About

A Quick Snapshot

Hi, I’m Leah, a visual artist in the Eastman Region of Manitoba, Canada. I like to make stuff, especially things that are whimsical and fun and make me smile.  And I’m not opposed to a bit of drama either.  My favorite is pen and watercolor, but I like messing around with collage, gouache, and other things too. I’ve never been to art school but love to learn about art and techniques and processes.  I find making art way more interesting if I know the backstory of the building, place or person/animal I am drawing, even if it is all from my imagination.  My top rule or guideline for all my “arting” is - have fun!  There is something totally fun about stickers, so I’ve put some of my work into a Redbubble online shop where I can get them to decorate my sketchbooks.  You can find them here as well as all sorts of other fun products.

If You Want to Know More About Me and My Art Journey

As a child I drew, painted, cut, pasted and created all sorts of things.  I remember drawing endless copies of the Richie Rich comic strips, making crafts like Mr. Dressup on t.v., creating a stuffed dog out of felt from a kit.  I joined the 4-H Club and learned how to sew.  Then something started to happen.  Creating became harder.  I thought I wasn't "good enough".  My teen years found me doing a bit of doodling and some sewing.  My high school did not have any art classes and eventually creating disappeared from my life as I focused on academics, a part-time job and trying to survive teenagehood. 

Creativity beckoned while choosing a career path, and I landed in the Clothing & Textiles program at the University of Manitoba.  I loved the artsy classes I took, but again that niggling voice whispered in my ear and I felt less than.  So I focused on the academics and the business side of things, and did quite well.

Fast-forward lots of years during which I moved back home and married, raised a couple of beautiful children, volunteered in the school and different groups in the community, worked as a census taker,  a local history researcher, office worker, ending with 12 years as an accounting clerk.   During all this, tiny bits of creativity would pop up in different forms - I began to quilt, took some watercolor classes, got a sketchbook.  It was in me, that need to create, wanting to get out.  Then along came the internet and with it an explosion of information in the form of blogs, posts and videos. I bought books. I bought supplies. I bought online classes. (I went a little crazy!)

I started creating again, soaking up whatever I could, gathering inspiration from others. I began at my kitchen table then a corner in the office became my 5’x 5’ studio. Now my studio lives at the end of the hall in a room that used to be my daughter’s bedroom.  The afternoon sun’s rays drift in across my art table while I sketch and paint and practice and grow into who I always wanted to be.

You could say I am a self-taught artist since I never went to art school.  But I feel that is inaccurate. I did not teach myself.  I learned from others, from Mr. Dressup on t.v and my 4-H sewing instructors right through to the few classes I took at university, the workshops by local artists Roberta Laliberte and Brenda MacKenzie, Heidi Hunt workshops, the artists whose books I read, the makers of the videos I watched, the online class instructors at Sketchbook Skool, Domestika, Alisa Burke, Carla Sonheim, art retreat instructor Diana Thornycroft, artists who have taken time to chat with me, and artists I follow on Instagram, their processes and their stories, and so many more.  All have been my teachers.  I am grateful to them all.

I love making art!  I love the materials, the process, and the wonder of creating something.  First there is nothing, and then…there is something.  Something that never existed before.  Isn’t that cool?  (Yes, I am a true geek!)  

That niggling voice still hangs around.  I don’t think it ever goes away.  But I’ve learned, mostly,  to accept it as part of the process. I don’t like it, but there it is.  In the meantime, I’ll keep creating!   

Random Trivia

- I learned how to cook with confidence from the Food Network. 

 

- I love to kayak in the summer and cross-country ski in the winter. I am lucky to be able to do both

on the doorstep of where I live. 

 

- I started a sketching group called River Sketchcrawlers. Once a week all summer long we meet up

at different locations in our area for a couple of hours of sketching.   

 

- My favorite foods are fish tacos, pizza, and garden vegetables. 

 

- I won first place in the Eastman Juried Art Show with a mixed media picture of my friend’s  

dog Simon.  

 

- I started drinking coffee and tea as an adult.

          - I’m retired from my day job.

My husband Denis and I live in a little community on the Winnipeg River in Manitoba. There are gnarly old oak trees in our backyard and a library down the street.  Both make me happy!   When I’m not working in my studio, I am cooking, walking, visiting with family, friends, doing yoga, reading, watching movies with my husband, gardening, and helping out my dad.

Some Quotes that have Helped Me Over the Years

“There are no mistakes.  Only problems to be solved.” Roberta Laliberte

“You got to push yourself to the point of ruining it, in order to find where great is.” Roz Stendahl