• Through the Eyes of an Artist

    I am convinced that artists see, smell, and feel things differently than non-artists. It’s not that others cannot see, feel, or hear the same, but their sensory muscles are not in shape. For instance, when I take a walk along the trail with a non-artist, they will talk about how beautiful things are in a very generic sense. They may make a comment along the way when a bird flies in front of them or will notice when it begins to rain while talking about their appointments and schedules. When I take a walk, I notice the feeling of the air. I see the shadows on the path and the mist on the…

  • Colour Our World: The Beginning

    The summer has come and gone like a wave in the ocean that forms, curves, breaks, and is gone. Autumn is upon us, and the dark days of fall are here. This summer was different than most. My house was transformed through renovations, throwing off the old siding and busting holes in the gyprock for new windows. And a brand new colouring book transformed my life as my summer passed in a flurry of fairs, sales, building new connections, and renewing old ones. The rush was on from the very beginning. I pushed everything I had within me to prepare my new colouring book, “Colour Our World,” for printing. I chewed my nails…

  • Happy to be Canadian

    Never had I felt more proud to be Canadian than at yesterday’s Canada Day Celebration in Hatley, Quebec. Both Francophone and Anglophones gathered to celebrate this great nation called Canada. It all began with the parade. As I sat at my stand with my books and paintings, I watched some of the various representations of who we are as a free nation.  I saw laughter as the children rode through on their decorated bikes and a brightly dressed clown wove in and out on his unicycle around the floats. I saw community as the Hatley Outdoor Clinic passed by and the “nurse” squirted water into the crowd with his syringe. Candy flew to the spectators…

  • After the Ayer’s Cliff Rodeo

    It’s Monday morning. I am sitting now with my coffee, having just returned from serving breakfast at the local elementary school. My family spent the weekend at the Ayer’s Cliff Rodeo, displaying my new colouring book and paintings for sale. I really enjoyed talking with people who appreciated my work. A had a lot of questions about the paintings I do with thick acrylic paint and spatula knives. As they saw the wildlife and sceneries in my I heard many stories about the turtles and herons that other people had seen, or their adventures in the sugar bush as children in the area. An eleven year old girl passed by the stall, and her eyes lit…