My earliest memories of making art are as a two year old! What an exhilarating time of smacking down what I observed – wild, exaggerated, but still recognizable!
My parents encouraged me in all this; I realize now how lucky I was! For reasons not entirely clear to me, studying Fine Arts seemed frivolous (could this be my Scottish/Norwegian background?) Instead, my career path took me into broadcast journalism; some of you knew me in my years with CBC radio and television as Sheila Baptie.
For many years, I felt my own artistic expression had to be ‘practical’ – decorating, fashion, a brief stint re-imagining vintage fabrics. It took a few decades for me to realize that I no longer wanted to dance around the edges of what was calling me – PAINTING!
As I dove in, my practice centred largely on representational landscape. This is where I honed my skills; I’ve been privileged to study under many fine instructors.
Since 2023, my work has moved into non-representational expression. I find that by eliminating subject matter as a primary focus, I am able to concentrate in a more focused way on the elements that intrigue me – composition, colour, texture, line, and mood. I am also challenged by the concepts of simplicity and reducing.
Painting, for me, is not a straight line or a destination. It is, at best, an exploration and reflection of many other things going on in my soul!
