Alice at Rice Lake 2010
Rediscovering my creative side through painting and photography.
I am excited about this new chapter of my life!
I am originally from the United States, and in 1974 I crossed the border into Canada, settling in Toronto. In 2000 I moved downtown from the west side suburbs to a 12- story condo building downtown in the lively and historic St. Lawrence Market neighbourhood, not far from Lake Ontario.
Since my retirement in 2009, after 29 years at a busy and stressful investment accounting job, I have devoted my time to a variety of artistic and creative pursuits. No more numbers!
In 2024 I moved to a retirement residence in Richmond Hill. My studio apt (I call it my bohemian artist's loft) has plenty of light for plants and painting, and room for my art collection.. A frustrated gardener with no balcony, I enjoy growing a variety of indoor green plants, 40 and counting .
Photography
When I retired I purchased my first digital camera, a Panasonic Lumix. Not the fanciest camera but I loved using it and was happy with the results. I attended several classes at Henry's School of Imaging but mostly enjoy experimenting on my own, surprising myself with what happens through my lens and also what is possible on Photoshop. Since then l have used a Canon EOS camera, mostly simple point and shoot, or zooming in on my favorite subject, flowers.
Drawing and Painting
Though the years I have taken various courses in drawing and painting in the US and in Toronto. Since retirement I have taken landscape painting classes in acrylics and oils at Avenue Road Arts School and George Brown College Fine Arts Program. For several years I continued my exploration of landscape painting in classes taught by an excellent teacher, Stefan Galvanek, at LucSculpture School. I also took classes in Mixed Media and Watercolor at Ryerson's Life Institute. I am continuing painting on my own or in some art classes at the retirement residence.
See examples of my paintings on the Slide Show page.