Spring Updates and a Free Colouring Page

As an artist (and a human) it is important to be flexible and adapt to a changing environment and an evolving vision. I am quite grateful that I have always been adaptable, and done a lot of different things in my life. It’s made me quite optimistic in general, and given me appreciation for the little things. Since moving back to Victoria, I have traded in my boat for bikes and boots, have spent more time in the forests, mountains and roads than on the ocean and I have been loving it. I am experiencing the earth from a different lens, discovering new (and re-igniting old) passions, making new friends and moving my body much more than I ever have. Life is just generally freakin’ awesome!

My work goals for this year included working more on my own projects, my brand refresh, and getting myself ‘out there'. All of which I am in the process of. I am excited to announce that my application was accepted for the Filberg Festival this year. It is a huge 3 day event in Comox from August 4-6. I have been to it many times, but never as a vendor so I am really excited to participate in that. Although I would say I am generally fairly introverted, I really enjoy getting the opportunity to talk with people. This means I have to step up my game and get some new work done which is VERY motivating, and a prompt to get my own projects done (one of those goals)!! I have also applied for the TD Art Gallery Paint-In. It was so much fun last year that Im crossing my fingers I get in again. I am also humming and hawing about the Make It Market in Vancouver for December. My application was accepted, but 4 days around Christmas means a LOT of product so I am trying to decide it is right for me. Please feel free to share any input on it if you have any. I haven’t been to a Vancouver Market so it’s more of a gamble for me and an expensive few days in the big city. I am pretty excited for ‘work’ this year… lots of things to think about and plan!

In the meantime though, I will be out of the studio from April 16 to May 9th. Heading off to Spain and Italy to fill up my creative well, ride my bike, hike some trails, eat some pasta and gelato, drink some wine, and doodle…and doodle… and doodle… planning my work for all the summer festivities! It’s all about a healthy work/life balance no?

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For those who are new to my site, each month I offer free west coast inspired colouring pages that are published and distributed in Tofino Time Magazine. They are also available for download as a high resolution PDF here (scroll down to the button below). If you would like them to come straight to your inbox when I occasionally send out a newsletter, please sign up for my mailing list (yeah, that annoying pop up). Personally I hate getting a bunch of spamming emails, so I promise to keep it to a maximum of once a month (more like once every 4 haha)! Please feel free to download them for personal use. If you are a restaurant, school, organization or business that wants to print them for your clients, customers (or to keep their kids happy) or students then I am totally fine with that too. All I ask is you leave my contact info at the bottom of the page please. Enjoy!

Spring Break - Colouring Page

I am going to shake it up a little with regards to my monthly colouring pages. After having done these for the past 5 YEARS (yes… thats nuts I know), I have decided that rather than hosting them all on my website, I will be sending them STRAIGHT to the inboxes of those who want them! So as of NEXT month (June), I will be sending out my free printable colouring pages (hi res) via email and sharing the low resolution versions only here.

A couple of reasons for this! One (and the most important), is that you will get them hand delivered to your inbox… like Uber Eats… for colouring pages and other cool news. Two is they certainly take up some space on my website leaving them here, and I want to keep room available for new awesome things. And three (also important) is I am now back to being a self employed, full time ARTISTE (said with a French accent while twisting a handlebar moustache), it is important to diversify one’s marketing. It is too much of a gamble these days to rely solely on social media platforms for ‘getting yourself out there’ as you never know if one day they will just be gone! So rather than keeping all my eggs in one basket, I would like to be able to CONNECT more monthly with those who really want to know whats happening in my art world. I believe I said something at the beginning of the year about making this my goal, but for some reasons newsletters are SO HARD TO COMMIT TO! This will make me do it. Hah!

And yes… did you catch what I said in point #3 above? When I moved/transitioned to Victoria I was working full time but not on my business (Covid slowed things down for sure too), and these left me a little spread thin and playing catch up. BUT, I am now back on my own again and feeling pretty PUMPED about it, so you should hear more from me in all my channels and definitely more art projects on the horizon for sure!

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For those who are new to my site, each month I offer free west coast inspired colouring pages that are published and distributed in Tofino Time Magazine. They are also available for download as a high resolution PDF here (scroll down to the button below). If you would like them to come straight to your inbox each month as I am planning to start doing sometime this year, please sign up for my mailing list (yeah, that annoying pop up). Personally I hate getting a bunch of spamming emails, so I promise to keep it to a maximum of once a month! Please feel free to download them for personal use. If you are a restaurant, school or business that wants to print them for your clients, customers (or to keep their kids happy) or students then I am totally fine with that too. All I ask is you leave my contact info at the bottom of the page please.

Riding The Tube - Colouring Page

Surfing is a big part of Tofino's west coast culture. People come from all over the world to try their hands at navigating the sheer power of the cold Pacific Ocean. During the summer they, often in hordes and equipped in their 'wetsuit uniform', are seen zipping around on their bikes (with boards on their racks) or standing in line ups at the Co-op, Wild Side, Tacofino or Tofitian just waiting to get out on the big blue and experience it for themselves. Wet, cold wetsuits are NOT fun to get off and on so I can understand why they just leave them on (one of the big reasons I rarely get out). Surfing isn't easy though... the pros make it look that way, but it takes hard work and dedication to make it look as romantic as they do. Tofino is home to some of Canada's best! Women, men and even the groms are making global headlines as they train for the next Olympics.

This is the time of year when as the surf gets bigger, the braver tend to venture out so it's a great time to don your cozy sweaters and rain gear, grab your hot chocolate and watch them from the beach. :)

'Riding The Wave' is inspired by all the wicked surf photographers and surfers who get out there in the freezing waters year round to capture the beauty of the ocean from a tubular perspective! You can download it here, or catch it in Tofino Time in November! 

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