Recovery from whiplash injury 5 years ago has been a long and difficult road to traverse. Healing began after I was gifted a spinning wheel and joining the Edmonton Weavers Guild where I sat and wove yarn into embroidery hoops, creating healing mandalas. After about 4 years of weaving and 300 mandalas later I am showing the work created that attributed to re-wiring my brain thus healing the trauma that caused severe pain, loss of comprehension in reading, writing and speech. 

3 years ago

3 years ago I was traumatically whiplashed. Spiralling down a dark rabbit hole of severe neck and upper back swelling, body pain and emotional trauma prevented me from painting. I could not read, write or function well enough to find the right words to talk properly for over 8 months. I had trouble with balance which made walking a chore. I had to relearn everything from comprehension of the written word to doing a tai chi set (this took a full 3 years). With anger towards the fool who injured me and depression from being immobilized with pain, I felt as though on a sinking ship with no life preserver. I'm thankful my husband stood by and encouraged me every trying step of the way to recovery. Today I can say my brain has mostly healed, except I still lose composure and swear a lot, my body still has a way to go and I keep working on recovery exercises. Books make sense again so reading these past few months and being able to paint again is ecstasy. My neck still swells when I paint, or lift any weight over 4 pounds. so all in all though I  have to be very careful of my posture and not hold my arm up for too long a period I am back playing with the wonders of paint. Following are a few images I painted in the last month in a small sketchbook of handmade paper.
  

Presentation and Workshop at University on Monday 29th Jan.

https://www.ualberta.ca/global-education/iweek/program/%E2%80%9Cthe-nest-project%E2%80%9D:-who-will-hear-the-last-bird-sing-

Save our Native Bees, plant native to your area plants.

A Series of watercolor painting created specifically of native pollinators and native plants.

I learned that many native bees are specialists that depend on certain native plants for their survival.

After planting native to our area plants on our front lawn I became amazed at the variety of bees and butterflies that make use of the tiny wild garden. Now wherever I go in BC and Alberta I look for bees on native plants. I give special thanks to The Edmonton Native Plant Group who started me on my first tiny wild garden which is now inspiring me create paintings of these tiny beings, and some are amazingly tiny, like an 1/8th inch. 

 Metallic Sweat Bee on Gumweed 

Metal Frame 8x10" $115.00

Buzzing By

Metal Frame 7.5x5.5" $78.00

 All Abuzz Bumblebee

Metal Frame 8x10", $115.00

Gaillardia Diner

Metal Frame 7.5x7.5, $78.00 

 Giant Hyssops

Metal Frame 7.5x7.5, $78.00

Sooth Blue Aster Bumblebee

Metal Frame 7.5x7.5, $78.00

 Golden Aster Bumblebee

Metal Frame 7.5x7.5, $78.00

Apple Blossom Bumblebee

Metal Frame 7.75x7.75" $105.00

Gumweed Landing 

Wood Frame 10x10, $184.00

Milberts Tortoiseshell

Wood Frame 10x10", $184.00

Gentle Presence

Metal Frame 9.25x7.75", $115.00

Upcoming Exhibition

Early notice for an upcoming exhibition of paintings and drawing by Gerald Delorme and Teresa (Tess) Stieben.

A new series of native pollinators

I've begun a new series on native pollinators. All circular images are 5.25 inches across. I believe it is very important as a nature artist to spend numerous hours out in the field gathering reference material for  paintings.  I only work from my own reference material, so a painting already has many hours of work put in before pencil and paint ever touch the paper.

Update: All Paintings are now framed.

All paintings in circular mat & wood frame 10x10" $184.00 each.

 Native bumblebee on aster, watercolor.
It is a challenge to capture clear photos to work from as bees and flies need to keep moving to gather pollen and sip nectar. 

 Tiger Swallowtail. 

 This is my personal favourite, a female sweat bee. This minuscule metallic green bee is a female, the male has a striped abdomen. These wee bees are hard to photograph as they are 0.12 to 0.40 inches, very tiny, so you can imagine why I love this painting. 

