Another close-up of a tiny part of a painting for you. Soon I'll be away on vacation for a month, then the full-on show prep scramble begins! . #canadianartist #landscapeartist #canadianlandscape

A snippet! This is a close-up of what felt like a million tiny trees. I may have been overly dramatic about it. 😆 . #trees #painting #canadianartist

The birth of a mountain, painting version. Lately I've really been putting my head down and painting, but not posting a whole lot. Because I'm working on a November show I'm kind of reticent to reveal things fully ahead of time. But I can show you snippets, right? #canadianartist #canadianart

The pieces for my next show are coming together. This spot along the highway is a giant cliff with many small waterfalls. It's a significant place for my family because you can often spot mountain goats. As my kids grow up and move away these places become even more meaningful. #parenting #lettinggo

I'm starting to put a Christmas commission list together, so if you're thinking about giving a dog portrait this year, give me a shout! But also, I just love this dog's face. Those jowls! That soulful gaze! ❤️ . #dogportraits #christmasiscoming #giftideas

While I'm busy working on commissions please enjoy this poster for my past show with Suzo Hickey. The photo Jeseka Hickey used as reference for the poster now lives on our studio fridge. I really love this fridge. Mystery! Cats! Italian! Me and Suzo pretending to fight! #artbattle #artist #artshow

One of my most therapeutic mediums is pencil crayon. Something about it is calming, meditative. Maybe it's the childhood connection? Anyway, here's a little pencil crayon cup of tea for a rainy afternoon. #pencilcrayon #colouredpencil

This is a little detail of a finished painting, hooray! Now I move on to commissions for a bit, then jump back into painting for my November show. It feels pretty good to put that final brush stroke on, I gotta say. . #water #waterfall #art #canadianartist

A little underwater rock detail as I plug away. I'm finding painting both more difficult and more essential these days. . #painting #stressrelief

I gave up on the underwater rocks to paint above water rocks for a bit, but I couldn't escape forever. Send help. Lol . #acrylicpainting #canadianart #paintingprogress #wip #theyrenotdoneyet

🍳 My brain on underwater rocks. 11 on the trickiness scale, maybe. 😵‍💫 . #acrylicpainting #canadianartist #paintingwater

Northword magazine is back! And the artist group I belong to is featured in the first issue. The article is about our trip to Anyox and the art that came out of the trip. Thanks NAAG for being great friends and collaborators, and thanks Northword! #northernbc #canadianartist #canadianart #anyox

The rest of this painting has a lot going on. Reflections, underwater rocks, a gravel bar, etc. I approach it by picking a shape and paint that in so that my brain can start making out what to do by looking at the other elements in relationship to that shape. It's one way to get past the overwhelm.

And now the middle! A lot of northwestern BC folks might recognize this waterfall. Or maybe I need to paint more of it to give it context. 😄 What I know for sure is I would like to be standing in front of it for real right now. #nassvalley #nass #vedderfalls #northernbc #beautifulbritishcolumbia

The other side of the forest painting. Little bit of sunlight breaking through. 🌞 . #forestbathing #nature #landscapepainting #paintingnature

These days we could probably all use more forest therapy. Today, for me, that took the form of painting one. Not a real forest, but it still makes me feel calm. . #landscapeart #landscapepainting #forest #foresttherapy #art

And finished! Heading to The Fairlie Cafe for a coffee and a tasty treat! I try to do this every time I'm in Terrace. A train going by is a bonus. Anybody else here who loves trains? 🙋‍♀️ Thanks for joining me as I painted this one! #art #canadianart #canadianartist #painter

Today's before and after, everything done but the pavement. Looking at the reference photo, the pavement was pretty wet that day, so reflections coming up! #landscapepainting #cityscape #art #artist

Finally got those stairs in, now I'm blocking in shapes for the foreground. Here's where I start making decisions about what to leave in and what to take out, and with foregrounds I'm inclined to declutter. Big rocks, yes. Garbage can, no. And I need to decide, is the cul-de-sac pavement wet or dry?

Well, my vacation is over and tomorrow I'm back in my studio. We pivoted from our original plan to go to Seattle, and went to Ottawa instead. If you haven't been there, I really recommend it! The National Gallery for one is truly bucket list. Here are some photos 😊

I walked by this scene in Ottawa today and it gave my Canadian heart a squeeze. It's an interesting, extra emotional time to be in our nation's Capitol. ❤️

I'm on holiday for a week, but here's where this sweet little coffee shop ended up before I left. There's been a lot of trial and error on those lights. Too orange, too yellow, too white. I settled on all three. . #canadianartist #canadianpainter #canadianart

This railing was trickier than it seemed at first! . #art #canadianart #canadianpainter

Blocking some shapes in and trying to figure out what shape goes where. I really like doing buildings, but it hurts my brain a little. Maybe that's what I like about it, it's difficulty. Flowers are the same, so difficult, but so fun. #landscapepainting #canadianartist #canadianart

Adding a few trees, it looks kind of awkward, but it'll make visual sense once the building is painted. #landscapepainting #landscape #sunset #canadianart #canadian

How I feel in 2025 so far 🌬️🦊 🧶 #embroidery #handembroidery #blueskyart

Next! By this point my sketch was starting to disappear, so I re-drew it, then decided I wanted the sky darker and filled in that pink bit. I was going for more of light filtering through a heavy cloud.

Today's progress shots! I laid in my sketch, then started to paint the sky, but realized that the pencil trees and posts were smudging. I backtracked and drew them in with permanent marker so I could paint over them without losing my sketch. I like the ghost of the sketch to peek through as a guide.

I think I'll do a "Come along with me as I paint this thing" series. I'll show you my steps and explain why I made all the mistakes I did, lol.

This little pooch is a memorial portrait. It's always such an honour to paint these! ❤️

I'm switching back and forth from dog portraits to landscapes as I'm now officially painting for a show in November. Apparently I wouldn't have it any other way 😆

Meet Finnigan! This portrait is on its way to live with the real-life sweet faced fellow that inspired it. Next! #dogportrait #dogs #portraitartist #ilovedogs

I've been doing these dog portraits lately and really liking it. I need to finish a couple, then switch over to painting landscapes for a show, and I'm finding it hard to flip my brain from one method to another. Anyone else have this problem? #dogs #dogportrait #dogportraits #coloredpencil

Some of my artist friends ( @marktworow.bsky.social ) tell me I need to print my reference photos larger, and these mountains proved them right. It was a workout! #art #artist #painter #landscapeart #painting #acrylic #canadianart

I guess if I'm going to figure out how to post on this new platform I should jump in and start posting. Maybe a couple of painting progress shots? That little sliver of mountain has taken me 6 hours to do! 🤦‍♀️ #painting #art #artist #landscape #paintingprogress #mountains #britishcolumbia