30 Years in Canada: A Journey of Growth, Adventure and Creativity

End of the Season, watercolour and watercolour pencil, 6" x 12"

March Blog



When you read this blog, I will be in Germany to visit family and friends. It will be a milestone trip because 30 years ago, I cleaned out my apartment to move to Canada with my then-fiancé Ingo. My decision was a big shock for my relatives and friends (especially my parents and sister) because I had never mentioned any desire to move away from Germany, definitely not to a country on the other side of the ocean.


I remember how unreal everything felt when I left the office for the last time, surrounded by well-wishes and promises to keep my colleagues updated. We were busy saying goodbye and spending as much time with family and friends to hold on to our memories.


Cleaning out my apartment was a time-consuming task. I packed most of my belongings for storage - aside from two suitcases with clothes and some necessities. Ingo, on the other hand, had hardly any belongings to pack in his furnished apartment.


I remember one visit in the frantic days before our departure when I drove to my parents in tears, feeling overwhelmed and questioning the decision. We planned to stay in Canada for six months to see whether we wanted to build our lives there. I guess I didn't truly consider the possibility of moving forever. I saw it as a big adventure after living a mostly uneventful life. Most of the time, I couldn't imagine the big adventure ahead. The reality only crept in once I had time to think about my situation.


I will never know how the story would have ended if we had returned to Germany in the fall of 1995. However, I will look at my decision not only through the rearview mirror. I will share how our decision has affected my relationships and compare the quality of life in Germany and Canada. My priorities have changed over the years, and so has the view of my art.


I have already written twice about different aspects of my immigration journey. If you want to learn more, I recommend diving into my 2016 and 2020/2021 blogs. They show my struggles and triumphs in creating a new life in a different country and inform you about many German traditions.


Here are some suggestions to start:

https://kerstinpeterspaintingblog.blogspot.com/2016/01/first-impressions-of-canada.html

and

https://kerstinpeterspaintingblog.blogspot.com/2020/04/my-immigration-journey.html.

I reflect on my 25 years in Canada in the following blog: https://kerstinpeterspaintingblog.blogspot.com/2021/08/reflection-on-my-25-years-in-canada.html. I am excited to explore if and how my opinion has changed in the past five years.


For now, I will finish this blog by celebrating my friendships with my Canadian artist friends, who have been there for me for the past 25 years. A special thank you goes to my Painting Buddies. We have influenced and supported each other for almost 20 years in our creative endeavours and through highs and lows in our private lives.

Celebrating 10 Years of Blogs on Blogspot

Elephant on Bag, wool

February Blog


Do you know I started writing my blogs on Blogspot ten years ago? I can hardly believe it. Until then, I had posted directly on my old website. It didn't offer the opportunity to search for content with keywords or to have the text translated into another language. It was a regular page on my website. I created a new page for each year and kept adding the blogs on the page one after the other for each year. During the first few years, it was never a problem because I only wrote occasionally. However, once I started writing regularly, the content of the beginning of the page was deleted due to a software bug - without any notice. I didn't realize this bug until I looked for older blogs and noticed that all content at the beginning of that page was automatically deleted after a certain number of words. 

Over the years, the number of blogs has varied. Last year, I reduced my blogs to monthly publications due to vision problems. I was supposed to have an amniotic membrane transplant this month to help with my chronic dry eyes, but the procedure was postponed until the middle of the year. Therefore, I will continue with monthly blogs. However, I encourage you to read through some older posts for inspiration to bring more creativity to your life. It is interesting to look back at the development I went through.



To see what I created this month, check out the collage of the ten watercolour paintings. They were all started during Zoom sessions with my painting friends. 

Top Row:

Weathered Welcome, watercolour and watercolour pencil, 7.5" x 5.75" 

My Favourite Tree, watercolour and watercolour pencils, 7.75" x 5.5"

Last Dash of Autumn, watercolour, 7.5" x 5.75"  

Bottom Row:

Whitewater Cottage, watercolour, 5.75" x 7.75"

Mirrored Rock, watercolour, 7.5" x 5.75"

Left column:

Maple Leaves, watercolour and watercolour pencils, 8.5" x 8.5" 

Golden Sunset in the Country, 8.25" x 11" 

 

Right column:

Orchids, watercolour, and watercolour pencils, 5.75" x 7.5"   

Pink Azalea, watercolour, 5.75" x 7.75" 

Spring Bouquet with Pink Tulips, watercolour, 7.5" x 11"

Has one of the above watercolour paintings caught your eye? I usually don't offer them for sale. However, starting this month, I will offer special promotions for newsletter subscribers. Learn more about each painting and add a precious gem to your collection. Imagine how it will feel to look at a beautiful painting whenever you need a boost - your piece of nature inside of your home. Do you want to learn more? Please email me, and I will send you a copy of my second February newsletter.



I have reduced my needle felting time due to a tennis elbow. I started a new pet portrait and created an elephant on the bag (see image at top) - another needle-felted image on a functional object. Usually, I plan the whole composition of a painting before I start. I was unsure whether to add anything but the elephant. Ultimately, I only added a bit of grass around the animal. 

I am proud that I achieved my monthly goal of 10 finished artworks again. What goals did you reach this month? Please leave a comment, and let's celebrate together.

Art as a Guide Through Life

 

Snack Time, wool, 7.5" x 11.25, CAN $450

January Blog



Art has always been my way to capture the beauty of nature. After I immigrated to Canada, it became my means to express myself without words in difficult and memorable times, a personal retreat.


