I am Sherry Lynn, living in Grimsby, born in Toronto, 1963.

Art was woven into everyday life: Grama’s hand-stitched quilts, Dad’s cut-stone fireplaces, Mom’s banana flambé…  Creativity has simply been the air that I breathe.

At 10, my poster art got 1^st place.  This summer, I won the CREATE Niagara Visual Art Competition.  In between, I explored, mainly self-taught, fabric art, slab pottery, papier maché, painting, anything that sparkled.  Often these were inspired by practical necessity, other times by simple joy.

I feel privileged, now, to have the luxury of bringing my art into greater focus.

Our concept of time has been dramatically altered by the COVID crisis. We weren’t accustomed to this time for stillness – and anxiety and depression overwhelmed as the very survival of humanity and earth was threatened. Perhaps, with luck and grace, we have enough time for greater wisdom and a gentler humanity to emerge.

I am a Local Burlington Artist, originally from Spain but have been calling beautiful Canada home for the past 21 years. I love painting landscapes, animals, and portraits in oil and soft pastels in my studio, but in the current times of covid, I have discovered Plein air painting that allowed me to get out of the studio and explore the nature around me. My style is a realist style with a strong influence of impressionism with a vibrant array of colors. I have studied sketch courses at ACAD, pastel, and oil painting at the art gallery with Joan Ng in Burlington, and am currently studying online with Angel Montero from Spain on oil painting. I’m a member of the Monday painters’ group of Dundas. I have been participating in DVSA auctions. I have taken private commissions on both landscape and portraits.

Ashley Gringhuis is a painter and printmaker from Barrie, Ontario, and a recent graduate of Queen’s University’s Fine Art (Honours) program. In her work, she focuses on the complexities of life, relationships, and the anxieties that come along with them. By using imagery of textiles, string, and distorted figures, she looks to evoke feelings of chaos and connection. She has previously exhibited at the Union Gallery in Kingston, Ontario

Unravelling charts both the end and the beginning of an individual’s life as attached to a crimson string, symbolizing a dependence on others for life but also a cause for afflictions and anxieties. This red string symbolizes broadly this idea of living, as I noticed through my life used as an analogy for life in literature and stories (the three fates in Greek mythology cutting one’s string of life, in Romeo and Juliet as tying two lovers together, three strands woven to represent community as pictured in the Bible, etc.). In the painting, this string is being removed and carried away from the figure, showing this idea of life being taken, but allowing the viewer to imagine where it could be going, and what life might lead to next.

Keelan Kennedy was born and raised in Calgary, and grew up with a passion for art, but never pursued it beyond high school. After graduating from the University of Calgary with a degree in Communications she started her career as a flight attendant for several years, until the pandemic in 2020 forced her to take some time to revisit creating art again. During this time she has enjoyed refining her skills primarily in charcoal and graphite realism, however continues to explore all genres and mediums that inspire her. She was honoured to be shortlisted in the David Shepard Wildlife Foundation in 2021, and also received a Special Merit Award for The Marketer Art Competition for 2020. The majority of Keelan’s time is spent raising her two young daughters Eva and Raia that she shares with her husband Aaron.

My name is Alannah Tassone and I am a painter living in Toronto, Canada. I started experimenting with resin, and acrylics in 2015, amongst other materials and my practice has evolved since into a wide variety of mixed media. I am excited by colour and the way colour is defined in so many ways. I take an intuitive approach to colour and composition, allowing these two concepts to be at the forefront of the structure in which I create. I typically work with acrylic or oil on canvas, allowing spaces for other mediums such as oil pastel, if need be. Both the practice and my understanding of what I am creating is evolving. I consider myself a neoexpressionist, but also creating in a contemporary realm as well. I consider it my purpose to make art, to create context and conversation in my work. While much of my work surrounds an expressionistic style, exploring the evolution of colour, direction and intention, I am fascinated by the human figure and the way it is interpreted by a variety of individuals. By incorporating the study of human figure into my expressionism, I believe that there is something entirely new to be discovered.

