paintings always finds  their owners, he said.

In one case, someone asked him for a painting he had done 10 years earlier and, remarkably, he still had it in storage.

鈥淚鈥檓 just the gatekeeper here,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 keep my paintings until they go away to their owners. A lot of different paintings mean different things to different people.鈥�

But don鈥檛 expect him to create the same thing twice.

鈥淓ach painting is a moment,鈥� he said. 鈥淭here鈥檚 always a few where I鈥檓 like 鈥榟ow did I do that?鈥� I try to get back into the mood and try to redo them, but it鈥檚 difficult.鈥�

One of the most memorable paintings Dub茅 ever did was a commissioned piece for a couple in Calgary. Their 19-year-old son had recently passed away and they wanted a piece of artwork to commemorate his life.

鈥淲hen I delivered the painting to them, the emotion from the mom, from everyone, you become a part of that,鈥� said Dub茅.