Artist Statement
What is beauty? To witness beauty is to be present, released from our preoccupation with past and future as beauty calls us to “Look!” As a witness to beauty, I feel an inherent call to respond and invite others to step outside of time and participate in the experience of being fully present and alive to beauty, hope and possibility.
Beauty resists conformity. What is beautiful once becomes stale and tired, even repellent as it shifts from immediacy to mundanity. To seek beauty is to forever desire something new, to shift perspectives and see deeper than what is expected and known.
Nature informs both my subject and my process. As a watercolorist I marry water with color to create my work, understanding that I am working alongside a medium that must be allowed to flow, to evolve and my responses are as immediate as the flick of a brush. Any original intention must be released if the painting turns in a new direction, and this brings me into a relationship and intimacy with my chosen medium that is dangerously vulnerable and continually new.
The Artist’s Process
Selected Exhibitions
2023 - Art Gallery of Grande Prairie TREX exhibition “Touching the Sky”
2021 - Indonesia International Online Competition & Exhibition “Impressionist Category”
2021 - Federation of Canadian Artists “Abstracted” - Vancouver, BC
2021 - Peace River Chapter, Federation of Canadian Artists “Northern Lives” - Dawson Creek, BC
2020 - Northwest Watercolor Society “Waterworks” - Washington, USA
2017 - Solo Exhibition - Dawson Creek Art Gallery, Dawson Creek, BC
Awards
Chosen Award, Open Sky Exhibition, Arts North East - 2023
Honourable Mention, Peace Liard Regional Juried Art Exhibition - 2021
Second Place, “Life in the Peace” - Peace River Chapter, Federation of Canadian Artist - 2014
Third Place, “Peace Squared” - Peace River Chapter, Federation of Canadian Artists - 2013
Chosen Award, Peace Liard Regional Juried Art Exhibition, Fort Nelson, BC - 2014
Selected Artist, Ridley Terminals Northern Art Initiative, Museum of Northern British Columbia, Prince Rupert, BC - 2014
Feature Articles & Publications
Northern Arts Review, Interview. ‘Don’t Ask for Permission: Advice on Making it as an Artist in the North’, April 2021.
Profiled in Skip the Degree, Save the Tuition, Julia McCoy & Dr. Ai Addison-Zhang, 2021
Convert Kit’s Tradecraft: Giving Yourself Permission, 2020
Where Women Create. ‘Mindful Studios’, Issue 13 Winter 2020
Uppercase Magazine. ‘Flow’. Vol 45. Spring 2020 issue
Podcasts & Guest Appearances
The Frugal Crafter Blog Art Chat: Finding Freedom in Art - March 10, 2024
Bold Artist Podcast EP 69, interview, What is the Artist’s Voice? - May 19, 2023
Podcast, Trusting Another Artist to Help You Run Your Art Business, Art Biz Success with Alyson Stanfield - October 7, 2021
Interview, Confidence Leads to Success, Interview Series - June 2021
Podcast, The Healing Light of Creation, Creative Soul Healing Podcast - March 10, 2021
Guest Instructor, Etchr - February 2021
Guest Presenter, CreativeU Online Summit, February 2021
Guest Instructor, Learning Watercolor Through Play, Teachable - January 2021
Podcast, Giving Yourself Permission, Convertkit - December 2020
Guest Presenter, Spark Possibility Online Summit - September 2020
Guest Presenter, Women Unleashed Online Retreat - June 2020
Podcast, How to Get 10,000 Students in Your Online Course, The Online Course Show with Jacques Hopkins - January 2020
Guest Artist, Magical Mindfulness Online Retreat, October 2019
Guest Artist, Sketchbook Revival - April 2019