A Room Of My Own

Leanne Baird is a visual artist residing in the Peterborough area. Her background involves a variety of experiences that, all combined, informs her particular style of painting. These experiences range from a Fine Arts degree from the University of Toronto to landscape design; from studies in process art making and mandala art, to teaching the craft itself to adults and children. Developing her intuition for her surroundings, she has immersed herself in the study of yoga and of ancient Indian scriptures. Baird’s main painting focus is on landscapes which she considers to be both ‘a study of the physical and the metaphysical.’ Inspired by the natural world, she perceives the consciousness in all things and is particularly attracted to the consciousness in trees. Remarking on the cover art, she says, “To me it expresses the illumination of consciousness…the trees seem to be lit up from within.” Her influences include such artists as Lawren Harris, Emily Carr and Norval Morrissea...

Artist Kathy Haycock has spent her life dedicated to her passions; nature and art. She comes by these passions quite honestly through the noble influence of her father, well known Canadian Arctic painter Maurice Haycock. She was also greatly exposed to the work of her fathers close painting partner A.Y. Jackson of Canada’s Group of Seven. She lives near Lake Clear in the Eganville area of Ontario. Her influences introduced her to the bounty of Algonquin Park, to the vast Canadian Arctic and even further on to Greenland. Kathy continues to travel to these beautiful and extraordinary places to carry on the work of capturing nature at its best. Her dedication to on-site painting all-year-round in these remote locations can only be considered uncompromising. Kathy is truly inspired by nature itself as she continues to immerse herself in the outdoors. Her passion has her sitting out in the wilderness, quietly becoming part of it, as she paints her experience of being there.  Th...

The spiritual practice of yoga is one of the oldest disciplines in the world, and from that discipline stems the sacred practice of Thai yoga massage. We all know the health benefits of doing yoga; this massage, in essence, is the equivalent of having yoga done to you. Shelagh Binks of Yoga with Shelagh, describes it as a truly unique and beautiful experience, one that is unlike any massage treatment out there.  Thai yoga massage is a ‘partner practice’,  performed on large, comfortable mats on the floor, wearing loose and comfortable clothing. The practitioner uses their hands, feet, arms and legs to gently guide the recipient through a series of yoga postures, while palming and thumbing along the body’s energy lines and pressure points. Shelagh defines the palming and thumbing as a way to open the energy lines (also known as sen ) that run throughout the body, move the energy through these lines and then close the lines by palming again. Together, the postures and the m...

Joyous, cheerful, exuberant - these words are regularly used to describe the artwork of Margaret McFetridge from Wellington, in Prince Edward County. Margaret was born and raised in Toronto, and has had the good fortune of living in many different places in Ontario as well as spending a decade in Quebec. As a young child, her parents encouraged her art through classes at the Art Gallery of Ontario, and that passion never left her. Her early career saw her working with watercolours, silk and porcelain paintings. By the 1990’s she was experimenting with oils and that was when she discovered her true medium! That was when she went big – big canvases, big brushes and big, confident strokes. She says that the work just poured out of her and you can feel her energy through these large, vibrant and colourful floral works of art. In 1999, Margaret discovered Wellington. She says “I came to the County with some friends. I could feel the creative energy here, and that was in November! I h...