Alexander's mother and grandmother were painters and his mother, by chance, befriended the niece of
Emily Carr's friend Ira Dilworth, bringing the painter and her influence into Alexander's world at an early date. He began painting seriously in 1966 in Steveston High School due to the encouragement of a tough but sympathetic art teacher, Mrs Stavrakoff. He attended the Vancouver School of Art and Design (today's
Emily Carr University of Art and Design),
Langara College (1967–1970), and
Vancouver Community College (1971–1972), then attended art school in
Nelson, British Columbia, at the Kootenay School of the Arts (then affiliated with the now defunct Notre Dame University) for a
Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA), graduating in 1978. In 1979, Alexander attended one of the
Emma Lake Artists' Workshops with
Friedel Dzubas and
John Elderfield, and, because of the positive experience he had in the workshop, moved to
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, in 1980. He continued to attend artists' workshops at
Emma Lake, such as those given by Tim Scott (1984), and Maryann Harmon (1985). In 1985, he received a
Master of Fine Arts (MFA) from the
University of Saskatchewan and completed the thesis component of his degree on the work of
Claude Monet. (Critics would later link his work to that of Monet and in his later painting, Alexander would sometimes use subjects that are related to Monet, especially to Monet's late work.) In 2003, he and his family moved to the
Okanagan Valley, British Columbia, near
Kelowna, British Columbia where he has his home and studio. Alexander was featured in an episode of the Gemini Award-winning television series
Landscape As Muse (2008). His work is discussed by critics along with
John Hartman, and other artists pursuing the landscape tradition in Canadian art. == Work ==