This is a unique exploration of the human form, incorporating an expressionistic take on colour theory. This work is an interpretation of the human body, from a non-idealistic viewpoint

I am a Local Burlington Artist, originally from Spain but have been calling beautiful Canada home for the past 21 years. I love painting landscapes, animals, and portraits in oil and soft pastels in my studio, but in the current times of covid, I have discovered Plein air painting that allowed me to get out of the studio and explore the nature around me. My style is a realist style with a strong influence of impressionism with a vibrant array of colors. I have studied sketch courses at ACAD, pastel, and oil painting at the art gallery with Joan Ng in Burlington, and am currently studying online with Angel Montero from Spain on oil painting. I’m a member of the Monday painters’ group of Dundas. I have been participating in DVSA auctions. I have taken private commissions on both landscape and portraits.

Gwen Gilbank is an artist currently residing in Barrie, Ontario. She has a deep appreciation for wildlife and nature; which is where she finds inspiration for her work. As a child, she attended the Newmarket School of Fine Art where she started to become more comfortable exploring and working with a variety of mediums. Over the years into adulthood, she has continued to refine her techniques, primarily working with both acrylic and oil paint on canvas.

This is a 12in x 36in oil painting on stretched canvas that is inspired by the mossy, lush, green forests of the Canadian West Coast.

Celt is a fine artist inspired by real and envisioned landscapes, working with different mediums for each of their unique advantages in one piece. She uses this technique to create detailed works that draw the viewer into many characteristics of the scene, from the vast landscapes to the objects and life she may hide within them.

If asked about her training, she will say “Absolutely none”. Careful observation of the subject is the key to her successful autodidactic method method. Growing up, she was greatly inspired by the works of Robert Bateman, Ul de Rico and Boris Vallejo.

From a young age, it was clear that she possessed an exceptional understanding of light, color and movement. She is instinctively able to decide which media to use and how. In her teens she experimented with many mediums, including spray painting and airbrushing, creating many beautiful works that caught the attention of the public.

At the age of fifteen, Celt began to paint hyper realism. She started to immerse herself in a close observation of the world, focusing on the science of color and lighting. According to her, “In realism, all the details are present”, and this particular conceptualization served as a fundamental guide in her process of creation. She maintains that while she is still developing this skill, she enjoys realism as it gives her a deeper understanding of the natural world and keeps her true to her observations.

After graduating from high school, she continued to pursue art as a full-time career. To this day, she has sold many originals and completed numerous commissions.

Edwin Suarez born in the town “EL COCUY” , he  is a professional Canadian artist, his art collection which was created in Toronto Canada offering a very unique interpretation of reality using bold colours, cultural influences and geometric images.

Edwin studied fine Arts at the National University of Colombia.

Composing the image of what we perceive as “real”, obeys a contraption of devices that are too complex to comprehend. To push the limits of one’s imagination,

Edwin Suarez incorporates every part of these concepts in his artwork to near perfection, using vibrant colours, unique geometric patterns to create a lasting impression on viewers.

Amanda Turco is a painter who lives and works is Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. With imagery that borders on the surreal, she explores her inner consciousness and seeks to explain the world around her. A lover of books (she works in a library!) she attempts to create a visual narrative for the viewer.

Since earning her Honours Bachelor’s Degree in Fine Arts, Amanda is frequently commissioned to do portraits. Her work has also been featured in a number of speculative fiction magazines and books.

I’m from MacLellans Brook, or “the Brook”, Nova Scotia. It’s rural, rustic and worn with time. Currently, I live in Hamilton, Ontario (also known as Steel City, so……contrast.) While I love Hamilton and the people, I miss the quiet solitude of Nova Scotia. I use a brush and palette knife to create a balance between abstraction and realism.

I graduated from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design(NSCAD) in 2003. I exhibited in an International Juried Show at the New Jersey Art Centre (2007), Society of Canadian Artists (SCA) National Juried Shows in 2005, 2006 and 2007, a group show at Arta Gallery in Toronto (2006) and have been a participant in the Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition and many other Art Events around Ontario. I took a break to enjoy my two girls when they were young and am thrilled to be back in my studio and am proud to have recently had a painting in the Faded But Beautiful Exhibit at the Art of Emotions Gallery in Toronto. 

