Tim Packer was born in Toronto Ontario in 1961 He studied commercial art while in high school and graphic design at George Brown College While pursuing a successful career as a detective with the Toronto Police Service Tim continued to paint in his spare time In 2000 he made the decision to leave policing and to devote himself to painting fulltimeAn obsession with the principles of design and an affinity for Canadian motifs has led to an inevitable comparison to the works of the Group of Seven It should come as no surprise that his art has already caught the eye of the McMichael Canadian Collection home of the largest public collection of the Groups work He has been invited to participate in the gallerys artist in residence program several timesTim is an active instructor teaching painting workshops for various groups across the country He is one of the founding artists of Art Academy Live a revolutionary new concept offering downloadable art instruction on the Internet which has been featured in a number of publications including The Artists Magazine and Watercolour Magic