Something's Coming... It's hard to believe that this website is coming up on six years old. I felt like a total imposter when I first set it up, and a charlatan when I set up my Facebook page. I struggled to get one hundred people to even like the page. I was still finding my proverbial voice, and hadn't yet moved into my current style of realism mixed with hints of impressionism. Two years later, I started offering in person paint classes out of the studio I was renting at 176 Lakeshore Drive in North Bay. My little Facebook page started to gain steam, growing to 500 followers, then over 1,000. I was running a paint class almost every other...
Welcome, autumn... We had a frost warning in North Bay last night. Despite the name "North Bay" giving us a bad rap of being frigid year round, even though we are just a smidgen further north than Ottawa, this was definitely out of character. While I was slightly concerned for the wellbeing of my tomato plants, I was more excited about the arrival of autumn. I don't fare that well in summer heat. Give me crisp, spice-scented fall air any day. I love everything about it, including those grey fall days that just bring out the intense colours of the trees. Pass the hot cider and pumpkin pie, I am ready for autumn's bounty. This past week, I've been focused...
On Wednesday, my latest painting, Helianthus, will be picked up by the buyers. To say I'm excited is an understatement; while I love creating new pieces, I'm never keen to hang onto them. I'd prefer that they head on their merry way out the door, so I can continue to create new work. But to say I'm floored by the reaction to Helianthus would also be an understatement. It has been so fun to share the behind the scenes process of creating this painting with followers from my Facebook and Instagram pages (don't forget to follow me there, if you aren't already...). Now that the painting is complete, I figured I'd share the process with you from start to finish, to...
Happy July, Friends! Welcome to my studio... I hope that all of you are continuing to adjust to the new normal as best you can. My kids have been back at daycare for just over a month now, and I'm hoping that this will be my final week of working on my sunflowers (please oh please). I am incredibly proud of this piece; by the time it's finished, I suspect that well over 100 hours will have been poured into its creation. As such, I am quite anxious to see it finally leave my easel and leave for its forever home. When that happens, I'm going to be taking a week off to putter around my house and my other...
My Backstory It's been four years since I first opened my little art studio in the former Tweedsmuir Public School in North Bay Ontario, now 176 Lakeshore Coworking. At the time, the school was under construction as it was slowly being converted to office spaces, so my rent was a pittance due to all the work being done. Even though I felt completely unqualified to be offering art lessons and paint nights, with the encouragement of my friends, I decided to test the waters and see what would happen if I opened my studio doors to the public. Before the studio, I had been painting on my guest bedroom floor, in a little two bedroom basement apartment that I was...
