Prepare to take a whimsical journey when artist Nancy Vince displays her original art at Nadine’s Fine Art and Frames.
Entitled Happy Art — Finding Your Zen, the exhibition will be shown during the month of May.
It was only a few years ago that Vince began creating her colourful, whimsical illustrations, which she calls happy art.
“After a health scare, a class in Zen doodling at the Vernon Community Arts Centre had me discovering a whole new world of meditative art,” said Vince. “I found the freedom to create playful images that made me feel good. Seeing smiles on people’s faces kept me going back to the drawing board.”
Vince attributes her subject matter to a love of gardening, fairy tales and folk stories.
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“My first artistic endeavour actually took place when I lived in Maple Ridge and created an award-winning garden,” said Vince, adding her garden was featured in two magazines and on HGTV. “My friend and I organized garden tours for Sunshine Dreams for Kids and raised more than $32,000 to send kids to Disneyland for the day.”
Retirement brought Vince and her husband Al to the Vernon area, and it was here where she started creating her art.
Vince’s first illustrations were originally drawn in black and white, but her love of colour soon took over.
Her bold and bright illustrations are not your typical landscapes. Her imagination flows onto the paper, where giant flowers grow and birds fly freely through the sky.
“I have fun hiding critters into my illustrations. I want the viewer to look for things beyond what is plainly visible. It adds to the whimsy,” said Vince.
Vince has displayed her work in a number of group shows at Nadine’s, the Vernon Public Art Gallery, Vernon Community Art Centre and the Ribbon Show at the Armstrong Spallumcheen Art Gallery, where she received second place for people’s choice on one of her pieces.
“Nadine’s will be the first time I show a large body of my original work,” said Vince. “It’s exciting to have this work up for the public to see. I hope to see smiles on people’s faces when they look at the work and maybe they will see something unexpected.”
Vince’s work is available for viewing at Nadine’s Fine Art and Frames, 3101-31st Avenue. An open house for Vince is May 12 from 1 to 3 p.m.
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