Goward House

https://yougottahaveart.ca

I have always been a leisure painter, but waited until I took early retirement from a teaching career to take serious training at the University of Alberta in Edmonton.  

The Artist’s Work

My style has gone through several changes since then, but over the last few years I’ve settled on a semi-abstracted depiction of more simplistic imagery, using strong lines and bold colours.  

For inspiration I draw on my environment, whether domestic or imaginative.  My palette has remained consistent through the years; my chosen media both acrylic and water-soluble oils on canvas.  My husband Jim has provided me with canvas and framing services, and my daughter and photographic partner Laura has taken photos of my work, and provided invaluable services with her computer skills.  I am very grateful to both of them.

https://sandytoeproductions.ca

I am a settler of British descent who is grateful to live, work, love and play on the unceded lands of the Songhees and Esquimalt nations.  It is relationships we as humans are so often obsessed with.  In my work, I aim to capture the relationships of not only people and nature, but of movement, light, environment and colour to one another.  By looking closer at our surroundings we can gain a new understanding and wonder of the world around us, the huge impacts we have on it and our place in it.  

The Artist’s Work

Raised on a healthy mix of CBC, Opera and the Beatles, I find fanciful things just about everywhere I look – every detail has a story and can lead ones imagination to soar.  Honoured to have exhibited both as a solo artist and in joint shows, selections of my work hangs in private collections across Canada and the United States.  This is my fifth joint show with my talented mother, Mary and I treasure our collaborations.  I have been taking photographs since I was given my first camera almost thirty years ago and feel blessed by the voice it gives me.  I raise my hands in thanks to my children who allow me to doddle behind on our adventures and for work which sends me to mysterious places full of stories.