Andrea Carroll
Artist
I started making marks on paper at an early age; at 4 I drew several rows of crooked sticks and told my mother that when I learned to write this will be a poem. I also signed all my early childhood crayon drawings “Betty”, as I thought the letter B looked so lovely, and those to t’s together made such a great pattern…what a perfect signature for a drawing, right!?
We moved from Stewiacke to Hamilton, Ontario when I was 6 yrs. old, and all through middle school I loved art class the best. We had a pottery kiln, and oil paints and tempura and pastels and an amazing hippy art teacher. I was prepping to take the Art Stream program in high school when my mom relocated us back to Stewiacke (sound of record needle scratching); rural NS high school in the 70’s had no art classes. Upon high school graduation I pumped gas for a year to get tuition to a Fashion Merchandising college in Toronto and promptly jumped a plane and started what was to be a 25 year adventure in the fashion world, until (sound of CD stuck) I divorced and lost the whole enchilada.
So, 20 years later, I’m now back in Nova Scotia and I’m fairly new to the world of putting paint to canvas, and I love it!! Working with some inspirational artist friends (you all know who you are) I’ve been experimenting with mixed media techniques about 8 years and just recently abstract landscapes and some exploration of pop-art styles. I have no particular style and know no rules - none that I pay much attention to anyway. I am in love with Nova Scotia landscapes and am regularly out on my vintage motorcycle, riding the back roads, drinking-in inspiration for new paintings.
