NEWS FLASH:
Both Rome walking Tours are now available for free on this web site!
​Click here to see the tours!

When did I start painting you ask!

In 2012, I took a photograph of Corniglia, Italy and printed a large copy of it which hung in my livingroom. After 5 years, the colour faded. I was going to print another, but in the spur of the moment decided I would paint it instead. I headed to Bijann's art store and bought what I needed to get started. But then I decided to paint a 3 dimensional version of it, which can be seen here: Corniglia. I have been painting for 9 years now and have completed around 50 paintings and sketches. I mostly paint Italian towns and things related to Italy as I am fascinated with Italy; the colours, sounds, food, art, architecture, culture, scenery, olive groves, lemon trees and of course Italian wine. I have recently started exploring water colours. It is a fun and completely different medium.

Face and Lace Challenge - Servants of Sicily

I dream of creating paintings with a level of accuracy, depth, expression, and emotion far beyond my current abilities. Too often, my hand cannot reproduce the vision I see so vividly in my mind. In 2025, I visited the National Gallery, the Courtauld Gallery, and the National Portrait Gallery in London, England for the first time. I spent hours in each, studying every brushstroke, light source, composition, and use of colour in the masterworks before me. When I finally left London, I carried with me a personal challenge: What can I paint that will truly be worthy to me? I chose to undertake a face and lace study. Faces have always been difficult for me, and I wanted to explore the delicate complexity of lace as well.
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The painting below, temporarily titled The Face and Lace Challenge, is the result. Along the way, the challenge grew to include hands, handkerchiefs, robes, highlights, and shadows. The creative process was both stressful and deeply satisfying. The painting is not perfect, but it comes remarkably close to the vision I carried in my mind.

Water Colour Exploration.

The only time I can remember painting with watercolours was in Grade 3. Miss Baker (Lorne Ave School) brought out the large pucks of red, yellow, blue, green, black, and white paint. We swished our brushes in water and smeared colourful blobs across large sheets of poster paper. It was probably great fun and, without a doubt, wonderfully messy. I decided to try my hand at it 63 years later. I ordered a collection of supplies online because, apparently, an online discount is reason enough to spend money. Besides, not having to speak to anyone in a store is my idea of ideal human interaction. I got started with it and now I can't stop!

I am not doing commissioned work. My creative exploration is all about fun and ability/style growth. I paint purely for the joy of it. I want to play, experiment, make glorious messes, try crazy ideas and be as wild as the paintbrush wants to be - with no deadlines, no expectations and absolutely no pressure to make anything look like real life.  Commissioned work would add stress to my life and there is no need for stress in anyone's life. 

La Bellezza del Bucato (The Beauty of Laundry)
18 by 24 Oil on Birch Cradle

La Bellezza del Bucato (The Beauty of Laundry) 
Step into a sun-drenched moment frozen in time, where everyday life is alive with colour and charm. This artwork presents a three-dimensional diorama of an elderly woman paused mid-ritual, carefully hanging laundry from her weathered window in a small Italian village. She has performed this task weekly for decades. Her movements are effortless and her technique is perfected by time.
The scene brims with playful texture and vivid hues. The rosy pink façade, bright green shutters, bold striped backdrop, and fluttering garments infuse the setting with energy and joy. From gently swaying undergarments to delicate lace catching the light, each piece tells a quiet story of simple pleasures and authentic domestic rhythm.

This is my first attempt at sculpture and the first piece where I explore a wide mix of mediums, bringing them together in a heartfelt scene that hopefully brings a smile to the viewer’s face.

I built a cradle on the back of the window / building which she slips into to hold her in place. The shutters are carved from cedar boards. The birch cradle is covered in wall mud for texture and then is gessoed and painted with oils.

