Painting Mountains on Grouse Mountain

With thanks to Devin Manky who made 3 days of painting come together in this exciting time-lapse! This was an incredible project—my favourite so far! Read about the full journey in my previous post A Mountain Mural at Grouse Mountain.

Being Botanical

Flowers in my DNA. As the season transforms it's colours, several projects have finished up while others are getting started. Between these different phases, the pace changed from painting on-site over the past several months to planning here at home. An opportunity opened up to reorganize and clear-up my space—until something unexpected happened...

Everything botanical blossomed into view. Autumn leaves started to fall, as I started an old habit of collecting them. I found a few cherished floral illustrations by my grandfather, which triggered me to draw more of my own. I pulled out old sketchbooks with drawings and pressed flowers, that revealed more ideas I'd like to pursue. A book called out to me at a bookstore, which happened to be filled with captivating botanical illustrations. I went to a Benjamin Moore event at Casa Loma, to find myself feeling quite at home in the conservatory!

I've had a little transformation myself, from being obsessively organized to allowing flowers to litter my floor. You'll find "art stations" set up around the room with several experiments being worked on at the same time. Unleashing my own rules has revealed a new creative method and a spectacular view through rose-coloured glasses.

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