I came to Canada in April 1995, following my then-financé Ingo back to the country he had lived in since childhood. While I had a degree as a foreign language correspondent in English and Spanish, most of my practice had been in the artificial space of a classroom. I felt overwhelmed when communicating in English, especially in group discussions.


After exploring the country on our route from Toronto to Vancouver, we finally settled in Ottawa. For the first year, I only was here as a tourist and had to leave the country at least every six months. I also could not get a work permit.


Wanting to meet people, I signed up for a painting class at the Ottawa School of Art. At first, I was shocked at how rusty my drawing and painting skills had become within a few years of hardly touching my tools, but I slowly regained confidence. While I didn't understand every word the instructor said, I understood enough to follow her directions and slowly found my way back into painting.


However, our growing family soon limited my creative activities again. In 2006, I entered a budding artist exhibition and won a prize for my painting, Jessie - Forever in My Heart. Creating the artwork of our beautiful Golden Retriever, who died the day after her 10th birthday, was my way to keep her memory alive and deal with the pain of losing her so suddenly. Creating the painting cost me a lot of strength. I had to stop several times when I was overwhelmed with pain. Therefore, I started a second painting, Princess Christine, a portrait of my young daughter. I submitted both paintings to the Arteast Budding Artist Exhibition. Both paintings achieved high scores, but my dog painting won in its category. Winning the prize encouraged me to get serious about painting again and develop my art beyond the hobby stage.


Fast forward a couple of decades, and I have the privilege of teaching others, and the vision for my business has become much more than providing beauty with my art. It reflects my experiences of using art to cope, explore and capture my surroundings.


As an entrepreneur, I represent my business. What I offer reflects my personal values. My core values give you transparency of my focus and whether your expectations align with my values when you consider working with me.


When I think of my values, there is one more that I could add: Inspiration. Over the years, I have experienced the power of art to celebrate life's beauty and to get me through some deep valleys. I want to share this gift with you so you experience the freedom of creative expression, which will enrich your life.

This year, I have picked a different challenge for myself. I still strive to create art every day. However, I want to complete ten unfinished projects every month instead of creating a new drawing or painting daily. I reached my goal this month. Here is a collage of the finished artworks.

 

 

To read more about each piece, please email me, and I will send you a copy of my latest newsletter. I will publish my next blog on February 28, 2025.

Art Advent Calendar 2024: Days 21 - 24

 

 

 Day 21: Following the Path, 5.8" x 8.3", watercolour

On a sunny Wednesday in early November, Janis, Bob and I spontaneously decided during our Zoom meeting to paint at Mer Bleue after lunch. Even though the tamaracks had lost their beautiful golden needles, we enjoyed the sunshine on the bog. It was so warm that we painted without jackets.

I painted the boardwalk and quickly realized there was still a lot of colour in the shrubs on both sides of the path. Sometimes, you only need to take the time to observe your surroundings.

 

Watch my video from the outing here.

 

 

Day 22: Last Colours of Fall, watercolour pencils, 7.5" x 5.25"

 

This image is one of my daily drawings. It shows a view from our bedroom window towards the street. 

At the beginning of the year, I challenged myself to draw something daily into my sketchbook. I wanted to capture things I appreciated or saw daily. However, I was sometimes too ambitious in my drawing project to finish in a day.

At the end of the year, I realized it was too ambitious a goal to make a drawing of the day aside from other creative projects. In the future, I will count all paintings and drawings, not only those in my sketchbook. However, I drew many different subjects, which was a great practice - and I had lots of fun capturing something from my daily activities. Plus, I still drew more than I would have without the intention.

Check out my monthly 2024 blogs for more details on my trials and triumphs.

Day 23: Dramatic Sunset, watercolour, 8.3" x 11.7"

This painting is another one from our Painting Buddies Zoom meetings. I saw the bright red sky during a walk with our dog, Shadow, but couldn't get a good shot because of the trees and houses in our neighbourhood. However, my friend, Janis Fulton, got a clear view and shot the amazing photo we used as a reference.


I love the bright late fall and winter evening skies. When we were children, my mother always told my sister and me that the sky was red before Christmas because the angels were baking cookies. Did you hear similar stories during your childhood?

 

 

Day 24:  Shadow, wool, 8.75" x 11.75", wool

Even though I love our dog Shadow and have sketched him several times, this is my first needle-felted portrait of him. I started this painting in early 2021. It shows our dog Shadow, who was just a little puppy then. Part of my reluctance to finish the painting was the background I chose for the painting. Instead of the uninteresting background of our kitchen counter, I added a van Gogh sky in the background but was unsure about it.

 

Early this year, I added hearts to the swirls in the background. Swirls and hearts symbolize the love and excitement Shadow brought to our lives again after we lost our beloved Alex and in a world of physical isolation. I like it and have started adjusting the little guy's body, noticing mistakes in his posture that I had missed. Creating an image of a mostly black dog is challenging because you can hardly see the eyes, snout and shadows. Creating another artwork of him should get easier because he gets more and more white hairs. I can hardly wait to paint him at the prime of his life with acrylic paints.

 

Merry Christmas! Happy Hanukkah! Happy Holidays! 

 

Thank you for your ongoing support throughout the year. I usually create my art without an audience, and it brings me joy to share my world through paintings with you. May my art inspire and uplift you.

 

Wishing you a joyful and creative journey in 2025!
Embrace the opportunities to grow and enrich your life.

I will publish my next blog on January 31, 2025.