Donald Besco trained during the 1950’s at Central Technical School in Toronto, under the guidance of renowned artists Dorothy McCarthy and Charles Goldhammer.
Besco worked for twenty-five years as an illustrator for advertising agencies and publishers, during which time he created many covers for Harlequin books, McClelland Stewart and McLean Hunter. He also illustrated articles for the Globe and Mail and the Toronto Star.
In 1990, he retired from illustration to concentrate full time on his painting. For the first few years he appeared in many juried art shows at Nathan Phillips Square and at the National Ballet show at the Hummingbird Centre. In the last few years he has been represented by galleries in Toronto, Montreal and Oakville.
Besco’s passion for traveling has lead to many sketches and paintings of places visited, although his main body of work is inspired by the old areas of Toronto - Kensington Market, old downtown churches, the Gooderham and Worts building and Toronto’s back alleys.
His works are in personal and corporate collections in Canada, the United States, England, Germany and Japan.
