I grew up and still reside in the valley town of Dundas Ontario. Dundas was a charming place to grow up with the escarpment and large expanses of wilderness parkland. I developed a love of the outdoors at a very young age and as a Scout Leader and avid canoe tripper I continue to cherish time spent outside exploring new places or revisiting old.
I took art classes when all my school friends were learning to play musical instruments. I had very creative friends in Dundas and my grade seven and eight art teacher suggested that I think about a career in art. I chose another path and only returned to art in the early nineties. I registered for a Dundas Valley School of Art portraits' class and felt reborn. I have taken the portraits' class numerous times since and have added landscape painting workshops at the Buckhorn School of Fine Art (now closed) and landscape classes at the Dundas Valley School of Art.
I have a passion for watercolour because it is so in tune with nature. I can attempt to control it but, like the natural elements, it has a will of its own. As on a canoe trip, I always start with a plan but I never know what I will find at the end of my travels. Sometimes it comes easy for me and at other times it is a struggle. Sometimes I end up at an uninspiring place and at others there is a glorious finish but always the trip is worth it. I am never completely happy with the finished product and am constantly striving to do better.
Until recently I have done all my painting in my Dundas studio but an outdoor landscape class changed all that. Once introduced to painting "en plein air", I became hooked. There is much more emotion in my outdoor paintings. I can now combine my love of the outdoors with my love of painting. I have found what is, for me, the perfect studio. I am at peace in the wilds and, I believe, that quiet spirituality shows in my landscapes.
I took art classes when all my school friends were learning to play musical instruments. I had very creative friends in Dundas and my grade seven and eight art teacher suggested that I think about a career in art. I chose another path and only returned to art in the early nineties. I registered for a Dundas Valley School of Art portraits' class and felt reborn. I have taken the portraits' class numerous times since and have added landscape painting workshops at the Buckhorn School of Fine Art (now closed) and landscape classes at the Dundas Valley School of Art.
I have a passion for watercolour because it is so in tune with nature. I can attempt to control it but, like the natural elements, it has a will of its own. As on a canoe trip, I always start with a plan but I never know what I will find at the end of my travels. Sometimes it comes easy for me and at other times it is a struggle. Sometimes I end up at an uninspiring place and at others there is a glorious finish but always the trip is worth it. I am never completely happy with the finished product and am constantly striving to do better.
Until recently I have done all my painting in my Dundas studio but an outdoor landscape class changed all that. Once introduced to painting "en plein air", I became hooked. There is much more emotion in my outdoor paintings. I can now combine my love of the outdoors with my love of painting. I have found what is, for me, the perfect studio. I am at peace in the wilds and, I believe, that quiet spirituality shows in my landscapes.