Francis Joseph Dvorak is an artist, art restorer and teacher. He studied philosophy at the University of Toronto, and painting in the atelier of Michael John Angel in Florence, Italy. He painted many commissioned murals and portraits, including the portrait of Cardinal Ambrozic, and Archbishop Spence of Kingston, Ontario. During the Year of the Family, his oil-tempera painting of the “Holy Family” was exhibited at the Royal Ontario Museum. Currently represented by John A. Libby Fine Art, Toronto, Francis is also the resident art restorer at Old Master Gallery, Toronto, and teaches painting at The Freehand School of Art, Toronto. Fascinated with the wilderness of the Canadian Shield, Francis loves to spend time at his woodland studio in North Kawartha, Ontario, painting plain air landscapes and studying nature. The painting of the girl walking the dog at the beach is titled “January Thaw, Bluffer’s Park, Lake Ontario.”