Welcome

Trees are Life - Water is Home

It's a busy, crowded world out there. Take a moment to relax and immerse yourself in the images of restless waves and calming nature that I've created through my art. And if you need a longer escape - check out my collection of short stories about growing up in a small fishing village in Nova Scotia.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

I paint because I can't imagine doing anything else. I began this journey within the field of graphic art and print ads, but my true love is painting. I grew up next to the inspirational ocean coastlines and forests of Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. After some time living in different parts of the country, I have returned to my home province and have settled in the beautiful south shore region. Living in Nova Scotia means never being without an inlet, a harbour, a bay, a beach, or crashing waves; a pine or spruce or maple forest; all perfect settings for what I like to paint more than any other subjects.

​I start each painting with a knife, wet on wet, and usually with a limited palette. Then I add washes and texture to create viscosity and transparency. Acrylic paint is my preference because I am patient and yet impatient, meaning I work endlessly to get the painting just the way I want it, but I have no patience to wait for paint to dry.

​I want my art to catch your eye. I want you to be drawn to the brilliant greens, the swirling white foam and the mysterious dark depths. I want you to feel the movement, the undulating waves, the enigma of the sea. I want you to almost hear the whisper of the trees speaking their own language, the language of Mother Nature. I always say, “Trees are life, and water is home.” I believe we all have an innate desire to be close to water, whether that is a lake or ocean, or surrounded by trees in an aromatic pine forest. We love the smell, the sound, the way the waves make us feel, the way the trees soothe our chaotic souls. I want to capture that feeling as best as I can with my paintings. If you can explain why you like it then I have been successful and if you can’t, then I have been successful as well.

Gallery

Chaos

48" x 48" Acrylic on gallery-wrapped canvas

Woolgathering

48" x 48" Acrylic on gallery-wrapped canvas

Surfs Up

36" x 36" Acrylic on gallery-wrapped canvas

Madeira Boat

36" x 36" Acrylic on gallery-wrapped canvas

Brooding

48" x 24" Acrylic on gallery-wrapped canvas SOLD

After The Storm

36" x 36" Acrylic on gallery-wrapped canvas SOLD

The View From the Rock

36" x 36" Acrylic on gallery-wrapped canvas. Available at Smith & Smith Gallery in Lunenburg, NS

Preoccupation

48" x 48" Acrylic on gallery-wrapped canvas.

South Shore Sea

48" x 30" Acrylic on gallery-wrapped canvas. Available at Smith & Smith Gallery in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia

Detachment

20" x 20" Acrylic on gallery-wrapped canvas.

Deadheads

24" x 36" Acrylic on gallery-wrapped canvas. SOLD

Aalto

36" x 36" Acrylic on gallery-wrapped canvas. Available at ArtSpace106 in Niagara-on-the-lake SOLD

From the Deep Blue Sea

36" x 48" Acrylic on gallery-wrapped canvas

Swirling

48" x 36" Acrylic on gallery-wrapped canvas

Heedlessness

48" x 36" Acrylic on gallery-wrapped canvas

Cut Glass

36" x 36" Acrylic on gallery-wrapped canvas SOLD

Pulling in the Buoy

36" x 36" Acrylic on gallery-wrapped canvas SOLD

Toronto Water

60" x 48" Acrylic on gallery-wrapped canvas SOLD!

Commission

60" x 48" Acrylic on gallery-wrapped canvas SOLD!

Companionship

Diptych 30" x 48" in total Acrylic on gallery-wrapped canvas SOLD!

Fury

40" x 36" Acrylic on gallery-wrapped canvas SOLD!

Marimar

48" x 48" Acrylic on gallery-wrapped canvas SOLD!

Codfish Face

20" x 20" Acrylic on gallery-wrapped canvas SOLD

Reflection

36" x 36" Acrylic on gallery-wrapped canvas SOLD

My Book

I grew up in the small coastal town of Louisbourg, Cape Breton; basically the last stop on the Trans-Canada Highway. I left the island in my early twenties to live on the mainland where I stayed for many years. Then after almost a decade living in Quebec, and southern Ontario I returned to my home province and now reside on the beautiful south shore. "Nothing beats the ocean, the salt air and the terrain of evergreens and moss." I bring my experiences growing up next to the sea to my writing and to my visual art. I have been writing fiction for many years, working on one story or another alongside paintings of the sea. After many edits, Through the Elephant Ears has finally come to fruition. All of these stories are fictional, made up of people, places, and things thrown together into a big pot of fictional soup. They are however, reflective of the time and place in rural Cape Breton in the late seventies and early eighties. It is a book twelve years in the making. I hope you enjoy!

Through the Elephant Ears

Released January 29, 2021

A near drowning of a new friend makes Kat an unwilling guardian for life, a child pecked by a rooster lays a blanket of guilt Kat struggles to shed, the death of a neighbour after a bird flies into their house leaves Kat seeking understanding and a mother that stops talking to her leaves her fighting for self-esteem. In these 16 interconnected short stories Kat must navigate adolescence surrounded by poverty, depression, alcoholism, and small-town ideologies. Add in a couple of come-from-aways, and everything Kat thought she knew about the world, about people and about love changes. Will she find a way to ease her personal burdens? Will she escape?

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