Biography and Vision

Throughout my life, art has been my one enduring passion and driving force.  I excelled in art school as a teenager and subsequently had a successful career earning a living as a commercial artist in newspapers and magazines.  I have since continued my life’s path and personal self actualization by transitioning to fine art painting in oils.

I have spent most of my career working in watercolours with pen and ink for camera ready artwork to be printed in daily newspapers.  Alongside my job, I started to pick up my brush and oil paints to venture outside to enjoy Plein Air with my fellow colleague, Frank Edwards.  We headed to Algonquin Park to paint in one of Ontario’s finest locations with an abundance of subject matter.  We even attended workshops by Poul Thrane.  Poul found me one day sitting in the woods working away.  He told me that my commercial art background would always help me along my journey as a painter because I was accustomed to “getting the job done no matter what obstacles fell in my way.” 

I have continued to paint in oils after retiring as it is a study that will take me years to understand.  I still paint with my dear friend Frank Edwards and continue to learn how to loosen up my grip on my paint brush. 

Mixing oil colours together is a magical experience that I’m grateful to have the time for.  My goal is to become unaware of the technical process needed and more instinctive in my brushwork.  Letting go of my command of technique to let my vision surface.  I want to capture in oils, the light and shadow that defines everything we see - just in case the viewer may have missed a profound moment in an ordinary day. 

I am a representational painter and I have lived in Ontario for my entire life.   The subject matter I choose to paint is what inspires me the most - images that catch my eye and must be recorded.  These are Images not only of current daily life but also history - as it truly is a time honoured tradition for the artist to record history.  

My subject matter varies.  I paint farms and fields long abandoned to history and images that harken back to a simpler time such as gardens with century old homes nestled into landscapes like they’ve grown together.

I also garden with my husband and I have painted him tending to his tomatoes.  And, I paint flowers I’ve planted because their beauty can lighten the heart of any soul. 

All around us is history.  And today’s current life will surely become tomorrow’s history.   Our environment is rapidly changing and my ambition is to capture the quintessential Canadian history, environment and way of life – especially the Canadian small town before sub-divisions and urban sprawl block our view and eliminate these treasured historical images.