I have noticed myself lately, explaining to people that I am not only a painter but an illustrator as well. Well, I will be creating more sketches than I have been and exploring those techniques. Here is my first, this pencil sketch was so much fun to do. The foremost concept for me, working on this drawing is not just the drawing itself, but the composition and my strong belief in contra. I also plan on experimenting with sketching with coloured pencils as well. 

For the next few weeks, I am working on  some paintings that are going in to the Thorndale Fair. I have an acrylic painting of flower pots in a row and a pencil sketch. I will be posting up my work as they are ready. 

I am also excited to be able to join the Gallery Painting Group this Sept. 20 doing plein art painting on Blackfriars St. In London. Painting will start at about 9am and by 3pm or so, all paintings will be displayed and hopefully there will be some that will sell.  It has been about 10 years since I did plein air painting (painting outside) and I am really looking forward to it! 

"Cali" 16" x 20" acrylic on stretched canvas. Sold

I popped into Mercury Arts and Crafts store today in London because they are closing in another month and have lots of deals. I went to buy acid free paper to do pencil illustrations ( to show that I can do illustrations) and also came out with some watercolour paper. In the next few weeks, I will be using these items to show that I can do more than acrylics and oils.

Here is one of my earliest paintings. You might recognize it from my business cards and other promotional materials that I have put together in the past. I was commissioned by the Thorndale Library to create a painting to go over their gas fireplace hearth in the then newly renovated location. This image is 3' x 3' on stretched canvas. I wanted to represent images that I felt were part of the rural community. I focused on plant and flowers. The bottom right is an image of a strawberry flower in homage to Heeman's Strawberries whose family is based in Thorndale. It now is in my private collection, in my living room and is not for sale. There are a few pieces that my husband will not part with and this is one of them!

For being so busy this year travelling, I am very proud with the paintings below!

I ended up being part of the Lambeth Art Gallery Summer Sizzler juried show and sale. I also had 2  paintings at the Westland Gallery Square Foot Show and the most recently, I participated at the Mantis Arts and Eco Festival in Byron. I was able to not only show my work at the Mantis Festival but also paint on location, which is something I love to do. 

This year was an amazing year for travelling for myself and my family. At the end of April I joined my husband on a week stay in Vegas. I saw the most amazing art gallery and works by Vladimir Kush (http://vladimirkush.com/gallery-las-vegas-nv). I was in his gallery 4 times throughout the week. I was so impressed by the quality of his art and to emulate it into my own works. 

In May, my husband and I went to Spain for a week and spent 3 days in Madrid and 4 days in Barcelona!! This was another sensory overload with the old architecture and art galleries. 

Our final trip ( for a long while) was a 3 week trip to Europe. The first 2 weeks we were in Holland and the last week we were in Rome with a daytrip to Sorrento and the Amalfie coast. I have so many photo references to use as future paintings. 

Now, I am ready to stick close to home and work on my paintings!

I was introduced to Kathy Smith who is one of the founders of the London Creative Age Festival which celebrates artists and art for people 50+. Knowing that I was going to be involved in painting for the rest of my life (I am currently only 48 years old). I told myself that as a forward thinker, this was a very self serving project for the years ahead.  I, Kathy and another artist showed our work at the downtown London Library, next to the Wolfe Preformance Hall on May 23rd and 24th. On the sunday, I was able to join other artists at the Idlewyld 

I was very honoured to be asked to be an artist/speaker at The Circle, at Westland Gallery this past March. I was asked to talk about my art and how I have come to my style of work and what it took to get there. I have to admit that I got so much out of this exercise, not only doing public speaking again (I taught for 10 years) but to open up my heart and share some fairly raw anecdotes.  

My art uses very bright colours and the reason I have. is that I found painting with such colours helped me get through the grey days of winter. My art really helps me keep positive and push the depression aside. I am a very happy and positive person naturally and this has been my lifelilne to staying that way. 

As of this past January, I have been fortunate to be able to focus on my art full time. I have been painting and showing my work for over 13 years and have learned as to what I enjoy to paint, what style and what colours to use. As an illustrator, I can paint anything and have done so. From people to pets, still life, landscapes, architecture and anything else that has caught my attention. 

This blog is to chronicle my growth as an artist and let others know of my process and progress. I have found that I have a love of the colours pthalo blue and green mixed with warm colours. You can get an idea of these colours by my paintings that are at the header of this blog.

I welcome all comments, I am a graduate of BealArt in London and Fanshawe Design, collectively, having 5 years of post secondary art/design training. I am also a technical person knowing computer software very well. 

I hope you enjoy this venture with me. To start off, I am going to explain the art pieces that I have made since this past January. Thank you to everyone who has been so supportive of my work.