I’d been doing other creative work, of course. I had been learning about oil painting and had completed an entire picture book’s worth of digital paintings, but I hadn’t worked in acrylics during that time.

Maybe I was just rusty.

Then again, after seeing the direction that my most recent painting is taking, maybe my style is evolving.

Incorporating Influences

Recently, we came across a “Fake or Fortune?” episode all about the Canadian Impressionist painter, Helen McNicoll.

For those who aren’t familiar with the art documentary TV series, it follows BBC journalist, Fiona Bruce, and art expert, Philip Mould, as they search for undiscovered masterpieces which may or may not turn out to be elaborate fakes. Hubby and I are obsessed with the series, and one of our bucket list travel goals is to visit the Courtauld Institute in London, where all the show’s forensic work happens.

As for Helen McNicoll, I first fell in love with her paintings back in 2023, when we saw her work at the Royal Ontario Museum. I absolutely love how she uses light and how she incorporates colour in her paintings.

In the “Fake or Fortune?” episode, they try to find out if the above painting found in the UK is, in fact, the missing McNicoll masterpiece, “The Bean Harvest.”

I was pretty certain from the get-go this would end up being a genuine McNicoll based on the works I’ve already seen. It felt like a similar colour palette and had that characteristic way she paints sunlight.

Incidentally, there are few things more art nerdy and delightful than listening to hubby and me backseat quarterback during an episode of “Fake or Fortune?”

“Oh, they’re going to get this one for sure! I mean, the forensics show that the use of paint glazes matches perfectly with her other work.

“I don’t know… they’re still coming up short on the provenance.”

As I said… big time nerds!

One thing Philip Mould noted in his examination of the painting was that McNicoll creates a greater sense of depth by making the brushstrokes bigger in the foreground than they are in the background. This struck me as a bit counterintuitive since I usually have more detail and teeny tiny brushstrokes in the foreground and blotchier, bigger strokes in the background.

Still, I stored this tidbit away for later.

Scene from another time

Last week, after a full morning of not-so-fun administration work at the studio, I decided to spend the rest of my time there starting a new painting.

I dug through some of the many, many photos that Stefan sent me while I was in the hospital. It was his way of keeping me connected to the outside world. As the months went by, his skills as a photographer improved and I noticed that he was often using the same kind of lighting and composition that I would have if I’d taken the photo myself.

What really drew me to this particular photo is the stillness of the duck and the water contrasted against the chaotic, overgrown feel of the weeds around it.

Now, capturing that contrast in a photo is one thing, but doing it in paint is something else entirely—particularly if the canvas is only 6x6”. I wanted to suggest the vegetation without committing to painting every leaf and reed.

My solution was a significant amount of layering and allowing the lighter colours on top to suggest that chaotic complexity underneath. I also saw an opportunity to borrow from McNicoll to create a sense of depth by making the strokes on the left side of the duck thinner and more delicate than the ones on the right.

I am very happy with the final result. The painting feels bright and energetic while preserving the core stillness at its centre. I also really love the colour palette with the gold, orange, purple and deep green. While not photorealistic, it still feels true to a crisp autumn day that sits between the fading glow of summer and the rising chill of winter.

You can find this piece in my online store alongside my other original paintings.

Next Saturday, August 29th, I will have a table in the Artist Alley at the cSPACE Farmers and Makers Market!

Those who follow this newsletter know that cSPACE is one of my favourite spots in Calgary. It’s a community arts incubator space, and it’s always got something creative going on. I’ve exhibited there. We’ve run CreativiTEA workshops there. We even got married there back in 2019.

You’ll be able to find me, my greeting cards and my original paintings. I’ll also be chatting with folks about our upcoming CreativiTEA for Grown-Ups workshops—we’ve got the next four months of workshops now listed.

Farmers & Makers Market
cSPACE Marda Loop
1721 29 Ave SW, Calgary (map)
10am to 2pm

Hope to see folks there!

As we roll steadily towards September, there is a feeling of a reset and new beginnings, and that couldn’t be more true for all the things I have on the go.

So let’s get into it.

New original paintings available

After selling through every original painting I had in my online store, I finally have two new acrylics available.

Both of these are quite small—6x8” and 6x6”—but they’re packed with tiny brushstrokes and detail. They’re also painted on gallery-width canvas, so they can either be hung on a wall or placed freestanding to brighten up a bookshelf.

While I am planning to get back to creating more originals, my painting style is so time-consuming that my original paintings will likely continue to be pretty rare.

So, if you’ve been waiting, now’s the time…

Shop Original Paintings

CreativiTEA workshops return in September

We’re kicking off a new season with our ever-popular Presence Through Painting workshop on Sunday, September 27th from 1-3pm at Atelier Artista in cSPACE Marda Loop. In this acrylic painting workshop, I will be teaching how to use painting as a tool for mindfulness by centring one’s focus on working with the paint in the present moment.

