My Top Books About Artists and Their Gardens
Finding inspiration and companionship in the gardens of artists & creatives. A few favourite books + one video!
What does your creativity do for you? Does it bring you delight? Satisfy your curiosity? Give a means of expression, connection, or healing?
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.
Behind-the-Scenes: How I create studio paintings
Top tools, sketching process, and more
Do you ever make something that surprises you and then go back over and over trying to figure out how you did it? What was it about that piece that just came together for you? How can you do it again?
New Horizons Collection (Paintings 15-22)
The next paintings in the collection – and their stories
The New Horizons Collection is a collection of twenty-two original paintings. They capture the beauty and variety of the light and weather of the coastal landscape I now call home.
New Horizons Collection (Paintings 8-14)
The next paintings in the collection – and their stories
The New Horizons Collection is a collection of twenty-two original paintings. They capture the beauty and variety of the light and weather of the coastal landscape I now call home.
New Horizons Collection (Paintings 1-7)
The first paintings in the collection – and their stories
The New Horizons Collection is a collection of twenty-two original paintings. They capture the beauty and variety of the light and weather of the coastal landscape I now call home.
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…
Celebrating the beauty of darker, shorter days
A few recent paintings that capture the deeper blue colour palette of winter light on Nova Scotia’s coastal shores
The mornings are dark and quiet as I feed the cats and put the coffee on. I watch as daylight slowly emerges while writing in my journal next to a crackling fire. First, I can see – just faintly – the tall slender silhouettes of poplars against a deep midnight blue sky. Then, gradually, the gardens and woodlands begin to take shape in the muted light of dawn.
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.
Living by the Sea
Finding a new sense of place
It’s astonishing how far the sound of the ocean can travel. My home is tucked away on a back road, but I can hear the roar or hushed swoosh of waves almost all the time. The ocean and its big open skies have become a living presence in my life.
From the Painted Stories Instagram feed
