What is a fun fact you would like to share about yourself?

I was born in Guyana, raised in England and immigrated to Montreal and I’ve sailed on over 30 ships. That’s 2 fun facts.

How did you start making your products/art?

I’ve been drawing and colouring and doing calligraphy for 50+ years and I always felt painting was for the professionals. During Covid I decided to try painting for the first time and did over 150 canvases and cards and fridge art magnets so originally everything was done on a flat surface. The idea of painting on a glass bottle came when I saw how pretty bottles look when they are lit up. I took it to the next level and I’m still experimenting on ways to make a bottle more and more exquisite!

Tell us about the colors on your palette and anything new you have been experimenting with.

I love colours and how they complement each other. The ‘lace’ patterns or dotted art I paint on bottles is very time consuming and labor intensive but I love the result. I recently discovered sponging bottles which allows me to create gorgeous blends and a frosted finish with peek-a-boo openings so the lights shine through. Although this technique is less labor intensive, it requires about 10 times more paint. Lots of layering.

What is your process when creating?

I start with 2 or 3 ‘naked’ and bottles. All traces of label and glue has been removed. Then I decide what colors I want to play with and an image of what I want to paint pops in my head or loads of ideas from YouTube. I’ll start one bottle, let it dry while I start another bottle, let it dry while I start a third and then back to the first.

What are your tools of choice?

Dotting pencils and sea sponges but I also improvise with basic tools around the house like skewer sticks for a really fine dot, sometimes even a needle for the micro dots.

How do you get ideas for each product/piece of art?

Sometimes certain images catch my eye or people say ‘you should paint this or that’ but mostly I never know what I’m gong to paint, it just happens. I try to be original but I’m sure my subconscious is absorbing ideas all the time and keeping them on file until I need to go through them.