Very Fond of Tea

This was a commissioned piece for a baby shower gift.  I had a lot of fun with it - especially painting the little fox.  The text in the house and on the tree trunk is taken from a book about Emily Dickinson, and the text above the group is a quote from Alice in Wonderland.

I love working on commissions because it is fun to collaborate.  Two heads are better than one, especially when one of those noggins is attached to a paintbrush . . .

I realize this isn't the most flattering photo of me - but it was kind of fun - and those are my favourite hedgehog pajamas.

Happy painting everyone!

Finding time

When people see my paintings, they ask, "how do you find the time?"

My answer, "I don't do dishes."

Or, "I leave the dusting."

Or, "My respite worker, Elmo, takes over for a bit." (I'm a bad mom, aren't I?).




The truth is, I often have to snatch small moments. Five minutes for a tree trunk here. Three minutes to browse the books there. One minute to add some highlights.

You get the picture.

It's like the time I was trying to write a novel, and I took my notebook everywhere with me and jotted down little bits whenever I could. (Did you see the lady at the gym that day scribbling in her book, but not exercising much? That was me.) There's almost always a sense of "I've got a small window of opportunity and I must make the most of it."

That's how I do it.

If Birds Read Poetry - and Someday Dream

Collage has opened a whole new world to me with my paintings.  I have been dipping into my memory of poems and text I read twenty years ago as an English Literature Major at Trent University. 


I have a little someday dream. . . to have The Little Gull Studio in a floating house at Fisherman's Wharf.  I would sell paintings, cards, t-shirts, mugs, and host little painting workshops.  It would be cozy and lovely and a way of life to make you happy.  The best part?  Aidan would work with me.  And, perhaps if he wanted to, he could live on the Floating House.

Ah, to dream a little dream.