Pantocrator
16 by 16 Gold leaf and Oil on Birch Cradle - available for purchase: $600

Monreale, Sicily:  A Norman Arab church built in 1172, a Benedictine cloister next door, with absolutely incredible architecture.  
The interior of the Cathedral is unbelievable – stunning – glistening – captivating – humbling. Striking Byzantine mosaics cover every inch of the apse, walls, arches ...and the Pantocrator at the front of the church powerfully watches your every move and doesn’t let you get away with anything! I took a great number of photographs because it was the most incredible church interior I have ever seen. A few years ago, I decided I wanted to do something with the Pantocrator, so I opened my favourite photo in Photoshop, converted it to a line drawing, then dropped it into Illustrator to refine the image. It sat in a folder on my hard drive, untouched for years as I was still trying to figure out what to do with it.  After my stressful, yet successful applications of the gold on the earrings in the Whispers in Stone painting, I decided that gold leaf must play a part in the Pantocrator project. I prepared a 16 by 16 inch wood cradle then applied gold leaf to the entire board then sealed the gold with 2 layers of varnish as the leaf isn’t 24K and will tarnish if not sealed. Finally, I imported the dusty-old Illustrator file into Laserburn and converted it to a line image that the lasercutter can understand. I did a bunch of testing to see if my laser (which is a diode laser) can even etch or cut gold leaf. It ends up that it can, and once I got the settings correct, I sent the image to the laser to be etched into the gold. I hung out in the basement with the laser during this time as I was not sure if the whole thing would catch fire. Fortunately, it did not. It took about an hour for the etching to be complete. When you cut with a laser, the burn from the light leaves soot all over the image, so I carefully cleaned it with cotton swabs and tissues. I emerged from the basement and headed up to the studio. From there, I painted the image while exactly following the colours used in the original mosaics as I tried to match the Byzantine style, and quick colour changes caused by the colours themselves and the positioning of the tessera. You can notice the abruptness of the changes in the shading on his face and hand.  This was a fun project. See more photos here.

Sunday Morning
​18 by 24, Oil on Birch Cradle - private collection

After visiting the Kellogg’s Competition to see the entries, I decided that I need to try being “looser” with the brushstroke, try my hand at people, and add emotion to the painting. So, I put together this composite which is called “Sunday Morning”. Adorloretta, who is standing in the doorway, was a feisty, verbal, ancient, second cousin. She lived in Monteleone di Puglia. I met her once and the visit with her was wildly interesting as she had a long, angry, history with our family. She is no longer alive but the memory of walking with her to the town cemetery is very much alive in me and still makes me laugh.
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I don’t know the man, but he was sitting in his chair when we visited Alberobello; the town with the round, white Truli houses with those beautiful peaked roofs. He was happily watching the thousands of tourists, of whom we were two, wander through the town. The dog, who was also happy, was lounging in a small, mountain top village called Laurito, where we stopped for a coffee and chatted with the wonderfully, friendly, locals. The pink building was in a town we wandered through one evening called Sessa Arunca, Campania on Via S Leo. I took many photos from different angles of this building as I thought I could use it in a painting.

To address the looseness theory, I dropped on a base of colour all at once, instead of starting at the top left corner and doing detailed work right from the beginning. This was very challenging for me. Once the base was on, I went back and added details. 
To address emotion, I tried to build a connection between the three, but I haven't defined that connection. It is up to the viewer to make up the story for this piece.
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Siena
16 by 16 Oil on Birch Cradle - available for purchase: $600
A walk through Siena the day after the Palio, with my goddaughter Britt, presented us with this view. Siena, like all Italian towns is a wonderful place to visit. 

Whispers in Stone: The Muse of Matera
30 by 36 Oil on Birch Cradle - available for purchase $5,000

Matera, Italy is a stunningly beautiful and intriguing town. We wandered through it for a day scaling hundreds of steps while admiring everything about the Sassi. We paid our way into the Matera Cathedral. I am not a fan of Baroque decoration which, in my opinion destroys the interior of this church, but then I found this lovely 13th century angel silently lost within the business of the Baroque. She was carved somewhere between 1203 and 1270. I believe she needs to be free from the horror of the Baroque, so I have restored her beauty and she now lives in 21st century freedom. She has 24K gold-leaf earrings. This piece was recently shown at the TAP Gallery in London.

