John Ballantyne (1944 -), Canadian, pencil drawing entitled To The Belfry, signed lower right side, also with original gallery label on back, set in modern silver frame with matting. John Ballantyne was born in Montreal and studied under Alfred Pinsky and Arthur Lismer when younger. After studying civil engineering he decided to pursue painting and in 1968 joined the New School of Art in Toronto. He then travelled to France and worked at the Centre Artistique de Rencontres Internationales (part of the Ecole Nationale d’art Decoratif de Nice), late in 1970 he took up studio space in Cagnes (near Nice). His art evolved from coloured, to photo realism to a softer realism called hyper-surrealism. He return to Canada and currently paints in Quebec.