Linda Wakeman Artist

My husband and I moved from Toronto to Cobourg in 1972; I started a nursing career and he a teaching position .

It wasn’t until the late 70’s that a little space opened up in my busy life as a working mother to allow for one night out a week. I began oil painting lessons and here I met many like minded souls where we shared ideas, techniques, and many times a  blob of paint in a special colour that would “just make your picture sing!”

Over the years I have participated in many workshops with some wonderful artists: Mary Lampman, Poul Thrane, John Stewart Price, Peter John Reid and Lucy Manley to name a few. I was a founding member of the Pine Ridge Art Association and continue to enjoy the activities of the club. I expanded my interest to acrylics, mixed media and watercolour. And just when there was no more room in the studio for any more “stuff,” I discovered alcohol ink! I have always wanted to ‘loosen up,’ to paint with less detail, more impressionistically, and maybe a little more abstract, as well . Alcohol ink has opened that door for me. Always in transition with my art, I hope to eventually paint with a simpler pallet and to try my hand at “pleine air” so I can paint the beauty of nature in person.

I feel fortunate to live in such a picturesque town with the surrounding beauty of the Northumberland Hills. Much of my inspiration has come from a love of nature and from my experiences camping and canoeing in Northern Ontario. I love to paint rural scenes, seasonal landscapes, old buildings and anything representing the simplicity of times past.

Now in our retirement years, my husband has become an avid photographer and so after 50 years we still have much in common. The very things he loves to photograph are the very things I love to paint. From my early art lessons, to a collaboration with my husband, it still comes back to finding that which makes “your picture sing!”