Location: United States
I was born in the city of St. John’s on the island of Newfoundland, Canada. I grew up on the shores of a lake and learned to swim at a very young age. All of my fondest memories always include water. If I have a first love it is mathematics. My fascination with numbers and calculation led me into the engineering program at Memorial University in Newfoundland. After two years of studying engineering, I left to attend the Alberta College of Art where I studied Visual Communications. After graduating, I got a job in advertising and went on to earn my living in corporate graphic design, including developing corporate identities for some of the largest corporations in Canada. When I moved to the United States in 2007, I took several classes at the Glassell School of Art in Houston, where I currently live, and focused my studies on designing and producing handmade jewelry. As time permits, I continue to create unique handmade jewelry today. Painting is the current love of my creative life.
I am an elected member of the Society of Canadian Artists.
Artist Statement
I've dealt with a great deal of adversity over the years and even now, at times I feel as though I exist in a strange state somewhere between life and death. For me, everything changed in an instant, yet my life continues. Today, I find myself living an entirely new existence in what seems like in an entirely new universe. Encouraged to paint by a dear friend and mentor who has always admired my creative abilities, this new reality has become the backdrop for my art. My first painting, called “Soaring”, is a close-up of a figure swimming in water with her back to the viewer, taken entirely out of context, and painted in such a way that we really don't know where she's going or how she's getting there. She could be flying; she could be dying. And this is what my art as well as my existence is about–whether to fly or die. I choose to fly.
Medium: Acrylic on Canvas
Dimensions: 36 x 48 inches
Artist note: Swimming for me is pure joy. It transcends my sadness and it lifts my soul."
Medium: Acrylic on canvas
Dimensions: 40 x 40 inches
Artist Note: Water is my refuge. When the world is still I can hear it, when I close my eyes I can feel it. I return to water again and again and always emerge renewed.
Medium: Acrylic on Canvas
Dimensions: 48 x 24 inches
Artist note: I stand. Defiant, alone, all of nature about to storm. I stand in water and I fear naught.
Medium: Acrylic
Dimensions: 36 x 48 inches
Artist note: The ocean’s unconquerable roar. It excites me and I hear the words of Invictus—“I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul.”
Medium: Acrylic
Dimensions 48 x 30 inches
Artist note: Waves are infinite, but life is temporary. In this moment I am the rock- strong, indifferent, unyielding.
Medium: Acrylic
Dimensions 36 x 48 inches
Artist note: On land gravity pulls us down. In the ocean I’m buoyant. When I float I’m free.
Medium: Acrylic on canvas
Dimensions: 36 x 12 inches
Artist note: We plunge rapidly through air and we often solidly stand our ground, but only in water do we drift. Unmoored, free from desire, the ocean tempts me to dream and drift away.
Medium: Acrylic
Dimensions: 36 x 12 inches
Artist note: Longing is the undertow of our emotions. It pulls us back to simpler times. The ocean pulls on me and I long to laugh in love.
Medium: Acrylic on Canvas
Dimensions: 36 x 48 inches
Artist Note: Suffocated by fury, drowning in my recovery, I burst through the surface of the sea and in this moment I escape. I am free.
"Moving"
Acrylic, 36 x 48 inches
Artist Note: Life comes at me in waves. It overwhelms me. Their force stops me momentarily. Then I face it, pivot and joyfully ride high the crest. The ocean is an expression of my outpouring emotion–sometimes turbulent, sometimes completely still.
“Soaring”
“Emerging”
“Standing”
“Roaring”
“Fleeting”
“Floating”
“Drifting”
“Longing”
“Breathing”
“"Moving"”
