{Start here} A letter from my heART studio
Farm to easel... why I started THE ARTIST's EYE
Hello! I’m Crystal.
This letter is an introduction for those who are new to me and my work ( thanks for finding me!) and also a bit of personal background, even for those who I have had the pleasure of teaching and mentoring over the last 25 years.
Wherever you are at on your creative journey, I extend a warm WELCOME. I can’t wait to get better acquainted and delve into some fascinating conversations with you. In this publication we examine why both CREATING art and LIVING creatively (even if you are not an artist) has the power to transform the lens through which we “SEE” the world
I started this
account in December 2023 to share some of what I’ve learned as an artist and arts educator, to help you cultivate more POSITIVITY, more GRATITUDE and bring more WONDER to every day life. The Professional stuff…
I’m a Canadian contemporary realist artist, illustrator, arts educator and published childrens book author. I work in a variety of mediums in oil, watercolour, pen and gouache. I graduated with a BFA in Studio (at the University of Ottawa) back in…1997?!? (checks limited math skills)… Yes, I stand by that, 1997! A few years later I followed that up with a diploma in Botanical Illustration (Society of Botanical Artists UK).
My work has been featured in Fine Art Connoisseur, International Artist Magazine, American Art Collector and, if you’re a fellow Canuck, you may have seen me and my work on
CTV, CBC, TVO and Curator on-the-Go. I am grateful to have taught and exhibited internationally (with a few awards sprinkled here and there) through a career that spans… (phewph, already) two decades!As you can see (from the little gallery above) I love to paint just about anything, but my main subjects centre around rural life and wildlife. As a farm kid I developed a strong affinity for agriculture and currently, I am documenting (through my paintings) many of the barns in the area where I live, before they disappear.
If you’re inclined, you can see more of my fine artwork by clicking the button below
The Personal stuff…
I was a child of the 70’s and grew up on a small hobby farm in Eastern Ontario, one of 4 kids to two artistic, hippy parents. We lived close to the land and at times also hand to mouth. Life wasn’t perfect, but the farm was infinitely inspiring and creativity was fostered in our humble country home and for that I am forever grateful. While we didn’t have much in the way of excess, I learned how to appreciate what we did have; to take good care of it, to fix or amend it if broken or worn out and most importantly to use my imagination for pretty much everything else. I rarely felt as though I was missing anything. What I didn’t have, I would build or re-purpose. Things often became other things to fill the gaps. House plants were jungles for figurines. A kitchen chair was a multi-floored garage for matchbox cars. Penny, an old hen, acted as a stand-in playmate who I apparently pushed around in a baby carriage. We built terribly unsafe forts out of discarded cinder blocks, fallen tree limbs and scraps of barn boards filled with rusty nails (luckily our tetanus shots were always up to date). I fully experienced the richness of our natural and wild environment.
In the country, as a sensitive kid, your senses are lit up!
In this sacred world of adventure all of my 5 senses were alive and in overdrive. To learn what a fluffy baby chick feels like held against my lips or the velvet of a horses muzzle against my cheek was just utter bliss. To dance in the dust particles of light that filtered through spaces in the walls of our hayloft was like being surrounded by twinkling fairies. The tack room of the barn welcomed me with the scent of molasses and corn in the grain barrels mingled with the tanginess of leather saddles and bridles. Looking out at the world at nose level through clouded and webbed windows, I could almost (and probably DID) taste the mustiness of peeling paint on the window sills. Oh, I developed other useless skills like identifying the stench of pig manure vs cow manure or horse manure… in my opinion, chicken is the worst. Autumn transformed our backyard garden into a muted and tangled almost haunted space. Winter brought forth icicles the size of our legs. In the summer, I watched dark, felted rain clouds of violet and charcoal roll over the fluorescent fields of canola and when it the storm passed witnessed the sweetness of steam radiating off the backs of our horses.
When I was a kid I did a lot of looking and THIS was where my artist heart began to grow and my artist eye began to develop.
I had an insatiable curiosity for creatures, plants, colours, textures of changing seasons… and I began to draw. I drew and drew and drew. Here is one such masterpiece. Why yes that is a cigarette in his hand, I told you I was born in the 70’s!
I learned early on that when we take the time to observe, we can easily see that trees are not simply brown, a leaf is not simply green and there is NOTHING basic in just about anything we look at. There is beauty absolutely everywhere, even in the poorest of conditions.
By the age of 5, I knew I wanted to be an artist. This is the image I drew for “CAREER DAY” in kindergarten, on my paper crown:
As an adult artist, I began to realize that the power of quiet observation made me feel part of something bigger than myself. I felt connected to a magic, both micro and macro. Both tangible and intangible. My job was then to record all of it or at least try to understand it.