I am an oil painter who spends her time painting the passage of time. Rusted hardware and peeling paint are my passion. I am currently working on a series called Nailed It, a deep dive into rusted nails. Rust fascinates me; the oxidation of metal is the quiet passage of time, adding layers and personality to each nail. Did you know the best rust occurs by the ocean? Salt air makes all the difference.

This painting is an up-close investigation of a rusted nail in worn wood and peeling paint. I personify the nails in my ‘Nailed It’ Series and feel the nails are exposed to natures elements as humans are exposed to life experiences. Both nails and individuals are alone yet integral to the structures of both the barn and society.

Jenn Thornhill Verma is a painter and journalist from Newfoundland and Labrador now living in Ottawa, Ontario. Jenn holds master’s degrees in fine arts (creative nonfiction, University of King’s College) and science (medicine, Memorial University of Newfoundland) and is a fellow of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society. Her landscapes feature outport and coastal communities in all of their perfectly imperfect glory—clapboard saltbox houses, hand-made wooden dories and skiffs, crooked wharves ad docks, fishing stages and sheds, and stunted trees and rocks. In 2020, Jenn’s artwork was recognized at the Atlantic Journalism Awards for Best Cover (gold recipient) for the fall 2019 cover of Atlantic Books Today. Her artwork is also featured on the cover of her 2019 nonfiction book, “Cod Collapse: The Rise and Fall of Newfoundland’s Saltwater Cowboys.” Jenn predominantly paints in oils, but sometimes uses acrylic. Jenn’s art loosely combines realism and impressionism, wherein the primary subject is recognizable (realism, based on photographs), yet is depicted with bold shapes and colours (impressionism, using a variety of bold brush strokes, knife work and an equally bold palette mixed by hand).

Katherine is a Canadian mixed media seascape artist who resides in Orono, Ontario surrounded by nature and infinite inspiration. The colour palette she uses varies between hues of deep blue and teal while always aiming to evoke a sense of calm and happiness through her art.

The inspiration for Katherine’s work comes from her upbringing along the Pacific Coast in Lima, Peru where she and her family would spend endless summers at the beach.

The unpredictable beauty of the sea is her main influence which helps her depict both the power and tranquility of the waves.

Katherine has spent the last two years researching the connection that we as humans have with water whether we are submerged in it or simply near it.

If not behind her easel, you will find Katherine in her wood shop creating ocean-inspired home decor made with resin and live edge wood.

Katherine’s work has been exhibited at Propeller Art Gallery, I Deal Coffee, Oronofest, and several Durham Region makers’ markets. Katherine will be exhibiting at several outdoor art shows this year including the Lake Scugog Studio Tour.

Proving a sense of tranquility, Aloha was created with oil and acrylic on canvas. This artwork represents all that aloha embodies; love, affection, gratitude, peace, calm and a way of viewing life.

Dan Crawford lives and has a studio in Toronto. He is a visual arts graduate of Western and taught art at various schools in London and Toronto. He has exhibited in regional public and private galleries in Ontario. Collections include Museum London, Western University, McDonald’s Canada and private collections in Canada, USA, Great Britain, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia.

The still life is used as a visual metaphor to investigate ideas in paintings, drawings, prints and sculpture in various media. This series are paintings and mixed media works. Selecting everyday objects in carefully considered compositions allows explorations in media/technique and contrasts, light/dark, transparent/opaque, scale, colour and texture.

The narrative element can originate from an actual experience, sometimes through travel, history or imagination. A dialogue is created between the objects and the setting so a story is conveyed beyond the outward appearance of the objects. Contrasting the objects and setting with the window covering creates a juxtaposition with different meaning.

The basic composition is a window with a covering and objects to create images that have a visual presence with the first viewing but still allow for the opportunity for individual interpretation and understanding.

Fidelity to what is observed and experienced is one way to represent things in the world but this is only the beginning. After scratching away at the surface of representation the intent is to get below the surface where the power of the idea, the intellect and emotional response meet.

Stephanie McLean is a contemporary portrait artist who lives and 
works in the Greater Toronto Area. A native of Montreal, Quebec, her portraiture work aims to capture the emotional energy of her subjects, with a focus on performers, through bold and abstract use of colour. As a new artist, Stephanie’s recent accomplishments have gained her local recognition.

