meet the artist
This is me: I became an artist exactly on the corner of Barclay and Thurlow, downtown Vancouver, in 1999. I lived in a ground floor corner suite at the Biltmore Apartments, the green street signs directly outside of my living room window, almost close enough to touch.
The Biltmore. I loved my little apartment in the beautiful old character building. It had a tiny stained-glass window, hardwood floors, and large living room windows that let in so much light, even on the endless grey rainy days of the Vancouver winters. It was my cozy little oasis, right in the west end. Read more…
the studio
My studio is wherever a room is vacant in whatever space I am living in. Currently, it is a third floor attic space, the ceiling strung with hot pink LED lights that cast a warm and inviting glow. “The Pinklight Studio” I have dubbed it. Hot as an oven in summer, and chilly in the winter, this is where I am creating at the moment. If you visited my studio, these are the things you would see.
Proper finished sketches, and fledgling rough ideas on scraps of paper of paintings-to-be, all tacked up on the wall. An old farmhouse table with peeling paint on the legs, covered with mason jars filled with mixed paints and palette knives. A tin bucket of brushes in varying sizes, even though I usually only use the same two or three brushes, over and over. Read more…
the art
Usually the first thing people say when they see my art is, “I’ve never seen anything like it!”. Often, they will want to reach out to touch, drawn in by the bursting colours, to feel the rough texture of the paint. Then, they might put their face right up close to the canvas to examine the intricate details, exclaiming at the effort, time, and dedication it must take to complete a painting.
I love to show my art to people. The energy in the room increases. There is a growing sense of excitement, sometimes joy, and the viewer begins to speak about what they see in the piece, where they are finding meaning. Sometimes, there is silence, a quiet introspection, and perhaps even tears when the viewer has been moved by my work. Those are the moments I love best. Read more…