about me 

art education highlights 

. Emily Carr University of Art & Design- Advanced
  Painting Certificate Program 2012- 2015 
. Robert & Sara Genn  workshop 
. Mike Svob workshop 
. Liz Wiltzen workshop 
​. Le Mistral Painting Adventures  
                        
memberships/affiliations

 . Canadian Federation of Artists [ Associate member]
 . Artists of Canada
 . Southern Gulf Islands Arts Council 
 . Ptarmigan Art Gallery Pender Island
 . North Shore Artists Guild [ 2013-2017]
 . Friends of the Seymour Art Gallery , Deep Cove [ to 2019]
 . Vancouver Art Gallery 

milestones
 
​2021
Awarded  Signature  status , Federation of Canadian Artists [ AFCA] 
2019
 Opened robin's nest studio & gallery  , Pender Island
2018 
 Artist Residency, San Miguel de Allende, Mexico
2017

 Exhibitions

Ferry Building Gallery - OH CANADA
. In celebration of Canada's 150th birthday
. June 27 - July 16
. Opening reception June 27 : 6 - 8 pm  
. Ferry Building Gallery, West Vancouver

Federation of Canadian Artists - O Canada
. ​June 20- July 2
. Granville Island FCA Gallery

International Art Gallery & FCA Gallery - Crossing Boundaries- Beauty of Canada Exhibition
. Awarded 2nd place honours for " back country, west coast"
.International Village Mall & FCA Gallery
​. May 6 - May 22 

Federation of Canadian Artists- Landscapes Exhibition
. April 25 - May 7
-Granville Island FCA Gallery

Federation of Canadian Artists- Abstract Exhibition
. February 27-March 11
.Granville Island FCA Gallery 
​
Federation of Canadian Artists - Canvas Unbound
. February 14- 26  
. Granville Island FCA Gallery 

Seymour Art Gallery - Discovery: Balance Exhibition
.  January 7 to January 28;
.   Reception : January 8 - 2 to 4 pm


2016
. In the studio - New work : Colour Hieroglyphics

2015
. Completion of Advanced Painting Certificate Program ,
  Emily Carr University of Art & Design
 . 365 online Exhibition ; Federation of Canadian Artists,
   juried Nov/Dec
.  Art Party ; Seymour Art Gallery Fundraiser &
    Exhibition:   Oct/Nov 
.  Scenes from Western Canada Exhibition, Federation
    of Canadian Artists; Sept.
    Awarded Honorary Mention for work entitled  
     " When the sun kisses the land"   
.  North Shore Art Crawl, Cat's Cottage, North
    Vancouver;
.   Landscapes Exhibition, Federation of Canadian
    Artists, Granville Island ;
.   Pipe Shop Exhibition , Pipe Shop, City of North
     Vancouver

2014
.  North Shore Art Crawl, Cat's Cottage, North Vancouver 
.  West Vancouver Yacht Club Exhibit,[ juried ], West
    Vancouver;
.  Gamma Garage Exhibition & Sale, Capital Hill,
   Burnaby
2013
.  Britannia Art Gallery Then & Now Exhibition,
    [ juried] , City of  Vancouver
.  CityScape Anonymous Art Show, North Vancouver
2012
.  Brushstrokes Gallery Christmas Exhibition & Sale,
   Lonsdale Quay, North Vancouver 

Prior Lives
. Principal/Partner, Public Practice
​.  Entrepreneur, advisory practice
. Teaching certification, University of Saskatchewan, 
   Saskatoon

Artist Statement

The west coast is a place of raw beauty, spectacular natural energy, vibrating colour and unique diversity. My current series of paintings draws on the connection to this place through what I term " colour hieroglyphics"- stories expressed through the interaction of colour and paint marks [ lines, figures, forms or symbols made as an indication or record of something.]

​I have coined the term " hieroglyphics" to describe the creation and incorporation of symbols, shapes, forms and marks to create a personal language on canvas.

As a student of Joseph Albers experimental colour methods, this latest series explores the interplay and interactions of colour to create unique colour stories to engage the viewer and encourage conversations about colour in a contemporary context. 


my art journey so far 

   In " A book of Luminous Things"  Czeslaw Milosz writes  that " To create art is to capture an epiphany.  Epiphany may mean a privileged moment in our life among the things of this world in which they  suddenly reveal something we have not noticed until now; and that something is like an intimation of their mysterious,  hidden side. " 

 Currently my painting  process is in colour experimentation in the realm of  abstract landscape expressionism . I am focussed on the play  of line energy  and colour relationships   in the landscape and my connection to that  landscape   - land to sky to water to trees.    I am creating  colour ideas  in a sensual context ;   colour  interplay on  a flat surface -  moving into  abstraction from realistic scenes .    For me  , colour interplay  creates   an emotional reaction  and energy   that  expresses  my  own connection and  history with the  Canadian landscape .