What is a CreativiTEA?

CreativiTEA is a monthly in-person workshop series that combines a fun, insightful art-making activity with community building through creativity.

In designing and hosting the CreativiTEA workshops, Stefan and I blend our skills in creativity coaching and mental health to create unique, meaningful experiences for participants. We both strongly believe that creativity and art-making can be powerful tools for self-discovery and improving mental health.

Each two-hour CreativiTEA workshop includes:

• a guided art-making activity with all the supplies provided

• socializing with tea and delicious goodies—also provided

We have 10 months of workshops planned for the 2026/2027 season with a slew of brand new workshops along with returning favourites.

New Fall/Winter season pass option!

You can now purchase workshops individually for $30, or sign up for all four upcoming workshops for $100.

• Presence through Painting - Sunday, September 27th

• Inner and Outer Masks - Sunday, October 18th

• Backwards, Forwards - Sunday, November 15th

• Gratitude Time Capsules - Sunday, December 13th

(Eventbrite listings for the October to December workshops will be posted soon.)

We’ve been planning this next round of workshops for months, and we’re so excited to invite folks to see what we’ve come up with. I hope you’ll join us!

Get Your CreativiTEA tickets

“The Perfect Ride” is available for pre-order

Last week, I unexpectedly received my advance copy from Owlkids Books of the picture book I illustrated, “The Perfect Ride.”

There is something that hits different about actually holding a book you’ve had a hand in creating. I was reminded of how illustrating a picture book has been on my bucket list for so many years. How I had taken two different continuing studies courses on picture book illustration. How I drew thumbnail sketches of the illustrations on my back in my hospital bed in the fall of 2024.

Needless to say, it has been a wild ride!

“The Perfect Ride” won’t be published until January 26, 2027, but it is possible to preorder the book right now from Indigo, Amazon and independent booksellers such as Pages in Kensington (Calgary).

Well, there’s no way that they were talking about acrylic paint since there’s definitely not enough time to get bored—particularly in all the hot weather we’ve been having.

I first noticed this while working on the painting for my parents back in Vancouver. The temperature was typically running in the mid-to-high 20s (Celsius, or high 70s to low 80s Fahrenheit) inside the house when I was there.

I’d mix a complicated colour like a skin tone, paint with it for a little while, only to discover it had already dried on the palette.

Then, I’d have to mix the same colour all over again.

Granted, I’ve been pretty spoiled working with oils this past year. Oil paint will take the better part of a week to dry, which can be both a blessing and a curse.

When I looked at the forecast upon getting back to Calgary, I saw that temperatures were set to climb to 33C (91F). With those kinds of temperatures, I needed a better option for keeping my acrylic paint wet; otherwise I was going to be pulling out my hair all summer.

I remembered reading about someone raving about their stay wet palette on Threads not long ago and how it had been a huge game changer for them as an acrylic painter. Even more randomly, I realized I’d bought one earlier this year with the intention of using it as an airtight container for storing oil paints in our skinny little freezer.

Maybe it was worth giving it a whirl as simply a stay wet palette?

Working with my old palette

The most important thing to understand about acrylic paint is that it’s just plastic—or, more precisely, pigment suspended in a plastic-based medium.

Thus, when the paint dries, one simply gets lumps of plastic.

My paint palettes for the past few years have been plastic lids off of fast food containers, which is great for easy clean up.

Bigger blobs of paint fresh from the tube are slower to dry out, but develop a skin on the surface which I have to punch through with the brush when working to get at the still wet paint inside.

Mixing colours typically creates flatter patches of paint that can dry out in a matter of minutes, and I’ll need to mix them again.

All that said, one nice thing about working with acrylics on a plastic palette is that when all those blobs and patches are 100% dry, I can easily pluck or scrape the paint off the palette to toss all that plastic directly in the trash.

Working with a stay wet palette

A stay wet palette is essentially a plastic tray, a sponge and some special water-permeable paper. I’m using the little Masterson Sta-Wet Handy Palette, which holds 8.5x7” sheets of palette paper.

The first step is to soak the paper in hot water for 15 minutes to remove the protective coating.

Then I wet and partially wring out the sponge.

After the sponge and paper are returned to the tray, I wipe off excess water from the surface with a paper towel. The idea is for the surface to be damp, but there shouldn’t be puddles or beads of water.

I felt the difference of the stay wet palette immediately. First off, those tube paint blobs didn’t develop a surface skin during the course of an hour and a half painting session.

The thinner patches of mixed colours didn’t stay wet for the entirety of my painting session, but they did stay wet enough that I could return to them multiple times.

And perhaps the best part is the paint on the canvas still dries as quickly as regular acrylics, which means I’m not at risk of smudging the painting as I have sometimes done with oil paints.