As I began teaching some 25 years ago, I was struck by the number of people (many thousands now) who had never looked at the world the way I had been my whole life something I had taken this for granted. After a few weeks in my classes, I would receive the most beautiful feedback; students would email me or return to my classes wide-eyed and exclaim:
“That’s it! I no longer drive. I tell my husband to drive everywhere now, I’m too busy looking at the light through the trees or clouds in the sky”.
“I didn’t realize I had been living my life in black and white”
Or my favourite: “Now all I think about is how would I paint that?”
I cried for them all. I did. This is when I began see the the ripple effect and the positive benefits that the ARTIST LENS has. While this was something that I developed as a child, we can attune ourselves this way at ANY AGE and with the right guidance. This is what I strive for in my teaching and in my own artwork.
About 5 years ago, after 20+ years of full time teaching (and raising my now adult daughter) in the big city of Ottawa, I moved. Coincidently back to the area where I was raised. I met the love of my life (my now husband and biggest cheerleader) and spend most of my days painting and (now) writing in my two beautiful sun-filled studios in the county.
WHAT THIS PUBLICATION IS & WHAT IT IS NOT…
(Taking a cue from the HERO POSTS of kindred spirits like & whose kind and tender publications I highly recommend )
WHAT THIS PUBLICATION IS NOT…
While I will on occasion offer drawing lessons and “eye opening” exercises or share my instructional tutorials, I will not be using this platform to teach any formal art lessons. If that interests you, please check out my list of ONLINE courses here.
WHAT THIS IS…
The Artist’s Eye is all about cultivating GRATITUDE and exploring deeper CONNECTION through your art. Motivation, inspiration, conversation and prompts and exercises to enhance your artistic practice and change the way you SEE the world.
WARNING: Your life may go from black and white to technicolour. Once you develop “the lens”, you can almost never shut it off. It becomes a way to move through the world - with more acceptance and more appreciation, maybe with a bit of bumping into things and daydreaming. You’ll begin to see more patterns, more colour, more light. You’ll begin to make connections and hone an uncanny intuition and curiosity for life. Developing your artists eye is a practice in seeing and documenting beauty through creativity.
As a FREE subscriber: You will have access to NOTES as well as occasional posts and even a few free videos (before they move to the ARCHIVES ).
As a paid subscriber, you’ll begin receiving weekly PROMPTS delivered right to your inbox so that you can print or save to help spark creativity + thought provoking ways to engage in your life differently.
Some of these will include downloadable content, videos, painting & drawing tips (for all levels). You’ll have unlimited access to EVERY POST in the publication archives. You will very likely receive other more personal posts or emails from the studio part way during the week; Things I’ve been working on and working through.
Plus, you’ll receive an invitation to join The Artist’s Eye Chat ~ This is a conversation space like a group chat or live hangout. I’ll post short weekly prompts, thoughts and updates that come my way, and you can jump into the discussion. Every Friday I will be starting a thread called WEEKLY WONDERS. This is where you can share a wonderful discovery. It can be of self, a beautiful thing you’ve seen or a creative breakthrough and share a photo or two with other subscribers.
WHAT THIS MAY BECOME…
I may very well begin offering LIVE video chats or online drawing and painting courses if there is a demand (in another paid subscriber section), but this is somethign for a future time.
BUT, for right NOW, we are here together and we are talking about …
How Art Feeds the Soul
Beyond beauty and aesthetic appeal, art has a deep and transformative impact on our personal wellbeing. Indeed, studies have shown that engaging in creative pursuits like drawing, painting, and writing can boost mental health, cognitive skills, and overall life satisfaction. Even drinking in art with your eyes can boost the brain’s
I would LOVE to hear FROM YOU!
Thoughts on this HERO POST or your own origin stories. Did your family foster creativity growing up or did you feel alone in your world? Are you or have YOU always been an artist at heart?
If you would like to collaborate please do get in touch!
Your artworks is very beautiful!
How long does it take to make one? 😊
Love this Crystal! Find lots of inspiration as well as my husband and I are artistic parents hoping to pass on the creative gene…. Though I don’t think we need to worry too much as my 3.5 year old spends hours everyday drawing just about everything. I can’t even remember myself that dedicated until many years later (difference also being that I was in daycare and school early whereas she has the option to learn from home and as such much more autonomy over how she spends her time…)
Love the observation bit too - though not as many years as a teacher, I also got surprised to learn that not every on observed their surrounding in the same “observant” way. That it’s really something one can learn to open the mind to its surroundings and as such discover beauty in even the most “mundane” of things.
You inspired me to incorporate more images of my art in my hero post (thanks for the mention btw!) or perhaps I should even create a second one to pin (I think one can pin 3 pieces….?)
Thrilled to have connected on here and excited to see you grow in this space 🥰