As a landscape painter, living in Lillooet, British Columbia, I am never at a loss for inspiration: the Cariboo/Chilcotin region is a veritable Shangri La of mountainous beauty and geographical variety, offering a ’spirit of place’ sensation almost everywhere one turns. Anyone who comes here, understands why I must paint to hopefully capture something of that spiritual quality.
For many years, I was a couture goldsmith and jewellery designer. My art jewellery had been published internationally and it became a stepping stone to working for prominent Newport Beach and Vancouver luxury jewellers. Drawing and painting a prospective jewel was as exciting as hand-making the piece.
3D came easy to me, but painting beckoned, and so..I went to art school: Langara, it’s program noted for a traditional, but very intense approach to guiding the artist within. I completed the program, being awarded 5 scholarships, including the 'Standard of Excellence.'
An oil painting I bought, by Sonia Cornwall, a noted Cariboo BC artist became pivotal in my desire to paint, and a friendship developed. I would drive 6 hours from Vancouver to her ranch several times a year, eventually becoming her studio assistant and promoter, culminating in her retrospective in Vancouver 2001. Sonia encouraged me to discuss with and critique her paintings as she knew of my love for painting and eventually, a year before her death in 2006, she critiqued my early paintings. Later on, in Victoria, I pursued a year of private weekly studies with master painter, Deborah Tilby: focusing on colour.
Drawing is essential in my process - the process allows for thoughtful exploration either firming up a concept or creating new possibilities of the composition. Photography is only a tool: one has place, potential composition and colour, but in the drawing for the canvas, composition and colour become my own. The joyous challenge in capturing that essence of myself and the place...
Inspiration, then and now:
- Sonia Cornwall, mentor
- Barbara Rae, printmaker, colour
- Barry Jones, early mentor
- James Wilson Morrice, brush work, pleine aire
- Alex Colville, surrealism, precision
- Marsden Hartley, expressionism
- Alfred Barnes (Barnes Foundation), wise words
- Alan Collier, painter
In 2014, I began to sell my art - although I had been painting since 2005. Through my art, my mandate continues to hopefully convey the magic and beauty of Lillooet and the nearby Cariboo/Chilcotin region of British Columbia to my viewers.
