BIO Welcome......
I was born and raised in Saskatchewan and received my education at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon: my B.Ed. in 1983 and my B.F.A. with Great Distinction in 2005. For the past six years, I have been painting with oils and encaustic and have participated in several solo and group exhibitions. I also teach high school Visual Art for the Saskatoon Public School Division and consider myself fortunate for having two dream jobs.
Expressive mark-making, texture and colour are key elements in my work. I add and subtract, scratch and scrape with a mix of media including oil, encaustic, charcoal, oil stick, oil pastel and collage. Through the layering process, I strive to mimic a history, indicate complexity of character, establish a mood and relay a sense of mystery within a given space. I favor oils for their rich hues and buttery texture and encaustic for its luminous quality and inherent ability to preserve and obscure. Encaustic also allows me to encapsulate organic matter and found objects under multiple layers and then scrape into these layers in order to expose what lies below..... it is an excavation process I enjoy immensely.
ENCAUSTIC INFO About Encaustic
Encaustic is the oldest painting medium still in use today as it dates back to ancient Greece. It is comprised of molten beeswax, damar resin and dry pigments or oil paint and is applied to a rigid canvas, wooden panel or metal surface with brushes and palette knives. The wax hardens immediately and must be fused with heat for permanency. Once fused, the durable enamel-like surface is impervious to moisture, dust, shrinkage, fading, yellowing and even cracking (unless the artwork is exposed to freezing temperatures). Encaustic paintings do not need to be varnished or protected by glass; a final light polishing with soft cotton is all that is needed to bring out the soft, satiny sheen. The only important requirement is that they be hung out of direct sunlight as high temperatures tend to soften the wax.
LOCATION 
My work can be viewed at these locations in Saskatoon and Regina..........
THE STALL GALLERY at RIVER LANDING next to the Farmers' Market,
105-120 Sonnenshein Way, Saskatoon www.thestallgallery.com
McINTYRE GALLERY, 2347 McIntyre Street, Regina www.mcintyregallery.ca
POMEGRANATE GALLERY, REMAI ARTS CENTER,
100 Spadina Crescent E., Saskatoon
TRUFFLES BISTRO & PATTISSERIE, 230 21st St. E.
Saskatoon
THE MIX ARTIST COLLECTIVE STUDIO, 539 - 24TH ST. E.
(white house behind Knox United Church on Spadina Crescent)
THE MIX STUDIO
Upcoming exhibitions in Saskatoon.........
XMAS EXHIBITION AT THE STALL GALLERY, DECEMBER 2011
THE MIX SPRING EXHIBITION, April 27th, 2012
THE GALLERY AT THE FRANCES MORRISON LIBRARY, APRIL/MAY 2012
