About Ramona
I have always been an artist at heart! As a child, I was the quiet one who was happy to draw, colour, glue leaves to paper, study the wings of a dragonfly and get lost in creativity for hours! It was my strongest class in school. Later, as I had a child of my own, I really wanted to lean into learning more: what do I buy for supplies? What medium do I like the best?
That led to some basic art classes, but one day there was a turning point. It's crystal clear in my mind. If you have ever seen the movie, "Walk the Line" about Johnny Cash's life, there is a scene where he is a door to door salesman of life insurance. He sees a group of musicians walking into a recording studio. As if by a magnetic pull, he follows them, and looks in on their session. He has a realization that what they are, is what He is too, only he hadn't fully realized that was his calling until then. After that, everything changed.
For me, it was in the Chapters bookstore 24 years ago. I picked up a wildlife art magazine, and flipped through it. The page fell open to an advertisement of a 7 day workshop in Big Timber, MT with Terry Isaac, as well a few other well known artists I'd only admired. But Terry Isaac... I had just been awestruck by his work, and I had no idea he would teach! In that moment, all sound went away. I could barely breathe. It became my focused intent to get there, if they'd accept me. They obviously did, or this would be a lame story! At that workshop I met 56 other artists who'd signed up, and I soaked up everything like a sponge. Including what I learned from hanging out with successful artist roommates. People were there from as far away as Ireland, all across the USA and then maybe 3 from Canada. Definitely that week is branded in my mind as the turning point and launched the trajectory of my life as a professional artist.
It wasn't straight success from then on, but as someone who already was a parent, I didn't have the opportunity to go away for schooling for several years, and instead found that another way was to find artists who already were doing work I loved, and wanted to go in the same direction. If they taught, every 2 years I would go to another intense weeklong workshop. In between them, I would paint for thousands of hours, and enter shows.
During this season I lived in the Okanagan Valley in British Columbia. In the matter of maybe 5 years I went from getting rejection letters from the largest show in the valley to being voted in each year in the top 10 people's choice artist. A real cherry on the cake was getting invited one year to serve on that same jury committee that had rejected my application in the beginning. To be fair, I deserved it at that time. I was not ready. Being on that committee taught me a lot of what they look for, which was another education.
Highlights in my career have been commissions that stretched me. One for a massive triptych painting for an 8000 sq ft B&B in Oyama, BC. It was 11x9 ft in total. Also selling 22 paintings in a one day show was a dream day.
I have other highlights that were more of an inner win category. I was a very private artist for all of that time in BC. No one ever saw me painting: not my husband or even child. I was asked when I moved to Saskatchewan if I'd help with a fundraiser that was raising money for rescuing and helping marginalized women and children who had been caught up in the sex trafficking trade. It was going to require me to teach a class! A one night class similar to what a very popular company was doing in bars across the USA. That 'yes' led me to getting hired by that same company which just so happened to be coming to Saskatchewan the next month, to Saskatoon! Big hurdle there and a fear faced, conquered and even eventually loved!