Stephanie McLean’s career as a painter officially began in 2020, following a 25-year career in the corporate world. Earlier, her need for expression led her to complete a Bachelor of Fine Arts at Concordia University in Music (1994), followed by a five-year commitment to performing as a jazz vocalist and musical theatre performer. Hence her love of painting performers.

Despite Stephanie’s career being in its early stages, her artwork has already been shown in three juried group shows and one of her paintings (“Mitch”) was selected by jury to be part of the Society of Canadian Artists’ 53^rd Open Annual Juried Exhibition.

I art directed the “Mitch” photoshoot, ensuring the image was captured from the point of view of someone looking up at Mitch playing his bass, so as to emphasize the size of this wonderful instrument. I also wanted to show the energy of his performance through a blurred hand, implying his enthusiastic pulling at the bass string. The size of his right hand further emphasizes the distortion of this particular point of view.

In the painting, I isolated the bass by using different hues of blue, and selected the other colours in my palette according to this. The bright yellow in the background, the blue bass and the blurred hand all contribute to the energy this painting exudes.

Robin Patterson, a lifelong artist, works in multiple mediums. She has exhibited and sold her work across Canada and the United States.

There has never been a time in my life that didn’t involve art, whether it be putting word to the page, paint to the canvas, or simply gathering ideas through creative exploration. Everything I see inspires me. Every bird, every face, every crack in the sidewalk; everything is subject. I take it all in, synthesize the experience, and then release it, choosing medium and substrate according to subject, mood, and desired result. I love the immediacy of charcoal and the spontaneity of watercolour. I love that first mark on an empty surface. Before I begin, I watch the white space, never quite sure which of my ideas will manifest itself there. I start. I place my trust in the surface, in the medium. I am not easily frustrated by the process and don’t give up if the work isn’t going my way. I recognize that art has a life of its own and there is often an ugly duckling stage that must be acknowledged. If I try too hard or try and force it, it won’t progress. I must let the piece happen on its own, trust that it will, and recognize it when it does.

It feels like magic.

Born in Saguenay in 1966, Danielle Hudon is a self-taught visual artist who, at a very young age, demonstrated a real facility in reproducing the paper sculptures of Claude Lafortune. However, despite her obvious artistic abilities and the kind words of her teachers, she decided to direct her college studies towards the sciences. It was around the age of fifty, however, that art became a necessary therapy, an expression of emotions that were too heavy to bear. It is in a dark context of violence and physical ailments that have become torturous that this creative flame is rekindled through drawing and watercolor. The need to slow down her pace of life may clash with her urgency to live, but nothing prevents her from reaching recovery; barely a year later, she participates in a group exhibition as a living force. Since then, as a motivated self-taught artist, always in search of her own style, of what will finally make her stand out, she creates every day while experimenting with various mediums. Her thirst to learn and to improve herself necessarily led her to enroll in drawing and painting techniques courses while her will to succeed and to find her place in the art world led her to follow career development courses.

Cheryl Tenn is a graphic designer by trade and a realism illustrator who draws and paints simply for the love of art. Her goal has been to create striking art packed with detail. Subject matter could be anything from portraits, still life, landscapes to wild life. Her speciality is pencil, however, choosing the medium which best suits the subject matter. Coloured pencil, acrylic, oil, chalk pastel and often a combination of two or more media to achieve a desired effect.

Born in British Columbia, Cheryl was raised in Toronto. Being fortunate to attend Wexford Collegiate School for the Arts, where she had extensive training at a professional level. This environment inspired her life-long learning and a desire for personal excellence. Graduating at the top of the class from George Brown College, Graphic Design course, choosing a graphics career before the age of computers. Self taught computer skills, she grew with the ever changing industry while continuing to illustrate commissioned projects for over 30 years.

Cheryl’s biggest commission came from winning an illustration competition at the Toronto Zoo. Applicants supplied samples in various media to be judged. By winning, she completed pencil illustrations for the 10 foot signs displayed at each animal enclosure in the African Savanna section. The signs will remain for many years to come.

