Last summer Cheryl Peddie turned her hobby into a full-time job. Trading her computer for an easel, she changed her title from graphic designer to painter.
It was her father’s passing that inspired her to take the plunge. When he was alive, he always wanted his own dark room to develop his photographs, but he never got around to building one.
Peddie took that as a lesson.
“Once he passed away I thought I really need to make this more a part of my life. I had been doing it on the side and I started teaching, as well, over and above my regular job as a graphic designer, so once he passed away I started teaching more and taking on more projects that would allow me to get closer to being a full time artist.
“It’s been wonderful.”
Peddie, an impressionist oil painter who loves streetscapes and landscapes, started painting in the mid 90s, after moving to Calgary. She always had an interest in fine arts and even spent her first year of university pursuing that interest. But, after that year, she changed streams.
Once out of school and with a full-time income, she returned to painting and started taking classes on the side to improve her skills.
She can still remember the first piece she sold. It was a painting of some bedding plants in her husband’s huge metal popcorn bowl. It was the first painting she was particularly proud of and at her first show, it was the one to sell.
“It was just such a delight. I’ve got a picture of the painting and I still remember being so pleased with the painting itself and how much fun it was to paint, and then to know that somebody wanted to take it home with them and make it part of their own collection of special things, it was a real exciting thing to happen.”
These days Peddie’s work is in a few different galleries in Alberta and she often works on commission.
But a lot of her time is spent teaching classes and workshops.
On June 27, she will teach one of her workshops in Jasper, teaching people how to paint streetscapes, her latest passion.
The workshop is being organized in collaboration with the Jasper Habitat for the Arts.
Prior to the workshop, Peddie will be in Jasper for a few days, setting up her easel around town to capture some of Jasper’s bustling streets and neighbourhoods. She will also be painting at the Jasper Artist Guild’s gallery in the Old Fire Hall on June 25 and 26.
The paintings she creates in Jasper are part of a series titled Road Trip 2015, which will take her around Alberta, British Columbia and Saskatchewan.
She encourages people to approach her while she works and to check out what she’s working on.
“I welcome people to come and paint with me and to watch what I’m doing and visit. It’s going to be a great week. I’m really excited.”
Also exciting, said Peddie, is that this will be her first trip back to Jasper since her honeymoon in 1997 and following her week of painting she and her husband will celebrate their wedding anniversary while camping in the park.
“It’s going to be really fun. I’m so glad that I’m going to get this nice long stretch of time where I can really relax and take my time and explore the area and see all the new things and go back and revisit some of the place we love, too.”
To sign up for Peddie’s workshop, email Marianne at [email protected]. To check out more of Peddie's work, visit her website, www.cherylpeddie.ca.
Nicole Veerman
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