I live on an island. I ride my horse through the forest. It is here that I find inspiration. Slowing down gives me time to pause and consider. I notice colors and shapes, smells and sounds. The moldy scent of leaves gone by reminds me of an eight-year-old walking home from school in a small town in Quebec. After a big rain, droplets of water spill from wet foliage. As the sun streams through the cathedral of monster cedars, a mist rises in a thin veil as if illuminating an alternate world. It looks like it is snowing-colored glitter. Finches chirp and hustle in the undergrowth, and eagles chortle in the distance. Damp brings out the richest of colors, like stones, luminous underwater. A cedar tree appears green, but when I look closely, I see alizarin, gold, blue, and thousands of shades of green. Where the sun strikes foliage, the light glistens white. The deepest shadows are as dark as a raven. I recall shapes, colors, lines, and forms in my studio. I remember the smells and sounds. I memorialize the place with paint, beginning with thin layers of warm hues and then mutating into thick, painterly brush marks. The paintings take weeks to finish, with each layer stamping the recollection of that day’s walk and unfolding in a contemplative manner.

I received my first set of oils when I was 12 and painted in oils for several years before moving to watercolors. I taught classes and took many instructions over the years. Then, in 2009, I started with oils and decided to finish my art degree at Naropa University. It is a contemplative university and was perfect for me. I had art mentors at that time as well. They took me deeper into contemplative art-making. Much of today’s art is based on concept. That is, the artist has an idea and then uses their art to educate and inform. I do contemplative painting, which is different. For me, it is allowing the painting to unfold in a contemplative or meditative way. I have studied the work of Emily Carr and The Canadian Group of Seven extensively, their reaching for and painting the spirit in nature — a love of ecology and wilderness. I continue to read and learn from the masters and push my work to the next level.