Professional Development:
I am a professional Ottawa artist who has acquired knowledge through self-directed learning. I became an Elected Member of the Society of Canadian Artists (SCA) in 2023 and the Ontario Society of Artists (OSA) in 2022 and consider these designations recognition from my peers. I have a certificate in Business Administration from the University of Ottawa. In 2013, I began semester art classes through my municipality, beginning in watercolour, moved on to mixed media in 2015, and most recently, oil painting. Over the years, I have enrolled in several classes, live workshops, and coaching sessions from artists throughout Canada and the United States. They include Gordon Harrison, Philip Craig, Nicholas Simmons, Linda Kemp, Robert Burridge, Sheila Davis, Christina Lovisa, Lisa Daria, and Tim Packer. I have focused my attention on oil painting in the last three years.

I currently work out of my studio at Studio Space Ottawa.

Exhibitions and Shows:
2024 Ottawa Art Gallery. Juried. Ottawa, ON
2023 Wall Cany NOIR. Juried Group Show. Ottawa, ON
2023 Ottawa Art Gallery. Juried. Ottawa, ON
2022 Wall Candy NOIR. Juried Group Show. Ottawa, ON
2022 The New Art Festival. Juried Group Show. Ottawa, ON
2022 Ottawa Art Gallery. Juried. Ottawa, ON
2021 Glebe Art Tour. Juried Group Show. Ottawa, ON
2019 Inspirations. Group Exhibition. Manotick, ON
2019 Wall Candy. Juried Group Show. Ottawa, ON
2019 Healing HeArt Ceiling Tile Project. Competition. Ottawa HEART Institute, Ottawa
2019 Ottawa Art Gallery Annexe. Juried. Ottawa, ON
2019 CHEO Dream of a Lifetime Lottery Home. Ottawa, ON
2018 Hochelaga Inn. Kingston, ON
2018 New Edinburgh Studio Tour. Juried group show. Ottawa, ON

Galleries, Public/Private collections:
I am represented by the Ottawa Art Gallery Annexe and currently have work for sale in their gallery. The Ottawa Heart Institute has my work in their collections and the Hochelaga Inn (Kingston) has purchased some of my paintings for display. I have several individual collectors as well.

Contributions to the Ottawa Artistic Community:
2024 Board Member of Studio Space Ottawa, a non-profit arts-service organization and home to a community of over 60 Visual Artists among 42 single and shared studios over two floors.
2023 Board Member of Studio Space Ottawa
2023 Led a Community Engagement Project at Studio Space Ottawa Warehouse Art Party which consisted of
collaborating with people who normally wouldn’t be engaged in the arts to try mixed media collage.
2019 Artist painting demonstrations/instruction. Manotick Art Association, Manotick, ON
2018 Guest artist live painting demonstration/instruction. Artists of Stonebridge, Nepean, ON

ARTIST’S STATEMENT

I am primarily a landscape painter, and my approach to painting is organic and colourful. I use the natural properties of the paint and medium to create paintings with a sense of colour, movement, and energy.

When working, I prefer not to know exactly how a piece will turn out. I respond to each mark as it is made. I end up with something that I couldn't deliberately recreate even if I tried. That unpredictable result is what keeps me coming back again and again.

Nature is my most vital source of energy. The outcome I am looking for in my work is to share that energy with the viewer and take them along. I paint what I know and where I have been. My long-term goal is to inspire people to spend time in nature. I can walk the same path every day and notice something different each time. I like those surprises – they keep the work interesting.

For my art practice, I explore nearby trails and forests to capture images of my subject matter, which is a restorative experience that I try to share with others through the work that I produce. This experience is not a random occurrence. The connection of wellness to nature is rooted in scientific research. Exposure to nature boosts you emotionally and it also contributes to your physical health, reducing blood pressure, heart rate, muscle tension, and the production of stress hormones.*1 Physical and emotional health are intertwined like the roots of the trees that I am so fond of painting. Time spent in nature connects us to each other and the larger world.

A key part of my growth comes from showing up in my studio every day and getting to work. I learn so much from the actual “doing”. I show up because I must respond, do the work, and keep going.

*1 Author: Louise Delagran, MA, MEd Reviewed by: Jean Larson, PhD, CTRS, HTR Mary Jo Kreitzer, RN, PhD University of Minnesota