Sheila Lewis, an elected member of the Canadian Society of Painters in Water Colour,
is a prolific 88 year old painter.
She recently launched her 16th solo exhibit. Autobiographical in nature, it's called
A Long Trail,
"The name," she notes, refers to long in distance, and long in
time.
Sheila Lewis' 2009 calendar features 14 paintings from the show.
To buy a calendar,
Carrying on a tradition in the arts that dates back to her mother's family, at an early
age, Sheila Lewis was encouraged by her parents to follow an interest in painting.
In recent years, she has concentrated on watercolours and was honoured with membership in the
Canadian Society of Painters in Water Colour (CSPWC).
In Ontario, her work was exhibited in the
Niagara Peninsula during her residence there. At present, it is mostly being shown in Nova Scotia
from her Rose Bay home. Her paintings are also found in many private and public collections in
Canada, the United States, England and Germany.
Sheila Lewis lives and works on the South Shore of Nova Scotia. She has studied extensively in England and
Canada. And has attended workshops in Nova Scotia, notably those given by
Jack Reid, CSPWC.
Her watercolours are both well-disciplined and accessible to the art public.
Among Sheila's subjects are shells, trees, flowers and rocks, fishermen's boats and stores,
rivers and the sea. She captures reflections and unexpected light, whose subtleties of tone and colour
deeply and delightfully convey the spirit of the Maritime seasons and climate - the fog and sunlight,
the rain and snow.
Sheila Lewis is a strong supporter of the
Mahone Islands Conservation Association. Ruth Taylor of Lunenburg was delighted
to be named the winning bidder on Sheila's donated watercolour painting
of two islands in Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia. "I love it, I'm thrilled with it," she says.