Loving and appreciating history, culture and all styles of art, among her favorite artists are Leonardo Da Vinci, Michelangelo and Group of Seven.

Pencil illustration. Matted and framed to 22 x26″

Kari Visscher was born and raised in St. Thomas, Ontario.  She enjoyed both arts and sciences completing a Master’s degree in Biomedical Communications and a Medical degree from the University of Toronto.  Kari became a Radiologist and is currently an Adjunct professor at McMaster University. Inspired by patient’s healthcare experiences and medical culture, her artistic focus is on recognizing and bridging gaps in knowledge and communication not only between physicians and patients, but also between patients, between medical colleagues, and within one’s own development of professional identity.

My work always touched those who saw it, as it’s always been rooted in human condition-common to all.

If you recognize familiar landscape in my work-you have been there too. If you see something of yourself in it-remember you are in it. There is nothing “out of bounds” for you in my work-I do tend to paint your inner landscape and inner characters. We are all way less individual than what we perceive ourselves to be, hence your world is my world too.

I have drawn, sculpted and painted all my life. After I completed BA (Hons) in Fine arts with a 1^st class degree and commendation, I have extensively painted and exhibited in UK (Pump house in Cheltenham, Guildhall Arts Center-Gloucester, Pump house, Mafuji, Arcola and Century and other galleries in London).

In my late 20’s I arrived at a point of “stuck”. Blank canvas seemed like nothing I should be improving on and for following years, although still painting, I engaged in something equally creative and interactive: my own restaurant. Through culinary arts I have partially satisfied my artistic cravings for a while. I have been running successful little business after immigrating to Canada as well as continuing with my artwork. 5-6 years ago the “stuck” point have melted away. Painting intensified with Covid. It certainly is fertile ground if one knows what to look for.

“Overthinking relationships” This painting is addressing issue of miscommunication due to lack of social interactions currently replaced by anti-social media

My name is Jessica MacIver and I’ve drawn for as long as I can remember, although less as life became busy with school and work. My creativity was stifled by frustration brought on by a hyper-focus on the flaws and my inability which created a sort of ‘writer’s block’.

With the pandemic and I’ve found myself with a lot of time on my hands, those now occupied with pens, pencils, pastels, and pencil crayons. I’ll paint on the rarest of occasion but I like to draw because I largely don’t know what I am doing.

I’ve stopped focusing and started creating. Without focus, my mind wanders and although there is influence in the images I don’t know the meaning. I am just enjoying the experience.

Cher Pruys, ASAA SCA, IGOR, AAPL, CSAA, AMS, LMS, OSA, MAA, CFA, NOAPS, AWA..

“To take my inner visions with my hands and create a work of art for you the viewer …. That is the ultimate in self expression.” 

Cher Pruys was born in Regina. Over the years she lived in many places including Saskatoon, Calgary, Edmonton, Ottawa, Fort Frances, settling into her present home in Devlin, on the banks of the Rainy River with her husband Mark, 4 dogs and 2 cats.

By age three, Cher was seldom found without a drawing tool in hand. She worked in pencil, charcoal and ink over the years, until, she picked up a paintbrush at the age of 35. Beginning with oil paints, she found her chosen mediums in acrylic, water color and gouache.

Although self taught, her dedication and talent has seen her work juried into 167 International exhibits, as well as exhibits in numerous non juried shows. She has won 188 awards for her work in the International Juried Exhibits. 

Her work has graced the covers of 3 books, 28 magazines, the latest being The Best Of Acrylic Fall 2021, and has-been featured in over 112 international publications. Cher’s works have found a permanent home in private and public collections worldwide.

I was born in Penticton BC and raised on the west coast of British Columbia, Canada. I am essentially self-taught, though as a young artist I attended various workshops and classed at the Vancouver School of Art. I sought expression in all types of media practicing such styles as: realism, abstraction, symbolism, and inner intuitive expression. Going beyond the learning curve of my early work gave me the groundwork for the art I practice today. I create from my inner experience and depend largely on dreams and imagination for ideas and vision.

Now, my painting has become like an abstract thought. It allows me to enter another world. It is like the Gaia is speaking to me out of that universal connectedness. It calls me to use identifiable images to hook and link people to that same place.

