Between his travels from the University of Toronto to his studio at Bathurst and King streets and his home in Parkdale, artist Martin Golland sees art all around him.

“My route becomes important to me,” Golland said. “Where I start out from, where I end up and what I see along the way.”

Even in a strange backyard structure in Parkdale, Martin Golland sees reflections of his art.

"Someone had stretched some kind of orange tarp over this temporary makeshift structure they had made to provide some shade," Golland said. "It was quite something because it was something that would approximate what this image is."

The image is a painting titled Prism Burn, a draped wooden structure that is hobbled together. The painting has been short listed for the annual Royal Bank of Canada, Canadian Painting Competition.

Golland's work often depicts overlooked, improvised structures.

"My work has a lot of elements coming together that don't necessarily relate at first," he said. "I guess you could say it is similar to the way a neighbourhood is formed," Golland continued. "You have lots of different backgrounds coming together in one small place."

Walking the streets of his Parkdale neighbourhood, Golland said he sees a range of people and experience. As a visual artist, he said that range is important because his environment is a constant source of influence.

"The city really affects my work," he said. "I would say that my work is a response to city life."

He explained that art is made on a series of hunches and good guesses. For him the process has always been more exploratory and involves being on your toes at all times and responding to the work.

"Even though my work has a base in my experiences, especially day-to-day experiences, my work has to do with other worldliness and not with excepted notions of reality," he said. "So I am providing an alternative."

Golland, 32, lived most of his childhood in Istanbul, Turkey. He has a masters in fine arts from the University Guelph and has been living in Parkdale since 2006.

"I like my neighbourhood. I think when you are not used to it, when you first move here, you don't know what to expect but it has grown on me." Golland said. "I find it an exciting place and it really is representative of the City of Toronto."

Established in 1999, the Canadian Painting Competition is the largest painting contest of its kind in Canada. Golland, who was a finalist for the competition in 2006, is one of 15 semifinalists and one of five representing central Canada. Last year there were more than 1,600 entries.

"It is kind of a barometer of how painting is alive and well in Canada," Golland said.

The competition is meant to support and nurture visual artists early in their careers. The competition will award one national prize of $25,000 and honourable mention prizes of $15,000. Exclusive to the occasion of its 10th anniversary, the 12 remaining semifinalists will each receive a prize of $7,500.

Winners will be announced in the fall.