Tammy has always been interested in art, but it wasn’t until she retired to Gibsons in 2016—the seaside village on the Sunshine Coast of British Columbia, Canada—that she began her journey of becoming a professional artist. After taking an introductory water colour course with Bruce Edwards, she explored the joys of this medium.  

After moving to the Sunshine Coast full time, Tammy found herself enjoying the many hobbies now with more time on her hands. Having been an educator teaching art to elementary students, Tammy knows that the best way to learn is to engage in the process of learning. Having no formal art training, she considers herself very fortunate to have been taught and mentored by legendary Sunshine Coast artist, Ed Hill. His work has greatly influenced her style and the fine attention to detail matches her desire to get things perfect. They often discuss the importance of the process rather than focusing on the product. As an educator, Tammy knows this fact in her head, but in her heart, her critical eye always tends to focus on the final result. It is this striving for perfection that drives her as an artist.

Today, Tammy’s work is inspired mainly by the beautiful landscape that surrounds her home in Gibsons. She now primarily works in acrylics as a medium as she likes that they behave much like water colour paints—easily blended and layered. Like Ed, she spends a lot of time on the water paddling in the outrigger canoe, but also hiking and biking the many trails that surround her home. Nature never disappoints and when the light is just right, she is awestruck by the magic of light and subject. Like her mentor, she is always ‘looking for a painting’, and her compositional eye takes over when paddling, biking or hiking—‘is there a painting there?’, she finds herself asking.  

In her work, Tammy strives to capture the essence of that moment in time when light and subject meet to create a perfect snapshot in time that can never be repeated. As she continues to learn and grow as an artist, she is beginning to develop her own style and looks forward to where the journey will lead her. One feature that sets Tammy’s work apart from other artists, is that every painting has an accompanying story—without it, the image is not complete. It often explores the motivation for choosing the image, as well as the meaning.  She invites you to follow along in her artistic journey.