It all started with a new tube of beautiful Daniel Smith watercolour in a deep turquoise that came out too fast from the tube onto my palette. I decided to start with that colour and use as much pigment as I could on the paper… and it so easily became an abstract mountain scene full of energy, yet calming at the same time. This was my first “mountain painting” and I called it “In the Elements”, as I live in Calgary Alberta Canada, where the Rocky Mountains are almost in my backyard. I am both “in the elements” with my environment and “in the element” with my creativity. Growing up, I was surrounded by a lot of Japanese style art in my home… and I have started to see the influence of this in my paintings/style.