Flamboyant Mimico artist Fernando Ferreira enjoys life and is on a mission to bring art into the world of hard-hit seniors.

Ferreira on August 28 held an outdoor showing of some 300 mostly-abstract works of art that he has created to brighten up long term care homes across the province.

The retired 30-year TTC driver has another 700 pieces to go, which he hopes to complete by next June.

Each piece, and they are all painted on two feet square boards, is original and contains a heart and love. They come in bright, upbeat colours that helps people celebrate.

“I will be painting 1001 pieces for 721 long term care homes in Ontario,” Ferreira says. “Every long care home will have one.”

He is recruiting politicians as Conservative MPP Christine Hogarth and others to help him get his art to the homes.

About a dozen neighbours and fans of the artist from his Mimico Estates apartment attended the lakefront showing with the CN Tower in the background.

Ferreira shows an area of the backyard under a tree that serves as his studio where he gets the inspiration for his artwork.

“I paint about two a day or 60 a month when I am working,” he says. “I have had donations and help for materials from some of the tenants.”

He spends most of his own money for the artwork.

His neighbour Audrey Yates says people love the artwork.

“His style is so simple and upbeat,” Yates says. “Every painting has a heart and they contain so much love.”

Ferreira, who is from the Azores, loves painting and artwork. His father was a noted paint chemist and at home “is where I learned to mix paints.”

In the 1960s when he first arrived in Canada he sold similar paintings to people in Toronto’s upscale Yorkville area and was able to save $5,000 in three years to make a deposit on a house.

He has been living in Mimico for about 17 years and moved here for the lake, fresh air and beautiful trip by TTC to downtown Toronto.

Ferreira can be reached for artwork or donations at 647-855-0721.