I’ve done two sessions of work on this particular acrylic painting—about 4 hours—and I’m loving the progress that I’ve made on it.

The thing I haven’t figured out yet is how to clean up the stay wet palettes without making a big mess in the sink. The fancy palette paper is supposed to be washable and reusable, but that would mean washing a bunch of plastic paint down the drain, which I don’t love. For the time being, I’m tossing the used palette paper in the trash, but I have some buckets and straining fabric on order that I’m hoping will be the base for a better system.

As for this newsletter, I hope you enjoyed this behind-the-scenes peek at my latest painting discovery, and that it’s been more exciting to read than watching paint dry.

As part of my two-week visit with my parents, I had planned to do a bit of painting to pass the time. My mother has a beautiful garden that I thought would provide lots of inspiration. I figured I’d do a flower study or something equally simple and relaxing with tiny 6x6” and 6x8” prepped and toned canvases that I had brought with me.

What I hadn’t figured on was doing a hard painting on vacation.

My father is a retired engineer and an incredibly talented photographer. He had sent me a beautiful photo he’d taken of my mother’s garden back in May when the wisteria was in full bloom. He liked the cave-like quality of the flowers, but wanted to know if I could do a painting removing the neighbour’s house and garage in the background.

Upon seeing the painting supplies that I’d brought, he suggested the garden-cave photo again, but this time he asked if I could add Mom to the painting.

Uhhh… sure…?

I’ve done portraits of people a handful of times before, but only of myself and my husband as part of my 2024 exhibit. These portraits felt very safe to do since Stefan is generally happy with whatever I paint, and, while I don’t always like images of myself, I can get enough mental distance to simply see them as art.

But this was a painting of my mother requested by my father. No pressure.

I decided the best way to add my mother to her garden was to find a reference photo where she was in the right pose and approximately the right lighting.

I settled on one taken at a family friend’s wedding in 2012, where she’s dressed in one of the beautiful Thai silk dresses that she loves so much. Thankfully, the slightly overcast wedding day muted the highlights and shadows enough that she didn’t look out of place in the shade of her garden grotto.

I made some modifications to the garden image too, bringing the colourful rhododendron bushes on the right closer to Mom to help cover up the empty stretch of fence and the neighbour’s garage. I didn’t worry too much about cleaning up the bits and pieces, knowing I would be taking a fair bit of artistic license with the background anyway.

I started working on the painting on July 2nd, which gave me roughly ten days if I wanted to finish it before I went back to Calgary. I typically take two to three weeks to finish a painting, so this was going to be lightning speed for me.

I’ve noticed, however, that my acrylic painting style has changed somewhat since I got out of the hospital. My brush strokes are rougher with a more impressionistic quality. While I did spend a lot of time reworking Mom’s face and hands over and over and over again, other parts of the painting came together in a few loose brush strokes that I didn’t change again.

I hesitate to say that my style in acrylics is becoming more confident, because it doesn’t necessarily feel confident when I’m actually doing it. Still, even I was surprised at how quickly this one came together.

To my relief, Mom and Dad were very happy with the final painting. I know I shouldn’t be surprised, given how much of my artwork decorates their house. Over the years, I’ve given them original art as gifts, and they’ve also purchased art prints to further expand their collection. They even had a set of coasters on the breakfast table with one of my stained glass designs on it from my old Society6 store.

As for the painting, it will also be part of my upcoming 2027 calendar as the artwork for May… Mother’s Day.

Yesterday, I kicked off my road trip west from Calgary back to Vancouver. Because I still can’t fly with my wonkily-healed leg, I’m making my way back in our accessible van with help from my sister (who flew in from Toronto) and her friend (who flew in from Portland).

There’s been a ton of moving parts with this trip, including last minute health shenanigans and general accessibility anxiety with this being my first trip since that lengthy hospital stay. Still, I am hoping to get back into my posting groove once we get to my parents’ place in Vancouver—and work on some new paintings too! I’ll be there until mid-July, when hubby will fly in to Vancouver to drive me back.

In the meantime, I encourage you to check out this great mini video highlighting the finished Davinced paint-by-number of Steampunk Lucy.

After the big, climactic battle, Belgareth the sorcerer, the beloved disciple of the God Aldur, shouts to the heavens, “Master, it is finished!”

It’s intended as the resolution of thousands of years of planning and sacrifice as Belgareth meticulously followed all the ins and outs of the Prophecy. The funny part is that, even though that book was the end of The Belgariad series, it was nowhere near the end for Belgareth, as even more was tacked onto the grand Prophecy. I suspect partly because of the Belgariad’s success as a series, Eddings went on to write The Malloreon series, plus two prequel books and a separate behind-the-scenes appendix.

