Big Red

Big Red (Available)

96” x 60” | Oil and acrylic on canvas

As an introvert, I have often self-identified as a loner, but even loners need community. In this work, I illustrate my rejection of this self-imposed identity by first exposing the identity and erasing it with a vibrant expression.

Loneliness is pervasive in our culture, especially after a pandemic. I created this work while living alone as a single person. It became clear during those years that even though I loved the solitude, I still needed the support of a community. It hasn’t always been easy to build community but I wake up every day optimistic that I can, and I continue to find people and spaces where I am loved and cherished, people I love and cherish in return.

You're Not Going Anywhere

You’re Not Going Anywhere (Sold)

30” x 48” | Oil on canvas

Commissioned painting.

It's Complicated

It’s Complicated (Available)

62” x 47” | Acrylic on canvas

Pieces

Pieces (Sold)
3 x 14” x 18” | Oil on canvas

A 3 piece set (see full set at the bottom)
I was inspired by the words from the song “Pieces” written by Amanda Cook and Steffany Gretzinger which came on my playlist as I worked on this commission. This work began as a version of my work “Blackbird” but I sought to bring it a unique identity. As soon as the words “you don’t give your heart in pieces” played in my ears, I knew that was the identity I had to give this work.

I choose relationship over religion with the divine, Jesus Christ, God, Holy Spirit - the trinity. He loves recklessly, he chases his children and relentlessly pursues them with his whole heart. Sometimes that brings him heart ache, yet he continually brings his WHOLE heart to all he loves - which is every living breathing human on this earth. As a broken person, with a broken heart, sometimes I can’t submit a whole heart in return of his furious love, but I can submit to him the broken pieces of my heart that he nurtures, restores and makes whole what has been broken apart.

This piece is symbolic of the pieces of a heart. Though the works are broken up, they flow in theme from start to finish. The pieces of a heart offered up and put back together as one.

Blackbird

Blackbird (Sold)
30” x 60” | Oil on canvas

I named this painting after the song Blackbird by the Beatles! There is so much in the lyrics of that song that explain my journey in painting. Years ago, I suffered a heartbreak that was one of the worst pains of my life, but something happened through that experience. I discovered a version of myself I had never know, I discovered my art which I didn’t know existed inside me. Art helped me “take up my broken wings and learn to fly” during that season. When this painting hit the scene, it was my most popular work and sold shortly after I painted it.

Blackbird lyrics: “Blackbird singing in the dead of night, take these broken wings and learn to fly, all my life, you were only waiting for this moment to arise”

Read the full story here!

Nostalgia

Nostalgia (Donated)
48” x 48” | Oil on canvas

Being born and raised on the West Coast (wet coast) I spent most of my days soggy from rain. As I added the subtle grays to the white, it kind of made me think of those pleasant wet gray days on Vancouver Island that we never have out here is sunny Alberta! When I look at this piece, it makes me feel nostalgic about growing up in a gray yet vibrant place, beautiful Vancouver Island.

Rosie

Rosie (Not for sale)
12” x 48” | Oil and acrylic on canvas

The best part about being an artist is that you get to make art for yourself! I painted this piece just for my bedroom; so in love with these muted neutral colours.

Without Words

Without Words (Donated)
36” x 36” | Oil on canvas

Art for me is a way of emptying my soul without words. This non verbal expression some how says everything I want it to say. It speaks of my inner struggle with perfectionism and how art gives me a space for freedom and no boundaries through the practice of automatism.

Tehillah Fire

Tehillah Fire (Sold)
24” x 24” | Acrylic and oil pastel on panel

This was a live piece I painted at Tehillah Monday, which is a young adults worship gathering at First Assembly Church.

A poem I wrote to go with this piece:

A heart that bleeds ruby red
Trickling, seeping
Exposing life filled cells of oxygen, movement, energy
What lived yet lives inside
This is a heart enthralled in the wiles of treacherous abandonment
Reckless pursuit of dark passages
It carves out paths that close up behind it
And never looks back
It eats of unsettledness and wonderment
Wilderness is what it drinks
Fearless of risk
Yet it drips, drips, drips
Holding life and losing it

Untitled (Collaboration)

Untitled (Collaboration with Dorothy Wong)

60” x 48” | Acrylic and mix medium on canvas

I did this collaboration with one of my classmates Dorothy Wong during our final year of university. Working together can sometimes be difficult, especially when two different styles collide, but with Dorothy it was different. She was such a pleasure to create with. Dorothy is the kindest person I have ever met and a creative genius. Check out her instagram at @dorothy.art_

A Warm Rebuff

A Warm Rebuff (Sold)
36” x 48” | Oil on canvas

This painting took me on a hard journey taking the longest to paint out of all my work. It’s presences absorbs a room and demands attention. It endured wounds that reflected mine, and from this pain it’s success was born.

In the Process

In the Process (Sold)
36” x 36” | Acrylic on canvas

Sometimes my head is just chaos because I’m in process. Sometimes it’s dark, sometimes it’s light and sometimes it’s colorful. This was a representation of how I felt in my mind when I made this work. It was a very liberating experience.

Fight On

Fight On (Sold)
50” x 32” | Oil on canvas

Sometimes haters gonna hate and you have to fight through it. That’s the story of this work. I was very frustrated one day with a relational challenge, I landed at the studio that night. All I had was a piece of canvas, some blue, green and white paint. I nailed that scrap of canvas to the wall and went to work and out came this beast. Oil is produced from pressing.

Living Water

Living Water (Donated)
60” x 30” | Oil on canvas

The richness of the colours of this piece are pretty hard to capture on camera but my goal in this work was to create a perspective of what’s under the surface of the water.

This piece went through a transformation process and taught me a bit about patience and the importance of sometimes putting the tool down and walking away!

Vivid Light

Vivid Light (Sold)
20” x 30” | Oil on canvas

Hushed

Hushed (Sold)
36” x 48” | Oil on canvas

Deep Waters

Deep Waters (Not for sale)
36” x 48” | Oil and acrylic on canvas

This piece is special to my heart. It tells the story of a time in my life when I was feeling called to dive into the unknown, into the deep. My past has a lot of pain and this painting was a monument of me leaving behind who I was and pressing on toward who I’m meant to be. I painted it the weekend before I started university, something I never thought I would do. And now I’m almost finished a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and Visual Studies!

This piece went through a bit of a metamorphosis. I originally painted it all blue and some white as you can see in the second photo, but it wasn’t quite right. I always looked at it and didn’t like it. This represented how I felt about my story and the pain I went through as a divorcee in my 20s.

Two years later, I added the white acrylic paint overtop of it (first photo) and now I love this piece. This ended up representing my changing view of my story over the years. When I think about what I’ve walked through, I think my story is beautiful and I wouldn’t change one thing because of what it produced in my life.

Banner of Love

Banner of Love (Sold)
12” x 72” | Oil on canvas

This was my first big work and commission ever! I had literally just been playing around with oils at this point until a friend approached me about creating this large piece. Creating this work was significant in “launching” me into a creative realm I had never explored and there I found myself nailing a 6 ft. canvas to a wall in my living room. I was terrified but all it took was one person to believe it me and a bit of courage to take a risk and I was shocked at what came out of me. I’m so grateful for people in my life that see things in me that I don’t see and call it out of me. If you don’t have friends like that, get some.