I am a Canadian Realist painter and photographer now based in Creston,BC. My practice has been shaped by long periods of solitude, independent study and exploration.
I work within the genre of realism, most directly through my photography, which forms the perceptual and structural foundation of my paintings. The photographic image establishes clarity, observation, and honesty, while the painting process allows for interpretation, intuition, and emotional impact.
I left home at seventeen to pursue art education after being brainwashed in a fundamentalist religious cult. A small high school scholarship and several great teachers changed my life. I was accepted into art school and into a greater community of thinkers beyond that.
My rebellion was glorious. I finally met my people at art school and found safety, belonging and connection. I believe it saved my life. I worked at the school offices and as a nude drawing model to support my studies.
Art became both refuge and lifestyle — a way to think freely and critically, observe closely, and reclaim my own perception. My re-education introduced me to feminist philosophy and intellectual independence, establishing a skeptical and curious foundation that continues to inform my life and work.
After living, working in Thailand, I immigrated to Vancouver, Canada in 1987. This marked a deliberate turning point — a geographical and psychological reset that provided distance, safety, and the conditions necessary to rebuild a life oriented toward autonomy and creative work. Canada offered the stability, cultural distance and space for long-term reflection. A perfect place to begin a life alone outside of any commercial structures.
Living in a remote mountain valley in British Columbia allowed for intensive inner research, including long-term dream study, feminist and Jungian thought. I learned various ways to become self employed and self engaged in a lifestyle that made sense to me.
For decades, I worked slowly and precisely creating detailed layers in egg tempera, watercolours and oil paints. I studied composition, pigments and paint making.
I now work in extended, uninterrupted sessions that privilege intuition, emotion and flow. These oil stick paintings are created with minimal reworking; each piece stands as a complete record of a particular moment in my life.
At this stage of my life, my technique supports intuition rather than controlling it. The work is no longer about proving skill, but about allowing my subconscious to lead the original idea forward. And to trust it.
My task is to operate the brush and get out of my own way, so to speak. Surprisingly, a new emotional visual terrain develops along with new symbols. I resolve inner conflicts and emotional turmoil. The insights lead to healing, resolution and new growth. And I grow from it.
=Off Axis= 2026, Oil stick on hand stretched canvas – 30″x 40″x 2″ – $2500
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