I can almost picture grumpy Belgareth glowering at those same heavens, “Wait, what do you mean I’m not done yet?!”

Finished and off to the editor

I hit a similar “it is finished” milestone this week as I wrapped up my final editing pass on the novel. I had some very specific goals for the editing pass around cleaning up any particularly egregious typos and whatnot, but also fine-tuning the pacing and interweaving plot threads.

For the majority of the years that I worked on the novel, I used Microsoft Word as my writing tool of choice. Some years back, however, my husband bought me Scrivener as part of his gentle, but persistent campaign to restart my novel writing efforts. When I got back to writing in earnest last fall, one of the first things I did was to transfer and reformat the entire novel draft into Scrivener.

And boy, am I glad I did!

While I’m certain that Word likely has some of these features too, Scrivener feels like it was designed for long-form writing from the ground up. I broke the manuscript apart into chapters and scenes within each chapter. It’s simple to see how many words are in each scene and the total for the chapter, then shuffle the scenes around to ensure that some chapters don’t feel too long or too short.

I particularly liked the colour labelling feature, which I used for highlighting the point-of-view character.

For example… I haven’t heard from that character in a while… perhaps I'd better shuffle up their scene.

Or… that particular event is intended to happen on the same night as another event on the other side of the world… now I need to shift those two scenes closer together.

My final editing pass was all about fine-tuning, which was hugely gratifying, because I felt like I had gotten the story as far as I was going to be able to take it on my own.

Now that the novel is in the hands of the editor, it’ll take about a month for her to do her magic, then I’ll see where the first draft is truly at.

What’s next?

One of my favourite ways to procrastinate is to do “research,” so I have been very deliberately avoiding all the various self-publishing rabbit holes that I know that I’m going to need to go down. I figure that, since I can’t work on the draft itself while it’s with the editor, I’ve got about a month to research to my little heart’s content.

Some of the topics I’m planning to dive into include…

Amazon KDP

Whatever my opinion of Amazon as a company, they do have a stranglehold on the e-book market, with about 68% of global e-book sales, which rises to 83% when including the subscription service Kindle Unlimited.

Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) is their self-publishing platform. It allows individuals to self-publish as an e-book that can be read on a Kindle or through the Kindle app on your phone or iPad. KDP also publishes print-on-demand paperback copies of the book.

One of the most interesting things I found about this great summary video was highlighting the steps that one can take to ensure that Amazon doesn’t get more of its talons into your work than absolutely necessary.

For instance, you can get your ISBN number—a 13 digit identifier used to track books—for free through the KDP platform, but then the book will be listed as being published by Amazon. Instead, the video advises getting your own ISBN separately. For Americans it costs $125USD, but for Canadians you can register your ISBN number for free—with a 2 month backlog.

(Still free though!)

In any case, getting my KDP account set up and researching categories and keywords for my book are at the top of my priority list for the next bit.

Cover Art

With some trepidation, I’ve decided to design and illustrate the cover of the book myself. I have a pretty clear idea of what I’d like for the cover of the first book and how I’d like to iterate the concept into the subsequent books in the series.

My idea is loosely inspired by the cover art for the 2009 video game Dragon Age Origin. I know the intention with Dragon Age was to give the sense of figures within the dragon-shaped blood splatter, but what I’m thinking for the novel cover would be more like a dynamic patch of watercolour as part of the background. Each book would have a different dominant colour, with a full-colour foreground figure and silhouettes within the watercoloured part.

Interestingly, when I was still humming and hawing about doing my own cover art, I was directed to this Facebook group called the Indie Cover Project, where one can post covers and blurbs for others to provide feedback. The posts are quite the fascinating grab bag of designs, but the feedback seems refreshingly blunt. I figure it’ll be a good place to workshop my cover once I have something far enough along to show.

Don’t worry, I’ll be posting them to the newsletter too.

Book Formatting

While Scrivener is a great tool for writing a long-form draft, it’s a bit clunky creating the final document for publication. Even just compiling the double-spaced Word document for the editor to review took longer than I expected because there are so many compile options to untangle.

For the final formatting, I’m currently looking into Vellum, primarily because Scrivener can export into Vellum directly. Vellum is not cheap, ($360 Cdn), but thankfully you don’t need to pay until you are ready to publish the book.

Final Thoughts

When I declared last fall that 2026 was going to be “the year of the novel”, I only had the vaguest idea of what was going to be required to get the first book in my fantasy series out the door.

Now that I’m further along into the process, I’m more confident that I can make this happen. Even though it’s going to be a ton of work, I am genuinely excited to see all the of the pieces starting to come together.

If you’re in the Airdrie or Calgary area, I hope you’ll join me for the tour of the “In Plain Sight” exhibit this Friday, June 12th, starting at 7pm.

Hope to see you there!

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