Artist 

art influences

My influences are many and diverse.  Of course the painters of  Canadian nature  are foremost among my influences  - the Canadian Group of Seven and particularly Tom Thomson.  Then there is   Cezanne for his  childlike passion and never-ending wish to capture the essence of that very thing he was painting.  Ted Harrison is  an artist that , like me , studied many indigenous cultures and incorporated his love for this diversity in his paintings.  I also learned about colour gradation and colour bounce from studying his work but mostly I hold dear his idea that painting must bring the painter joy .  Like Emily Carr's search for the spiritual , I too search to be able to express that connection between nature and the human spirit and the joy that comes from that connection.  There is  Van Gogh who painted the natural energy of every thing..... and then there are more modern influences like Willem de Kooning whose  energy of line and brushstrokes  are like no  other . There is  Wolf Kahn whose  stories  of the landscape are told  with colour magic.   I recently viewed Jock Macdonald's large colour abstracts at the Vancouver Art Gallery and will be forever changed by the truly transcendent  depth of his colours and spiritual connection to the work.  Edgar Payne, one of the great American landscape painters taught me that every painting should incorporate drama .   So many ......  

in the beginning

I was born a prairie girl.  It stays with you for life no matter how far you travel or how  long you are away.  There is a connection with the open sky and the dark rich earth that runs through your soul. 

Home on the Prairies in our country house- me with my bucket of sandwiches and my brother - off for a picnic

I have lived  a long time away from  the prairies  of  yellow  wheat and blue flax and small towns  and big skies.  I have lived in five of ten provinces in Canada and have travelled to all except  the territories . I love all that Canada is and all it has to offer us if we open ourselves to its  gifts.  

---

The photo above  is of Sally [ Black striped ] and Harry [ orange & white] ; in my studio .... and I did at one time  get cat hairs in all my paintings; they lived with me for  17 years  in Cat's Cottage on the North Shore of Vancouver.....  [ The black bear in the back keeps us company ]....    [ Footnote:  Both of my best art critics   left me in 2014 but their energy is here in this cottage urging me on in the studio and I still feel their love and devotion]

  2016 -A Turning Point  

After completing my Emily Carr Certificate Program  I knew I had to follow  words that echoed in my head from Robert Genn -  go to your room and paint.   In 2016 I devoted my time  to discovering my own style,  and more particularly , what I wanted to say in my painting.  I made decisions  -  to paint on larger canvases; to continue my exploration of colour and to use the natural landscape  as a subject on which to develop a series of work .  My interest lie of colour, shape , line and form through the creation of individual colour stories within each contemporary landscape that I chose to paint.  Certain colours attain superiority. Colours can also deceive.  Every person perceives the truth of colour differently.   I term  these  colour stories  " Colour Hieroglyphics".  

Throughout 2016, I worked in my studio ,  developing my painting process, my style, 
my ideas, my creations. I chose not to share my work or talk much about it as I wanted not to be influenced initially by any outside conveyer of comments.  

It was a productive and satisfying year and now I know how to be reclusive when I need to be  alone in my studio and what a great joy  painting  gives me. 



​ In the Beginning 2010 - 2015

2010
I left the aggravation  of offices and meetings and commuting and began a new journey .I loaded up on art books, absorbed every gallery opening I could make time for , began studio classes, roamed the internet for inspiration  and embraced the creativity of workshops.          
And so it began. 

.
2011
I enrolled at Emily Carr Institute of Art & Design on Granville Island .  Now the real education began with classes like 
 "Understanding Colour- Colour Theory"  with Elizabeth Barnes  and 
" Oil Painting I and II"  with James Lindfeld . 
It is really a thrill to work with creative people of all stripes .  What would our world be without such people to bring us laughter and joy and inspiration and ideas  and a community of sharing  their innermost creative journeys?  
I joined the North Shore Artists Guild [ NSAG] .   

2012 
I attended Robert Genn's presentation at the Harmony Arts Festival in West Vancouver and embraced his " Two Dozen Keys for Painterly Happiness and Success". This was the year of searching out my own style and dreams in painting . I spent time wandering around southern France and absorbing the places of Van Gogh and Picasso to name just two of my favourites.  
I studied the American painters of the late 1800's  and early 1900's; fell humbly in love with deKooning's brushstrokes and studied Turner's light made illuminating with whites and yellows and blues and reds....  I painted my "Transformation" canvas to capture the light of the Prairie sun and my own transformation in becoming an artist. 
I also painted with Alfonso Tejada in his workshop " Painting Out Loud".  I loved his theme of embracing colour ..... one of my themes as well. 
I became a  certificate student  at Emily Carr in the Painting Program and continued classes including
" Basics of Composition & Form"  with Francis Grafton and
" Forms and Concepts in Contemporary Painting" with Elizabeth Barnes 
followed by
" Acrylic Painting II" with Elizabeth Barnes. 
I also experimented with watercolour in " Learn to Paint with Watercolour" with Elizabeth Cox and started to sketch more .  I enjoyed the drawing demonstration with Bill Higginson entitled " Quick on the Draw" also at the Harmony Arts Festival in West Vancouver.

