“I’m sort of a Sunday painter,” says Nina Westaway, who arrives at the Lumby branch of the Okanagan Regional Library Saturday wearing a purple crocheted beret and armed with oodles of art supplies and props, one being a sock hanger.
Smiling impishly, Westaway inverts the hanger and points out the imaginary animal easily seen by those with an eye for the semi-realistic.
“I insisted on being the library’s first featured artist,” she said.
For the month of April some of Westaway’s smaller projects were displayed, mostly abstract which the artist favours. It was this shared passion which captured Vernon resident Norma Moll’s interest, when she read in the newspaper about the opportunity to meet the artist.
Westaway likes puttering and playing with paint and texture and says she tends to be a little lazy.
In addition to being an avid vinyl collector (400 records), and choral singer, she’s studied desktop publishing which is also presented in her work.
May’s featured artist at the Lumby library is Robin LeDrew.
LeDrew has lived more than 40 years in Lumby, and reflects the passage of time in a particular place through her art.
Apart from fruitful encounters with artists such as Vernon’s Julie Oakes and James Postill, Cherryville’s Lou Hammond and Langley’s Suzanne Northcott, LeDrew has had very little formal training.
She is interested in the capacity of acrylic painting to facilitate a mixture of photography and drawing.
Currently teaching at the Artistic Connections group, LeDrew is also a member of the Monashee Arts Council and the Village Gallery.
Her Roadside Attraction is a series reflecting the intricate universe revealed by a particular local landscape. Spring, summer, fall, and winter, LeDrew says she is fascinated with the day-by-day and step-by-step extraordinary unfolding of life.
The Lumby branch of the ORL is located in the Lumby Community Centre at 2250 Shields Rd. For more information, contact the branch at 250-547-9528 or visit www.orl.bc.ca.