 Hummingbird Clearwing Moth. Found along the Whitemud nature preserve trail where I spent half an hour watching this moth and a swallowtail dine. These daytime moths hover while sucking nectar just like a hummingbird does.

 Hover fly.
I find delight in the variety of color and markings on these sweet little flies. Hover flies are beneficial pollinators and their larvae eat aphids.

Mountain Retreat, watercolor, 4x7.5 inches

This painting is of course not part of the series, its a style I was working off and on from over thirty years ago. Over the years I created various paintings this style but left off doing them in recent years as I saw so many other artists using the same idea. This piece was started long ago and never finished until this month.

Article in ARTiculate magazine

Exhibition at Kunze Gallery, Creston BC

In conjunction with the Creston Valley Wildbird Festival the Nest Project is now hung in Creston BC at Kunze Gallery. There will be a nest building workshop on friday and an artists presentation on saturday. http://www.crestonvalleybirds.ca/events.html

Exhibition In Edmonton

six hummingbirds off to the framers

Six new watercolor hummingbird paintings completed.

All are 4x6 framed in 8x10 metal frames.

Top four paintings are avaliable through

Ellis Bird Farm, Lacombe County, AB

http://www.ellisbirdfarm.ca/

Roufous Hummingbird, female

for purchase contact The Wildbird General Store.

http://www.wildbirdgeneralstore.com/contact-us

Roufous hummingbird, male 

at The Wildbird General Store 

 http://www.wildbirdgeneralstore.com/contact-us

 Mountain Gems, Roufous Hummingbirds

Metal Frame 11.75x 15.5",  at the Art Gallery of St Albert.

 Little Jewel, Roufous Hummingbird, male.

Wood Frame 12x10"

 Little Jewel, Roufous Hummingbird, female.

8.25x5.5 inches, watercolor
This hummer is flew off to a new home so she is no longer available.

Painted Drum

I painted this drum which dear family members made. It was gifted to our grandson.

Hummingbird Paintings

Tiny and territorial these beautiful birds arrive early spring in Alberta and BC, Canada, and winter in Mexico. Having the opportunity to watch and photograph these mini wonders of flight is a joy.

All these mini-paintings have flown off to new homes and are no longer available.

Summer Blossoms; Rufous Hummingbird, Female.

 7"x 8" Watercolor
Flew off to a new home.

"His Majesty" Rufous Hummingbird, Male 

5.75"x 5.75" Watercolor

The Queens Flight: Rufous Hummingbird, Female.

  5"x 7" Watercolor

Feisty Lady: Rufous Hummingbird, Female

5"x 7" Watercolor

Sky Dancer; Rufous Hummingbird, Male

 5"x 7" Watercolor

These hummingbirds have all migrated and are no longer available.

Upcoming exhibition at the Wildbird Gallery

http://www.wildbirdgeneralstore.com

My husband and I will be exhibiting our work Oct/Nov 2016 in the beautiful revamped Wildbird Gallery at the Wildbird General Store in Edmonton.

Pleinair and Native Sunflowers

 Pleinair painting of Native Sunflower growing in my backyard.

 Cut Native Sunflower brought into the studio to paint.

Another Studio drawing.

Portraits at The Paint Spot Edmonton

I entered two paintings in the Big, Big Portrait Show at the Naess Gallery, The Paint Spot, Edmonton, July 7-August 23, 2016. The show ran in conjunction with the Edmonton art walk.

Off my right shoulder is a painting of my daughter incognito with a squirrel on her head and above her, the orange cat on blue is my painting. I love that the call for portraits was an open call and that the work produced displays a wonderful range of talent from pure beginners to very accomplished artists. 

Under my Spell

12x12 Acrylic on canvas

This neighbourhood cat had to be painted due his wonderful intense expression. Recently I simplified the background by covering it with ricepaper collage and repainting (the original of it is posted earlier on this blog). Sometimes paintings take a few years before they become what they need to be, I now consider this painting completed.

Crazy Squirrel

12x12 Acrylic on canvas

I painted this fun piece for my Zany fun-loving daughter Melony, who is an exceptional artist herself.