About Me

I can sit and write pages on any subject at the drop of a hat, but when it comes to writing about myself, it can take forever.......

My first exhibited piece was accepted into an art show put on by the School Board when I was five years old and in kindergarden. My Mom still has the program showing me as the only one from my school with work in that entire exhibition. The next exhibited pieces weren't done for many, many years after that one! But always, my Mom has been my most ardent supporter. Even now, her fridge often has a print-out of my latest painting that I've emailed to her. (Which also means that there are several of the "earlier" paintings proudly hanging in her home that have me cringing every time I see them!)

I started out painting in oils about twenty years ago, then packed them away one day when my oldest son, then about three, mistakenly smeared oil paint on his skin. Poor little guy - he kept trying to rub it off using the same full-of-oil-paint rag that had caused all the trouble in the first place! This all resulted in his chest, shoulders and arms being covered in oil paint. Carefully rubbing all that paint off his beautiful young skin, using solvents, was too heartbreaking for me, so I thought I'd take them back out when he was old enough to understand. Trouble was, by then, there was a little brother around. Finally, the time came, about six years ago, to bring the paints out of hiding. But instead of oils, I switched to watercolour paint and have never looked back.

I love the challenge of watercolour, the unpredictability, the difficulty and the inability to really control it. You have to go with the paint, not the other way round! I also love to draw and work with soft pastels.

There isn't, specifically, one type of subject that inspires me. I enjoy painting whatever grabs my inner muse and shouts, "paint me!" And lots does! (What improper English!)

I was born in February, 1958, in Cornwall, Ontario, Canada, am a very staunch Canuck and have lived in this area all my life. Hopefully, I won't die here. (My Mom said the very same thing for years before she left for London, Canada! I'm finding that we become our parents in many ways. Which is a good thing!) I'm married and have two boys, one of whom is an architectural technologist and does awesome drawing work. (The other son is soon entering college and also does great drawings but isn't really interested in art.)

Unfortunately, I have to do the day job thing, so sometimes, finding time to paint can be difficult, but often, around 1 or 2 am, my studio light is still burning brightly.

Every time I sit down to paint, I lose myself in the act.

May it always be so.