Chiara Rose
​16 by 16 Oil on Birch Cradle - private collection

Rose window from the Basilica of Santa Chiara, Assisi, Italy. 
Garbatella
​16 by 24 Oil on Birch Cradle - private collection 
While in Rome, we had a lovely afternoon walk through Garbatella, where I spied the subject matter shown above. The laundry is mounted on a 4 inch piece of oak, to give it distance from the main panel.
​The Fiats of Lipari - private collection
​June 19, 2014, Karen and I were scooting around the island on our fifth day in Lipari, Italy, when we discovered a perfectly staged collection of old Fiats. We immediately parked the scooter and started exploring this classic ancient ruins. We had this amazing archeological site all to ourselves! They were absolutely adorable and so much fun to explore. Click here to see more!
Manarola
​30 by 40 Oil on Birch Cradle - private collection
Wow, what a project this was! I started painting on October 23, 2021 and finished on March 5, 2022, for a total project time of 217 hours. I keep a journal to log my time. I estimated that it would take 300 hours, so was happy to come in below that number. This view of Manarola is from the cliff-top town of Corniglia, Italian Riviera, Ligurian Sea. I am delighted to be finished.
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I'm Never Leaving
30 by 36 Oil on Birch Cradle -  available for purchase: $7,000

The above painting, I'm Never Leaving, was one of 100 selected from over 1100 entries for the Kellogg's Annual ArtCom Competition. This competition is the largest in Canada with both professional and amateur works selected.

The beautiful Italian Riviera presents five small fishing villages known as the Cinque-Terre. The villages are connected by picturesque and ancient hiking trails perched high on the clifftops overlooking the magnificent, blue, Ligurian Sea.

Hiking the trails is both exhilarating and strenuous, but everyone who visits the area is compulsively driven to complete the trek.

After an arduous day of what seems to be eternal hiking, you ascend the final trail from the rocky shoreline and witness this unexpected view of Riomaggiore. While being overtaken by exhaustion and emotion, the view of the village mingles with your soul, and you breathlessly whisper, “I’m never leaving.”
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Cave Party at the Limbo-Scram
​24 by 24 Oil on Birch Cradle - private collection
​This 14th century fresco has always amused me ever since I studied it in art class in the mid 70s. It's a little cave party going on to the lower right of a bunch of folks on their way to limbo-land! I have called this painting Cave Party at the Limbo-Scram, because the real titles of Descent into Limbo, or Descent to Hell, are too scary for some of my friends! The original fresco is located in the Spanish Chapel, in the Church of Santa Maria Novella, in Florence. It was painted in 1366-67 by Andrea Bonaiuto. I saw it in real-life in the summer of 2016 when Keith and I were touring Florence, and it was delightful to see. The medieval artists must have had so much fun painting it. 
The Italy Travel Trilogy is three paintings combined to tell a story of a magnificent summer vacation. Click the links in the description to see progress photos.
 
1. Left - Karen admiring the Trinita di Delia, a 12th century Arab-Moorish chapel, just north of Selinunte in Sicily
2. Middle - Keith looking out the window of King Frederick's tower, over the town of Enna
3. Right - Brittany exploring ancient ruins in Herculaneum

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Vernazza from the Cliffs
​18 by 24 Oil on Birch - private collection
​Vernazza; a beautiful town in the Italian Riviera. This is the view from high on the cliffs. I have had the pleasure of experiencing this view with a number of friends while hiking the Blue Azure Trails in the Cinque Terre, Italy; something everyone should do. Click here to see details.
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​Unbeleev - Interactive Memories of Italy, Oil on Birch, 30 by 43 - private collection
Click here to see more 

​A collage of moving parts, activities and locations: 148 buildings, 12 locations, 29 people, 3 Vespas, 5 ruins, 4 Fiats, 4 Goats, Uncountable windows, shutters, doors, bricks and grapes. There are 5 moving parts which allows for 16,384 possible scenarios.
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Keith
18 by 24 Oil on Birch - private collection
Keith and I travelled to Italy for a couple of weeks in 2014. 

It was his first time in Italy. He was in remission from an aggressive type of Leukaemia; the same Leukaemia that killed famous Canadian artist, Jack Chambers years earlier. Part of our travelling included various sites in Sicily. In Enna, we climbed King Frederick's tower and Keith paused to look out the window.

This is my eighth painting and it is the first painting that makes me "feel" like I can paint. I surprised myself with it and I smile in disbelief every time I look at it. It is my first painting dealing with any major perspective. 

