“I believe I am still at the beginning of my journey into painting.” says Deborah Swain, “I love what art does for our souls. I so enjoy being able to create works that elicit good feelings in others. I love it when my work creates feelings of joy, peacefulness, or wonder in the viewer.”
Deborah says that the beautiful palette of vibrant colors available to work with, and the endless beauty that surrounds us inspires her to continue this journey.
“Sometimes choosing what next to paint is the most difficult thing. We only have so many days in our lives in which to live, capture this beauty, and leave our mark.”
Deborah says she has always enjoyed arts and crafts of all sorts and descriptions. Growing up, she loved to watch her mother create amazing works in several different media, and tells that she came to love painting when beginning to learn to “tole” paint in 1999. Since then, the artist says she has had the privilege of taking workshops in acrylics and oils from very talented Kamloops artists and guest instructors, brought to the Interior from across Western Canada through the Federation of Canadian Artists.
Deborah was born and raised in North Vancouver. Her family moved to Vancouver Island later in her teens, where she met her life partner, Paul. After they married, they moved to Kamloops, B.C., where they have raised three wonderful sons, and recently have added two new beautiful grandsons to their family.
In the past, Deborah has worked in the Parks, Recreations and Aquatics fields in several municipalities for over 25 years. In that time, she says there was only time to participate in the odd local workshop, and not a lot of time to create much art outside of that.
In 2009, one of Deborah’s first art teachers, Kamloops artist, Debbie Milner, introduced Deborah to the Federation of Canadian Artists. The following summer, 2010, Deborah achieved her Active status with the Federation and has since been juried into six Federation shows, including one national open show. She works full time and tries to spend her spare time on her art and creating jewelry for her business “Debz Inspirationz.”
Deborah is also thrilled to be serving as a new co-chair for the Thompson Nicola Shuswap Chapter of the FCA.
Deborah will be at the Armour Mountain Art Gallery in Barriere, on Dec. 13, from 6 to 8 p.m., kicking off with an open house, as she is the featured artist at the gallery for the next few weeks.