I live on the Salish Sea, the island rich waterway that lies between Vancouver Island and the mainland coast of British Columbia.
in my studio, Protection Island
my paintings…
…landscapes, abstractions, illustrated journals.
In acrylic & mixed media I strive for complex surface and luminous colour. In watercolour, transparency and a balance between release and control.
my courses…
The Covid-19 pandemic had us all reaching for close and absorbing pursuits. It was a reminder of how creative work can sustain us.
A painting practice isn’t just about building skills to make good work. Whether we have a studio or work at our kitchen table, art is there to offer us solace, immersion, the challenge of new subjects, new materials. And connection. In making art we instantly connect to the body of art through time and to other living artists.
In recent years I have expanded my teaching from in person courses to online. Never before has it been so easy to learn from and share with the art community.
In my online classes I want to help you both learn to paint and to create your own nurturing painting practice. With a supportive, playful approach I’ll help you wade into art for the first time or return after years of other work which has kept you from painting. Drawing and painting, like any other skills, can be learned and built upon, and each step along the way can be fun and rewarding. Many of my students return year after year and have become accomplished artists in their own rights.
Your course was absolutely outstanding. You gave so freely of yourself, you were so organized, there was so much extra helpful material, and the Facebook Group is great. I loved the videos, and that you recorded the lessons.
Beverley M.
I learned so much. I only ever held a paintbrush for the first time in May …but I found your lessons not only inspirational but easy for even a beginner to follow.
You truly met your objective Water Colour Work/ Watercolour Play. But you should rename it to Watercolour Joy!
Thank you again, from the bottom of my heart
Sandy F.
my writing: I have an MFA in creative writing and have published three books. Poetry has been my greatest teacher: how to pay attention, how metaphor opens new meaning, and how space and spareness, like neutrals in painting, allow us to focus on the essential.
Recently I have been working on a series of poems around the idea of a poetic addendum to a fictional natural history field guide. In 2021, five poems in this series were short-listed for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation Poetry Prize. You can read them here.
Non-fiction
2001. Harbour Publishing.
Winner of the Edna Staebler Award, for best first or second book of Canadian non-fiction.
Poetry
2005. Pedlar Press
Fiction
2017. Freehand Press. Short-listed for the Amazon Canada First Novel Prize.