Through my painting I am drawn to enter points of view and places in my imagination that are mostly intuitive. My paintings examine things like groups and flocks, movement, feelings, and mystery. I am as much the medium of expression as the brush, the paint, and the canvas.

Shelley Ewing is a Southern Alberta artist, living in Medicine Hat, Alberta. She spent 33 years working as a scientific illustrator for DRDC Canada, a world-class research Centre that supports the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) and Canadian public security. Over this rewarding career, she moved from using tradition illustration in the mid-1980s (watercolour and acrylic), to creating science stories in 2D digital and 3D animation, in the later years.

After retiring in 2015, Shelley pursued a client-based creative business. In 2020, the pandemic made it necessary to close that business. This door opened a return to the past, filling hours with creative process and art in traditional methods of watercolour, acrylic and pastels.

Shelley’s interest is driven by many different areas of subject matter. From people, pets to landscapes and multimedia projects.  Unique lighting, a small nuance or gesture can be the catalyst for an art direction.  She spends many hours biking and hiking in nature and is inspired by many of those scenes. Sometimes the challenge might be a realistic representation or trying to create a more abstract impression of those views. She also is intrigued by people, faces, capturing the expression of moment in time.

Shelley has a diploma in Visual Communications. She sells originals and prints of her artwork through her Facebook page, Envisionart.

A cathartic process depicting the discovery of the first 215 children in a mass grave at Kamloops, who attended residential schools. The storyboard moves from the left, representing the beautiful culture and spirit of Indigenous people. The centre shows a young Cree Indian, Thomas Moore who entered Regina residential school in 1910. His image is shown 3 times, one is faded out, representing the attempt to obliterate his Indigenous Identity. They other two images of him show a before and after picture. These comparisons were used by residential schools to show evidence of this intention. The far right, depict the tears and ongoing trauma, of the families that experienced this. Along the bottom there are 215 small white spirit dots, smaller spatters represent those that still will be found.

Joanne Berger is basically self taught painter. Working in advertising as a talented commercial artist for a number of years provided the impetus for a need to discover more about herself as a serious artist experimenting with different art mediums. She was trained to do what was asked for and now as a painter she is enjoying experimenting and painting what motivates and moves her.

Nadia Savard is a Canadian realist artist based in Airdrie, Alberta. She first picked up a paint brush in 2013 shortly after the loss of an important person in her life, painting felt like a form of therapy and relaxation. She decided to join a local art class where she learned how to paint from a talented teacher. She quickly realized that painting was an actual extension of her own creative journey. She works solely with acrylic, and she enjoys painting wildlife and rustic images.

After seeing this image over 2 years ago, I knew one day I would paint it. I love locomotive and train, probably because I lived near a train track as a child and we would see them constantly. I loved the challenge this photo brought with all the intricate details and all the colors. Its the end of the line for this beautiful locomotive.

Sandra MacGillivray is an accredited member of Federation of Canadian Artists – FCA the Portrait Society of Canada and a graduate of Sheridan College Institute of Design and Technology. Her paintings are collected nationally and internationally. Sandra has been published in Arabella Art Magazine, has been awarded 1st place winner of the American Art Awards multiple times, she is also winner of the Emily Carr Legacy award. Sandra paints in a realistic style capturing the emotion and mood of her subject. Through colour, texture and detail, her paintings capture the subject’s story and a moment in time, compelling the viewer to stop and be inspired. The paintings allow her audience to enter into a journey and share for just a little while the reason the piece of art was created. “My goal is always to engage with the viewer. Otherwise it is merely paint on canvas”

Danielle Beaulieu began experimenting with watercolours about nine years ago and is a self-taught visual artist. Her technique consists of several thin layers of transparent paint, each gently modulating the colours below. Some of her paintings can take a couple of weeks in the making.

Since her retirement, she dedicates about 8 hours per day to her art. 

Recently, a common theme of her watercolours has been antiques items and the surface of water. Antiques hold mysterious knowledge waiting patiently to be revealed through her paintings. These common items are often overlooked by many people. She enjoys giving renewed life to antiques.

