The story behind "Serenity"

“Serenity”, 60x36”, limited edition of 10

This piece was born of a few things: the water-themed artist residency I did in the Azores a couple of summers ago, time spent at my sister’s place just off the St. Lawrence river, and the early months of my new-ish meditation practice. It’s calming to me to spend time with it in the studio and in my booth at art fairs, and it seems to have the same effect on other people too. “Serenity” is made up of elements from four photographs that I’ve taken – 3 of which are water, and one of which is the island – so there’s a lot of water in there! The background in this piece is a combination of two layers of water: grass growing underwater in the St. Lawrence river (viewed from a boat trip my brother-in-law took us on) and the reflection of the sunshine off the sand under the water where we stopped to swim on that same trip, on the Quebec side of the St. Lawrence. The island lives between my sister’s family’s house and our swimming destination that day. The magical sparkles in the foreground are from the middle of the Atlantic Ocean – it’s the sunlight dancing off the top of the water - we were whale-watching during our trip to the Azores Islands.

“Serenity” detail