About Me

I have always loved art. From the time I was in kindergarten I wanted to be an artist. No, scratch that, I was an artist. And, I was lucky to have parents who allowed me to be wild and express myself, anywhere. In fact I still have the orange cupboard that I drew a blue crayon princess on over 50 years ago. Apparently colour theory came naturally.

When I was around 11 years old my family moved to a small island on the west coast of British Columbia. It was here that I developed an appreciation for classical art. Because we did not have an art class in school, I learned how to draw by copying images from a huge book on Leonardo Da Vinci which I cherish.

 

I went on to study fine art at the University of Victoria where I butted heads with my professors over my determination to draw a foreshortened femur and understand how shadows echoed rather than letting my emotions fling paint across a canvas a la Jack Shadbolt. After a couple frustrating years of arguing that Picasso understood the human body before he broke it into pieces, I switched to an illustration and design program at Capilano University in hopes that I could one day make a living as a creative. Which, in fact, I did. I soon became an Art Director in the advertising industry, and I loved every minute of it.

 

Over time, I merged my love of art with my love of gardening and created Strathcona 1890 Urban Seed Collections. Then a life-quake hit when my husband was diagnosed with cancer, and, in hopes that a healthier environment might save him, I bought land on which I hoped we could grow a little older at least. But he did not survive and I found myself escaping the city with my son to homestead on the side of a mountain as a single mother with no idea of even how to begin. Over the next decade I tried to inspire people to grow food with my seeds and garden kits while I slowly built a home and garden. It became my Eden and it was here that my love for classic art reemerged.

But, as they say, there is no rest for the wicked and the global covid crisis turned even our tiny corner of the world upside down.

 

During the lockdowns I got stir crazy and started looking at old art books with medieval woodcuts. One in particular was Fred (as I like to call him). Fred was special and all I could think of was how he had these extra “heads” dangling over his face that made me think of him having extra personalities. That was the beginning of my Irreverent Cards for Challenging Times.

 

Since then I have I found myself going down different rabbit holes and discovering artists I never knew. I far from an art snob and cast my net wide so you will see images from botanical masters during the renaissance as well as back room illustrators from the dawn of the advertising age. I often find images that are badly damaged or I simply want to reimagine. I find working on them puts me into an almost meditative state which calms my ADHD brain.

 

I hope you love sending or displaying these as much as I enjoy creating them. My hope is that more people will find and share inspiration and joy from these images.