Recently I received the most wonderful news...I have been juried into the Alberta Society of Artists!  It is such a privilege to be recognized as a professional artist by my peers and to be able to proudly add 'ASA' to my signature.  I'm looking foward to becoming involved with this group of artists whom I have long admired.

A professional artist is someone who:
a) Has specialized training in the field (not necessarily in an academic institution)
b) Is recognized as such by peers (artists working in the same artistic tradition), and
c) Has a history of public presentation or publication

With half of my family currently travelling in Europe, I was so grateful to meet my eldest daughter in Banff to spend the weekend.  One of my favorite people in my favorite place in the world.  I think I was about 5 years old the first time I visited and it was a very long trip from northern Manitoba.  Although we lived in a rugged place surrounded by the Churchill River and boreal forest with occasional visits to town by bears and wolves, visiting the Rocky Mountains felt so different.  I moved to Alberta as a teenager but after meeting my husband returned to Manitoba, this time to the south.  A year later my husband and I spent our honeymoon here which made him begin to think about relocating us to Alberta where we have happily raised our daughters.  It's still the most soul-refreshing place I have ever been.  I'm so fortunate to only live an hour away from this beautiful place.