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About The Artist
I have had a love of painting ever since I could remember, and having
always received water-colour and paint book sets as a child certainly steered me
in the direction of eventually being an artist, in a family of teachers and
nurses; at the time the two most popular professions open to women.
Naturally, it was expected that I would eventually follow in the
direction of my sisters and also adopt one of those two professions.
Right! No one banked on an almost paralyzing case of haemophobia on
my part which effectively sank the idea of a nursing career.
As for teaching, well, it certainly wasn't my calling.
Only two choices remained if I
wanted to have a "decent, comfortable" life, was to get an
office job or get married.
The rest is rather predictable really, neither of those options
worked out for me. The
intense need to be an artist kept calling me, but I also had to battle with a
sense of guilt induced by others around me, that I was engaging in frivolity,
and I wasn't going to get anywhere with it.
I also had to battle ferociously with my own fear of leaving my comfortable
"existence", and taking the risk to
be what I wanted. So I played the part that others wanted me to
play, which invariably resulted in emotional disaster, the end of my marriage,
and other failed relationships, in a fruitless struggle to fit into a role in
which I was wholly uncomfortable. I
had to learn the hard way that that progressively eats away at one's very
soul until all dreams dissipate and you're left with nothing within…you're
literally a walking dead existing from day to day….
I didn't want to go there, and I refused to, despite the financial
unfeasibility of fully pursuing my dream as an artist at the time that I did.
By way of experience, I managed to pack in about fifteen years
worth of serious painting, selling my work, and participating in various
Studio Tours. I also displayed my
work on a summer long basis for a few years in the downtown Toronto core as a
member of Kensington Artist Collective which has since disbanded..
I’m currently a board member and artist with the Waterfront Trail
Artists group, and participate in various arts related arts related events on a
volunteer basis.
Apart from visual Art, the other great love of my life is writing, which
produced two fiction novels with deep spiritual overtones, which will be
available for purchase at: www.renebooks.com
and
www.clublighthousepublishing.com
my alternate site later this year. They are titled
Love's
Legacy
and Impostor. In
the interim you may click on the respective links to read their excerpts.
In between my
painting I am also working on a third novel, dividing my time between that
project and
painting.
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Photo Featured in in the September 26, 2001
Issue of Etobicoke Life Newspaper.
Waterfront Trail Artists celebrated the 10th Anniversary of its Tour of Art on Saturday with more than a dozen locations in the Lakeshore showcasing all types of art. At left are artists, Terrie L. Balmer, who who works under the pseudonym of T.L. Davison and specializes in oils on canvass covering a varied range of topics, Camille Muller with porcelain, and Barb Symons with monoprints. Excerpt from Article by Wendy Kudeba/Editor/ Etobicoke Life
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| This section of this page is dedicated to Laura B. Ottoway, (1962-2000) whose time and patience in painstakingly photographing my work, helped to make this site possible. |  |
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This piece of my work is dedicated to her, as it was all she asked by way of payment. Thanks Laura. |
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Laura and Me |
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It's Just Me
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And this pair honour my living space by sharing it with me. Their names respectively are Duchess and Princess
It's very rare to get them sitting so closely together
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