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To teach elementary school was my life’s calling, and, for thirty years, I enjoyed successes in various classrooms and schools. My two beautiful daughters helped to fill my life with excitement and busyness and, now that they are mothers, themselves, my life now contains the wonderful enjoyment that only “grandmotherhood” can offer. My teaching career ended when I retired at the age of fifty-three, so I decided to satisfy a childhood interest in art and enrolled as a part-time student in Barrie’s Georgian College Fine Arts program. Focusing on painting and drawing, much of my work revolved around the expressionistic faces of my children and grandchildren, who became supportive recipients of my work. Their accolades led me to bravely exhibit my work at local art and craft shows. Small successes in these venues, juxtaposed with my husband’s supportive promotions of my abilities to his business colleagues, opened a new door: commission work. The rewards of pleased parents and grandparents, who received graphite portraits of their children and grandchildren, boosted my self confidence tremendously. I began to “throw mud at the wall”, deciding to enter juried shows in the area. To my surprise and pleasure, my work was accepted. Now a member of the Barrie Art Club, the Orillia Fine Arts Association, and the Blue Mountain Foundation for the Arts in Collingwood, I have opportunities to exhibit my work in a variety of venues all year round. I believe that variety is the spice of life, so my creations are completed in a variety of mediums: graphite, acrylic, oil, chalk pastel, and watercolour pencils. Preferring to describe myself as an aspiring artist, I am on a constant learning curve, as well. God has blessed me with a special gift and I intend to continue to develop it as fully as I can. I rarely create series, like VanGogh’s sunflowers or Monet’s lily ponds since I derive pleasure from any and all subject matter. Recently, I have discovered that emotion is the most compelling force behind the successful rendering of a scene or portrait. So, whether an image “speaks” to me or whether I realize that a commissioned creation is offering a client some happiness and pleasure, my heart sings and my emotions soar. Adjacent to my signature on each rendering is a stylized swan. When my husband and I first met, he drew two swans on a paper napkin as we sat drinking coffee. He said, “Swans mate forever, and that’s what we’ll do, too.”. After more than twenty-five years of marriage, I guess he was right. The swan is my way of thanking him for his love and his unrelenting support.
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