Here & There: Paintings of home
Paintings of our Montréal condo and our coastal house in Nova Scotia that seem to unintentionally mirror each other (painted years apart)
I love to create these intimately personal scenes around the house. It can be like a visual diary of sorts to have these quiet interior paintings of corners of my home. The spaces themselves, the light, and the items used and loved are all reflected in these little personal snippets of life…
Behind-the-Scenes: How I Paint From Life
Top tools, quick composition process, painting plein air, and more
See the process I follow and the tools I use when painting from life. I share recent paintings of interior scenes painted around the house, as well as a few studies done plein air around the neighbourhood.
How do you get to know a new place?
I love getting to know somewhere new – and reconnecting with familiar places – by walking (new collection sneak peek!)
Walking is nearly always how I first get to know a new place. It allows me to experience it in different light, weather, moods, and seasons. I notice its people coming and going, its homes as their lights turn on for the night…
Paintings of Coastal Skies
Capturing the endless varieties of ever-shifting cloudscapes
My house has a large porch and I spend most of the warmer seasons out there… One sunny Sunday afternoon, I found myself mesmerized by the fast-changing clouds. So, I got out my brush and paints and had a delightful time rushing to capture the colours and shapes.
Stepping Out of Your Creative Comfort Zone
Expanding your skills by exploring an unfamiliar subject
In taking steps toward a goal, you will find that new steps reveal themselves to you, as you go. Sometimes they are simply next steps on the same path, other times they are a surprising new direction, a different perspective on your work, or an unexpected creative challenge. I share how to step out of your creative comfort zone, why it’s important to fill your toolbox with new skills, the importance of embracing mistakes, and how to incorporate your new skills into your unique creative style and voice.
Winter Magic: Paintings of Montreal in the Snow
The creative discoveries that come with paying attention
Montreal is so beautiful under its blanket of snow. I have been savouring every minute of our last winter here in the Plateau. You learn so much when paying close attention to something and then making work about what you’ve seen.
Daily Paintings: Memories of Walks
Uncovering patterns in your creative work
Many of my mornings over the past few months have been spent in the studio, painting. I’ve been going back to the basics – making work for myself – because I feel more alive, balanced, and grounded when I am creating images. I am keeping things simple: a few brushes, smaller loose-leaf pages, my favourite tubes of colour... and painting what interests me, for me. This has helped me to remember why I began painting in the first place and reconnect with the process of making.
Playing with Paper: Exploring Chine-Collé
Paper collage made with a printing press and Japanese papers
It can be easy to forget to share the behind-the-scenes of what we are working on. These things can give a glimpse into the artistic process and into other ways of working that can be very enlightening and inspiring to others. So, I thought I'd share with you here a few recent explorations I made in chine-collé as well pictures of the shared studio space in which I often work
Gestural Landscape Paintings
Creating a series of landscapes in 20-brushstrokes or less
I am always looking for little exercises or studio tasks to get over the fear of getting started and to get me into a feeling of creative flow. I find anything that is low-pressure and enjoyable works well.
The Happy Accidents Between Prints
Allowing new ideas to reveal themselves to you within your creative process
You never know where that next idea will come from. Slowing down and paying attention during the various steps of your creative process just might spark something that takes your work in a new direction. I thought I’d share some of my happy accidents with you…
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