You can find her art works at Da Artisti Gallery in Ottawa, ON and Herringbone Gallery in Nova Scotia. She has won awards from Canadian and International organizations and has exhibited in Canada and the United States.

She is the author of two blogs. The first is for watercolorists while the second aims to share the trials and tribulations of his personal journey with watercolour. She is also a regular instructor with Da Artisti Gallery in Ottawa.  Since the pandemic, she transitioned to online classes and has students from various provinces in Canada and the United States.

Did I mention how much I enjoy painting silver objects? I loved combining this teapot and the beautiful harlequin fabric and observing all of the reflections.

Maurice Dionne is a full-time artist in Ottawa, working in various media, however his go to is watercolour. He is inspired by the energy of cityscapes, as well as the beauty of nature. These influences are part of his continued explorations. Like many over the past two years, he has stayed closer to home and explored the many hidden gems in Ottawa. His Series “Interpretations of Ottawa” showcases some of this work.

His technical training is evident in the precision with which he renders architectural shapes. His creativity nevertheless shines through in his delicate handling of details, and especially in his selection of colours, adding a pleasant liveliness to familiar landscapes.

“When sketching and painting something, I’m searching for that spark of energy that attracted me to the subject. How can I capture the mood, the energy and movement that I see? When I lose track of time, I know I must be on the right track.”

Jennifer Kershaw was born in Scarborough, Ontario and lived in Milton after her father’s untimely passing in the ’90s. In 2004, she earned her B.A. Honours degree from the University of Guelph, majoring in Studio Art with a minor in Art History. It was there in the paint spattered studios of Zavitz Hall, that she began to specialize in painting under Monica Tap, and had her revelatory collision with the work of Mary Pratt.

Soon after graduating, Jennifer and her husband fled the GTA for Ottawa in a battered U-haul with her beloved ’93 Pontiac Sunbird in tow and pet goldfish sloshing all the way. She has lived and painted in Ottawa ever since, where she happily does not get routinely stuck in 401 traffic.

“I have always been inspired by the transformative power of light; how it can lift up the everyday into something jewel-like and extraordinary, while its transience inspires me to never take things for granted, to enjoy, savour, and celebrate what we have while it lasts, because as a wise man once said, ‘tomorrow never knows.’ My latest body of work is more specifically about memory – certain smells, flavours, songs, and physical items that remind me of people, places, or times in my life. In painting the personal, I hope I can touch upon the universal.”

This painting is dedicated to my Beloved and the years of fun we’ve had playing D&D with our friends. Points of interest include cherished Fighting Fantasy books, Lord of the Rings box set, a dice bag that has seen many campaigns, and hand drawn maps.

The emphasis on rich reds and gem tones is a call-back to the 1970’s/early 1980’s advertising campaigns and fantasy illustration, the kind you’d see on the packaging of games and books, and the feeling of excitement they engendered.

Magali est née dans un village de campagne en 1976 dans la région de Charlevoix, au Québec, elle est la troisième d’une famille de cinq enfants dont les parents sont hôteliers. Une enfance heureuse où le partage, l’ouverture aux autres et la vie en collectivité fait grandir en elle l’intérêt de connaître toujours plus en profondeur l’être humain.  Ce qui l’amène plus tard, à partir à la découverte du monde, pack sac sur le dos.

À sa seizième année, cherchant un sens à sa vie, elle s’intéresse profondément à l’évolution de l’âme sociale et spirituelle. Sachant déjà le bonheur que lui procure la créativité, cette grâce particulière dont la vie lui a fait cadeau, elle parcourt depuis des voies diversifiées, touchant à l’art et au développement de la personne : ateliers d’approfondissement de la connaissance de soi, d’élévation du savoir et de la conscience, formations d’art dramatique, d’art plastique et de design d’intérieur. Elle se découvre un attrait particulier pour la peinture acrylique, au début d’un long tournant de sa vie en 2015.  Elle approche quarante ans, et n’a jamais voulu rien d’autre qu’être artiste.

En 2017, elle participe à quelques expositions, dans des bibliothèques, cafés et fêtes foraines de sa région.  C’est en 2020, qu’elle s’engage corps et âme à concrétiser ses rêves de création, et quitte son emploi consacrer à la peinture et la massothérapie.

