Raindrop

Acryla Gouache

"It was night and the rain fell; and falling, it was rain, but, having fallen it was..."

Sometimes I wear them to lunch

Acryla gouache

All the Salmon Swam Away

Acrylic

Under the waves - a tondo

Acrylic

House in the Rainforest

Acrylic

I conceived this painting as a two-page spread for a proposed concept book about colors.

Giraffe on a Moonlit Savannah

Acryla gouache

It was the first time I used this medium - just the right texture for my subject and composition.

Playing fish

Acrylic

A Fisherman  and his wife

Sleepy girl

Gouache

Owl on a beach towel

Gouache

Chef running up the stairs

Acrylic

How it began

My mother was my first muse. On a dreary Canadian winter afternoon when I was eight, boredom struck. Mummy had a solution. “Write a play,” she said.

That made sense, because she was a playwright. But I had another idea. Instead, I started drafting my first novel. I can still picture the manuscript. It was written in a loopy scrawl, blue ballpoint on banana yellow newsprint. The title - Beyond the Bush. The story - a childish attempt at my idea of fantasy. 

At some point, my mother questioned the concept, and I lost interest. But I resumed writing. Poems, short stories and the beginnings of two more novels followed. High school, fine art studies, university, a career and motherhood pulled me in different directions. Then came the first picture book concept. 

Today, I'm working on some long fiction, as well as more picture books - both words and pictures - ergo the name of this site. As for pictures - above is a sample of paintings from my portfolio of illustrations for children's books. See my companion blog about writing, On Beyond Words & Pictures, at: onbeyond