R.F.M. McInnis, Cows and Little Ones (detail), 1996. From the University of Lethbridge Art Collection. Gift of Jim Coutts, 2010.

Robert Francis Michael McInnis was born in 1942 in Saint John, N.B., where he received a diploma in fine and applied arts in 1961. In his early career, McInnis worked as a newspaper reporter and photographer, and served as a Royal Canadian Air Force photographer from 1962 to 1966.

R.F.M. McInnis, Red Barn and Clouds, 1998. From the University of Lethbridge Art Collection. Gift of Jim Coutts, 2010.

Before moving to Toronto to devote his life to painting at the age of 30, McInnis held the position of Art Department Head at the Prince George College in British Columbia. In the years since his decision to focus on painting, McInnis has roamed east and west, living in Canada's urban centres and homesteading on the Albertan prairies.

R.F.M. McInnis, The Hill, 1994. From the University of Lethbridge Art Collection. Gift of Jim Coutts, 2010.

He is known for his landscape paintings depicting the rolling hills and grain elevators of rural Alberta, but has also completed a large body of work featuring the figure as his subject.

RFM McInnis continues to paint at his current home in Winnipeg.