Artist Statement: The first impression that anyone has about my work, the first comment they generally make, is the focus on colour.
My inspiration is nature, the bright colours, the shapes, the contrasts between natural design and the structures with which we surround ourselves. As a gardener, my love of flowers, colours, trees and landscapes, occupies much of my time in my studio. The backgrounds of totem poles, with the richness that nature gives to fresh living things, takes my love of nature further afield into the remote corners of the West Coast. I am fascinated by water, reflections, the gentle ripples of small waves and how they are reflected. But my backyard gives me much of the inspiration I need.
I have lived on both coasts, in Halifax and Vancouver. I went to university in Windsor, next to the St. Clair River. Water, its movement and constant change are part of many of my pieces. And what I have already painted will have changed by the time I see the same place again and I will inspired once more.
As a realist, I love the details of plants, water, and the shapes that surround them. And I find that no one does colour quite like Mother Nature.
I have taken some lessons in Halifax, and in Toronto but I am largely self-taught. I am a Virgo and have a natural love of detail, order and structure. I have experimented with impressionism but I always seem to gravitate back to giving the viewer a keen sense of the both shape and the colour of my subjects.
