Every year or so, I feel a need to check in with myself, as an artist and as a person, by painting or drawing a self-portrait. For the last two years, I have focused on painting with soft pastels on sanded paper, so in this self-portrait I tried to use some of the colours that I love to use that are inspired by the local island landscape.

The beauty that surrounds me here on Vancouver Island inspires and nurtures my creativity. When I see the distant mountains, forests, waterfalls, and layers of blue islands here, I cannot imagine living anywhere else.