I am a Canadian artist and writer, privileged and grateful to be living on British Columbia's beautiful S,DÁYES (Pender Island), the unceded traditional territory of the W̱SÁNEĆ peoples. My visual art includes mainly abstract paintings and digitally manipulated photographs. I have also written, edited and/or co-edited a dozen books: five poetry collections, three anthologies and four chapbooks.
A bit more about me:
Painting is something I always wanted to do but assumed I couldn't. So instead, I focused my creative energy on another of my passions, poetry - often trying to evoke the visual through words. Finally, in my mid-60s, after decades of writing and a number of years working with photographs, I was encouraged by artist Judith Walker in 2015 to take the first of what would become numerous painting classes. After several years of working in acrylics and experimenting with various styles, I discovered an unexpected freedom in working with oils, often using them with cold wax medium. I am mainly interested in exploring the metaphorical possibilities in geometric compositions. I began exhibiting my work - first photographs, then paintings - at various Pender Island venues in 2013. Since then my work has also been shown in several juried exhibits, including the Sooke Fine Arts Show and the SaltSpring NAP's Parallel Art Show. My work has been purchased by art lovers from BC as well as elsewhere in Canada, the US and England.
I worked in communications for 15 years and, before that, as an office manager/conference organizer/student advisor, secretary, union co-ordinator, library assistant, and reporter. Born in Quebec and raised in New Brunswick, I lived for some 40 years in Vancouver before moving to Pender in 2012.