After years with watercolours, I felt drawn to explore other mediums. Though I loved their fluidity, I struggled to develop a personal style without mirroring others. A local artist introduced me to pastels, which offered a new freedom—layering and building in ways watercolour couldn’t. I spent a year immersed in pastel painting, yet something still felt missing. I didn’t realize what it was until a transformative week at the Haliburton School of Art.
A couple of friends and I enrolled in a course taught by John Leonard. His teaching style was different, rather than demonstrating techniques, he spoke about art, then sent us outdoors to paint and discover for ourselves. It was the most frustrating week, as I struggled to work with acrylics on small canvases. But on the final day, we were given the freedom to paint from our own photo reference on a large 30 x 40 canvas. No one was more surprised than me at the painting I created that day. In that moment, I knew: acrylic would be my medium.