Démarche artistique

Mon artiste intérieure est la source de cet élan qui m’incite à puiser continuellement dans le monde merveilleux de mon imagination et dans le vaste domaine de l’extraordinaire pour chercher des moyens d’insuffler à la vie ordinaire la magie que me montre ma vision intérieure.   J’ai le sentiment de peindre ma propre histoire, mes états d’âme, mes passages, mes rites, mes émotions ou mes aspirations.

J’aime donner forme aux messages de mon âme.  Des formes apparaissent et prennent l’aspect de personnages ou d’animaux, je ne peux faire autrement que de les laisser être. Elles font partie du message.  Mon inspiration prend vie dans la beauté de la nature, dans la pureté de l’être humain et de tout ce qui fait partie du vivant.

Je construis mes tableaux en posant plusieurs couches de peinture sur la toile en guise de mise en place de traits et de formes issus de mon inconscient.  Une fois cette première étape fait, je m’amuse numériquement avec celle-ci en y superposant d’autres photographies.

Magali was born in a country village in 1976 in the Charlevoix region of Quebec. She is the third of five children whose parents are hoteliers. A happy childhood where sharing, openness to others and living in a community made her grow in her interest to know more and more about the human being.  This later led her to discover the world, pack on her back.

In her sixteenth year, looking for a meaning to her life, she became deeply interested in the evolution of the social and spiritual soul. Knowing already the happiness that creativity brings her, this particular grace that life has given her, she has been following various paths, touching on art and personal development: workshops to deepen self-knowledge, to elevate knowledge and consciousness, training in dramatic art, plastic art and interior design. She discovered a particular attraction for acrylic painting, at the beginning of a long turning point in her life in 2015.  She is approaching forty, and has never wanted anything more than to be an artist.

In 2017, she participated in a few exhibitions, in libraries, cafes and fairs in her area.  In 2020, she commits herself body and soul to make her creative dreams come true, and leaves her job to devote herself to painting and massage therapy.

Artistic approach

My inner artist is the source of the impetus that drives me to continually tap into the wonderful world of my imagination and the vast realm of the extraordinary to seek ways to infuse ordinary life with the magic that my inner vision shows me.   I feel that I am painting my own story, my moods, my passages, my rituals, my emotions or my aspirations.

I like to give form to the messages of my soul.  Forms appear and take the aspect of characters or animals, I can’t help but let them be. They are part of the message.  My inspiration comes to life in the beauty of nature, in the purity of the human being and of all that is part of the living.

I build my paintings by putting several layers of paint on the canvas as a way of setting up lines and shapes from my unconscious.  Once this first step is done, I play digitally with it by superimposing other photographs.

Denise is a self-taught graphite artist residing in Alberta Canada, she is a mother, wife and lover of nature. Drawing has been her passion since she was a child, especially capturing the beauty, power resilience, emotion and magic of horses.  As a Christian artist, Denise uses her time drawing to draw closer to God and utilizes her artwork as often as possible to support people who are in need, often donating her work to community fundraisers.  

Philippe Giroux is originally from Beloeil, Quebec. He lived there until the age of 13. In 1972, the family moved to Matane, in the Gaspé. Rather interested in sport as a teenager, his interest in the arts did not appear until college, around 1977. He took a few courses there before continuing on his own. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, he produced a series of pointillist drawings. He left for Montreal where his work was noticed a few times. He spent 3 years there before returning to the Gaspé.

His initiation to painting was self-taught during the 80s and he produced his first murals in the early 90s. He was introduced to decorative painting techniques, textures, patinas and imitations of material. He will be self-employed for nearly 25 years. Drawing, graphics, copy art, painting on furniture, specialized painting, decoration and muralism will have quietly led him to acrylic painting on canvas. In 2014, Philippe Giroux turned definitively towards a professional career as an artist-painter.

Since then, he has been noticed on the internet in North America and Europe. Paintings have found buyers in the United States, Holland, Sweden, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Bahamas and Canada. Winner of 7 international prizes in the last two years, he was the happy winner of the first competition “The Marketer Art Competition 2020”.