Expressing Your Own Voice in Your Art

Of course the Calgary Stampede will be back, but everything changes - especially after a pandemic! Not only has our social landscape changed, but there are plans in the near future to tear down the Saddledome. Does a painting ever capture anything but a memory? Maybe not, but a good painting stays current and changes with you throughout the years even if the subject matter is of a memory. Just like your favorite movie that you watch over and over. They change and grow with you. You notice new things. It brings up new feelings for you over the years. 

I like to leave unclosed lines and free-flowing paint that you can trace across the canvas. I like to layer texture and colour to imitate complexity, wonder and high energy. I guess you can see a real style and voice emerge in my work and it has happened very organically over the years. Many years ago a more advanced painter told me that you can't 'pick' your style, rather it happens naturally out of your brush. It is influenced by how you see things, how you hold your brush, what colours you gravitate towards. How you like to put the paint down on the canvas. I took that advice to heart. I have always experimented and tried many different mediums and subjects. I had no intention of staying with one thing unless it took over my soul, my energy, my desire, my passion. Each of my Big City Living Series paintings are a labour of love. I dream about them at night. I am so excited to start the next one - this is a good sign. I will keep creating them until I feel drawn towards something else. So right now, I am painting the city. But 2021? Who knows what is coming in the new year. For anything! I'm not afraid of uncertainty. I love it. It gives me energy to create and to embrace the beauty of each day. I hope everyone feels a fire inside of them that lights their way regardless of what is happening on the outside. Keep creating - every act of creation no matter how small, radiates positivity and generates good things.