I am a Saskatoon-based Canadian artist and retired art educator. Though I began life as a high school Phys. Ed. teacher, I always loved to draw and was an artist at heart. After taking a community art class and completing my first painting at 40, I returned to the University of Saskatchewan in 2005 and completed my B.F.A. with Great Distinction. While training as an oil painter, I dabbled with encaustic but didn’t make a major shift to this medium until 2016. Since then, I have enriched my practice through self-directed workshops with local and international artists, artist mentorships, international retreats and residencies and solo and group exhibitions in France, Ireland and across Canada and the U.S. I am grateful to have received several awards for my work, to travel internationally for various art opportunities and to have been named “A Saskatchewan Artist to Watch” in 2019. My work is represented by galleries in Alberta, British Columbia and Saskatchewan and my paintings are part of private, public and corporate collections across Canada and around the world. Above all, I am blessed to be able to pursue my life’s passion and create art out of my home studio in Saskatoon every day.Gathering imagery and experiencing my subjects close-up and personal has become a life-giving part of my process, beneficial for mind, body and soul. My work evolves from many hours spent mostly in Canada’s harshly beautiful environment: hiking, paddling, skiing, walking, observing, absorbing and just being. During these outdoor pursuits, I am overwhelmed by the beauty that surrounds me, my senses are filled and when I return to my home studio, I am ravenous to paint. This is where I disappear, into the quiet, and dig deep into the soul of the landscape or the life forms I have experienced first-hand. This is where I translate the emotions from my experiences, creating joy, hope and light for myself and others.