About Moi

First and Foremost

My creations can be seen on my website as of right now. They will slowly make their way over to the blog. Especially once the winter months hit and Jack Frost tells me to stay in side!

Gypsy Barns Website

 

The "Gypsy" in me .....

1 - 2 years old - Picton, Prince Edward County Ontaio Canada
2-7 Years old, Niagara Falls Ontario Canada
7-14 Back to Prince Edward County
14 - 17 Schooling in Belleville Ontario
18 - last year of schooling in Picton Ontario
18 - 23 - Travel time !!!!

Saved my money and bought a ticket to Red Deer, Alberta Canada. Stayed there for a month and bought a car for a dollar and drove it to Calgary while trying to wave the clouds of burning oil out the window and stopping every 20 km's to add 4 more litres of oil HA!

Stayed in Calgary for a bit then had just enough money for a plane ticket to British Columbia.
Did some touring and couch surfing with friends, visiting every possible site I could and absorbing all the amazing culture! my  # 1 favorite spot in Canada - Victoria British Columbia! I describe it as Alice's Canadian Wonderland! AAAAAAAAAAAmazing!

My apartment (when I finally stopped couch surfing) was overlooking the boardwalk in Victorias Harbour. When the tide was in and the seals frolicked under my balcony. When the tide was out, I was playing Disc Golf in the forests, or traveling to the rain forest and camping, or meeting locals in the amazing markets, or absorbing the culture of the buskers and never ending festivals! Such an amazing place.  However, it rains .... alot. And it got the best of me. I craved the sun and snow of the winter months and purchased another car for $100. Spray Painted it bright yellow and put a giant happy face on the hood and an "Ontario or bust" sign in the back window and hit the road back to Ontario!

There is nothing more exciting then slowly driving your country and taking in all of its beauty on the way! Stopping everywhere and learning what each town en route had to offer!
May I say, being pushed up an icey mountain by a transport is probably the scariest and most thrilling thing ever!

Back in Ontario, I tested out Toronto and each of its subdivisions .. Pickering, Newmaket, Markham, Whitby, Oshawa, Brampton, etc, and felt, well, the City isn't my thing, but it is fun for visiting!
I crave forests, lakes and rivers and headed back to Prince Edward County until I decided to go to College.

Then - off to Ottawa for 2 years to pursue my Graphics Technician and Print Media Diploma.

Ottawa was fantastic! Another city full of arts and culture ... yet still too "City" for me.

Back to Belleville Ontario for a few years, and finding, still not happy, thus landing now in Peterborough Ontario. And I now call it HOME! Or .... base camp while still hitting the roads for adventure a few times a week!
It is BEAUTIFUL HERE! I couldn't have picked a better place! One of the most artistically rich and supportive places I have ever seen! The large amount of forests, parks, rivers, lakes, beaches, festivals, and culture made it a definite #1 location from all that I have seen in the years!

Artistic Background

I try, on several occasions a week, to remember how far back I started my artistic journey.
My memory seems to only be able to reach as far back as grade 3.
I do see photos of myself in all the school plays as far back as kindergarten though. I do love being on stage!
Grade 3 was my introduction to paper mache! Instant Love! Thank you Mr. Big!

There was nothing I didn't want to create! And so I did!
Grade 7 introduced me to shop class and the wonders of woodworking and tools. Again..... instant love! Thank you Mr. Hall. We were also submerged in a Home Economics Class, and taught the basics of sewing and cooking ..... I don't think I did too well there... the noise and power of the shop interested me much more!!!!

Grade 7 - Role of the Wicked Witch in Wizard of Oz School Play
Grade 8 - Lead role as Alice in the school play!

14 years old, my father renovated my bedroom and asked me how I wanted it decorated. I said black walls and then please splatter  white paint all over them to make it look like a constellation or something.
And it was done!
Then I discovered the amazing artwork in the Rolling Stone Magazines and my collage love was born. Covering 4 foot sections of  flip chart paper in massive collages and slowly creating enough panels to cover one wall of a bedroom. Then a 6 foot tall paper mache gargoyle head with an open mouth in which I sunk a mirror..... odd, yes. But creative and fun!

Then it just continued to grow. My mother had a taste for a rustic design. Pulling in large wine making bottles to hold the mass displays of feather plants, my father turned a dresser into a bathroom vanity when I was about 15, and used a frame to display the farmers almanac as the bathroom reading material, hanging right beside the toilet. We had a claw foot tub and a toilet in which the tank  was up at the ceiling and it had a 3 foot pull string to flush. It was all so inspiring and at the time I never realized it was creating the foundations for my love of odd decor,  rustic decorating and re purposing!

My furniture creations began after a water flood, then sewage floods, 5  robberies, job loss after that... left with ... well ..... an outdoor hammock as my couch, my bed and computer.
And well, adding on to that a job loss, the money wasn't there to buy new beautiful things. Sooooooooo I began the curb shopping, and re purposing. In no time flat, the house looked great! I received a lot of oooooo's and ahhhhhh's from friends and then offers to buy a few things I had made.
I thought, wow ...... people want to buy my creations? So I started making more .. then more ..... and selling them on local online classifieds..... next thing you know, I am getting requests to see a website of everything I had ....... and Voila - Gypsy Barn was born!
I had customers driving from hours away and asking me to move closer to them. And after a large tour I decided, Peterborough was the place for me!

And there you have it!

Just me, my tools and paint and hands that can not keep still. If I am not touring or creating, I'm lost.

It never stops!

And my quest to become a DIY inspiration to other women has started.


Now, enough blabbing ... back to creating!