2013 
Paint, paint, paint.......  I'm constantly reminded to go to my studio and create and after I paint 10,000 paintings I might actually learn something .  Van Gogh constantly wrote to his brother about the mistakes in his current painting that he intended to fix in his next painting and so on and so on. 
I enjoy working on 6 x 6 canvas paper to be free with my brushstroke and colour mixing studies.....  I learn a lot from each one and each one reminds me of the joy of discovery. 
I  took more Emily Carr certificate classes this year including  Francis Grafton's " Drawing Fundamentals in Composition and Form and discovered my mark making and brush stroke energy I have been working on for awhile .  This was a really excellent class at Emily Carr.   I also completed  " Composition & Process" with Elizabeth Barnes and then Advanced Colour Theory II , again with a magnificent colourist at Emily Carr- Elizabeth Barnes. [ She complimented me on my colour discords , and thought my work on the subject worthy of a show.....  I'll thank her forever for her ongoing encouragement and support on this journey of mine] . 
In August I travelled to Hollyhock on Cortes Island for the Painting Plein air with Robert and Sara Genn.  This experience  will keep me inspired for many months  and years to come.      [ Additional note:  I am so grateful I made it to Hollyhock  .  Now Robert continues to be with me in spirit and through his  ongoing letters and Sara's online at Painter's keys.   Hiis passion for artists and life and nature are part of my  own artistic  psyche and Sara is  carrying on with weekly letters that continue to bring me inspiration and knowledge].       

Two other firsts this year -  
 Two works hung  and sold  at Brushstrokes Gallery at Lonsdale Quay  and
Two works contributed [ and sold] at the " Then & Now" Art Exhibition at the Britannia Art Gallery on the Drive .  I participated in the Anonymous Show  at Cityscape Gallery in  North Vancouver as well. 

2014

2014 has been   an incredibly busy  year . Sadly, I said good-bye to my two best critics and companions- Harry & Sally - two lost and abandoned kittens that came into my life 17 years ago.  Painting is a quiet business.....  and I was often reminded it was time for lunch or a break or a walk in the garden .  I never needed an alarm clock as long as Harry lived with me- he was uncanny in telling me it was time to get up and time to go to sleep.  He ruled the roost so to speak and my Cat's Cottage seemed to be designed just for my cats....  

I completed 3 more classes at Emily Carr .  My art business class with Chris Tyrell Loranger  was truly a learning experience and anyone who thinks they are going to survive and prosper in the art world should be seeking  out Chris and his  expertise.   To put all his advice into practice may take a number of years .    A History of Art class  was exceptionally enjoyable  and   a 3 D design and materials class [ sculpture?]  was a new challenge of a whole other kind.  I discovered I like mixing and prodding and cutting wire and I hate styrofoam .  How do you know these things until you try them?  That is the root of art classes - discovery at many levels

I have completed all of my mandatory classes now in the certificate program and am free to choose  classes now .  With any luck I may complete the program in 2015 and achieve another milestone.  Stay tuned. 

Other Passions in My Life
Before painting there was photography and underwater photography in particular .   I have travelled to many "National Geographic" locations in the world , from PNG to the Solomon Islands to Myanmar ....  diving, exploring , and connecting to our wondrous world of people and things.....  travel is a joy .
Reading, writing, poetry , hiking and of course , art history and all things art are a few of my many  passions ...    Follow my blog for more .....

2015

 I have been exceptionally quiet on my website this year but I have had a very rewarding year in so many ways. First and most importantly was the completion of a major milestone - obtaining my advanced painting certificate through Emily Carr University of Art & Design.  I still remember my very first day of class with James Lindfeld  when I was terrified I couldn't possibly be accepted into such a prestigious school and survive , let alone thrive.  James  was very very tough on me - perhaps because he saw how much I wanted to be there and to learn and he set the stage for me to understand  like everything in life, if you want to do something and you are prepared to work very very hard.......  then everything is possible.  

  My last two classes were with Elizabeth Barnes  and I will be forever grateful to her for her knowledge and expertise in colour theory and colour generally [ among many of her skills]  and her willingness to mentor me and basically put up with my incessant  questions .  I took many classes with Elizabeth over the past four years so I was happy to finish my certificate journey with her .   I have gained so much through this program, not the least is the joy of meeting so many talented and enthusiastic and creative people .