Thanks Keith for the trip to Italy, and for looking out this window. I am celebrating your life and this painting with a party-drink tonight.
More details about Keith can be seen by clicking this link. 
Click here to see Detailed photos of painting 

David's View (Oil on Birch, 10 by 30") - private collection

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Florence:
​If you have visited Florence, Italy, crossed the river and climbed the steps, you will recognize this view from Piazzale Michelangelo. It took 163 hours to complete the work. Each front row building averaged two to three hours to complete. The church took about 22 hours. It was fun painting this, and less stressful than "Oh Look a Castle", as I was not painting for someone; it was just for me. Sometimes, at the end of the day, I felt that I had painted for hours and gotten nowhere. Other times, painting a series of buildings made me feel that even though I still had hours of time ahead of me to finish, I was moving along just fine. Click here to see progression photos.

"Oh Look a Castle" (Oil on Birch, 12 by 36") - private collection

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"Oh Look a Castle" was a gift for my god-daughter, Brittany. It depicts a palace in Mantua Italy, the Colosseum in Rome, and Britt's favourite building (from the outside) the Duomo, in Orvieto. Britt and I travelled for one month to all corners of Italy and like to reminisce about the trip. This painting will help us do that! My high-school art teacher, and good friend, Mary Redekop, said "Someone would have to be crazy to paint that church!" - I rest my case!
​ More photos may be seen by clicking this link.

Heart of London Video Tour App was recognised with a Provincial Award and a Municipal Award.
I no longer have it posted in the app stores, instead it is available by clicking the link above. 
The tour provides a multimedia tour of the Forks of the Thames River in London, Ontario.

Hey Wendy Watch This!

Her eyes might look innocent
​               ~ but are they?
​Adventures at Lorne Avenue School, Sir Adam Beck, and in the neighbourhood, pack life full of surprises for the Rogers family as Deb grows up East of Adelaide in London, Canada. 

You might not believe that all these stories are true  
​                ~ but they are!
Life was full of wild times as Deb grew up East of Adelaide. The book covers neighbourhood and school stories from EOA, Lorne Avenue School and Beck Collegiate. There are humourous stories and some not so humourous. The focus is completely from Deb's perspective - because isn't life all about Deb?

​Click here to read the reviews.

Photo above: Book Signing and Meet the Author at Indigo Chapters Masonville!

The Heart of London App was recognized as a Leader in Innovation

We are so excited and delighted to announce that the Heart of London app was recognised for the first ever Ontario’s Southwest Innovation Award for planning and implementing a new, innovative tourism product.  

The Heart of London addresses the need for content to be provided to mobile users where they want it and when they want it, while drawing them into downtown London; the Heart of London. 

By combining storytelling, compelling graphics and video with historical research, scenic localities and place markers, London history becomes accessible to both visitors and Londoners. Every attempt was made to present the people and places of the past by using current, mobile technology. 

Heart of London Objectives:
  • To attract tourists and locals to downtown London, specifically, the Forks of the Thames River, while encouraging exploration of the history and features of the area by providing a relaxed and informative mobile tour.
  • To inspire healthy participation through walking or riding while at the same time providing a wheelchair accessible activity.
  • To provide an “on demand” approach to tourism and London history through the use of current mobile technology
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The app is a fun and informative historical tour of London Ontario, with videos included which provide over ninety minutes of information.   

Teachers: The Heart of London app fits within the Provincial curriculum for Grade Six Social Studies; Strand A: Heritage and Identity: Communities in Canada, Past and Present.
The Art of London, written by Nancy G. Poole. is now available as a free download at: 
http://www.mcintoshgallery.ca/docs/The-Art-of-London.pdf

It took 90 hours for me to convert this original paper-based publication to an e-book. It has been made available by an anonymous donor for everyone to download for free. It is a wonderful read. I can honestly tell you that because I have read it at least 10 times! It is loaded with information and great stories about the progression of Art in London and our many artists.

Two Rome Walkabout Apps are available in the links at the top of this page.

The Mostly Roman & Early Christian and the Renaissance, Mannerist & Baroque apps have sold in 44 countries around the world with 600 downloads.

The apps are available at the links above. I removed them both from app stores and made them available on this site instead.

Each app provides maps, readable content, videos, photos, slide presentations and great walking directions. They are fun, informative and helpful. Maximize your time in Rome by using these apps. They can be use don your phone while you wander through Rome!