Biography / Statement
Ardythe's first eight years of school were spent, with 17 other students, in a one room school house near Havelock, Ontario, She especially looked forward to Friday's art class where she sketched in pencil and coloured with crayons. There were no paints available and so she didn't learn how to mix colour until her first watercolour class in 1984. There was little time to invest in artistic endeavours while her children were growing up but she began to paint seriously in 1994 when she and her husband retired to Nova Scotia. That province's rugged and diverse landscape was a great incentive to pick up the brushes. After three years Ardythe left the east in order to live closer to family in the Waterloo area. She returns to the east coast regularly to paint their beautiful landscape and to visit the many good friends she made while living there.
A self-taught painter, Ardythe has been inspired by the many fine Ontario artists whose workshops she has attended. In addition to painting with watercolours, she began to paint with acrylics on canvas. This medium enables her to create larger pieces of art and satisfies a desire to paint with a more tactile medium. Most recently she has come to know a very talented artist in Nova Scotia by the name of Uschi Kueng who has introduced her to the art of painting on silk with French dyes. Ardythe has benefited greatly from painting with fellow artists. Their sharing of techniques and generous feedback has been a most valuable part of her growth as a painter. | |
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