I'm Denise and I love to play! I am happiest when I am in my art room getting paint everywhere! Sometimes it’s in my art journal or a handmade album. Sometimes it's adding lots of grungy layers on a gel plate. Other times it's working on a canvas like I know what I'm doing!

When I am playing and I look down and see beautiful, colorful layers of paint, it makes my heart sing. And when I pull a print from my gel plate that's just full of grungy goodness, you can see me doing a little happy dance!

Even from my youth, I have gravitated to creative play and learning. I remember being in grade 1 and bringing books filled with drawings for my teacher to see. Art was always my favourite subject in school, along with math and music.

Once I graduated and moved away and had to start 'adulting', art fell away. The odd time I would take out my sketch book and do some drawings but those days were few and far between. Then when I became pregnant with my first child I entered the world of scrapbooking and fell in love. I fell in love with all the beautiful patterned papers, stamps and becoming a mom.

One kid turned into two kids, turned into having 4 fur-babies; 1 dog and 3 cats and there was lots to scrapbook about, so it continued for about 15 years. But then the kids got older and liked having their picture taken less and less. And let's be honest, as they get older the things they do are way less cute and not what you want pictures of.

I don’t recall the moment I discovered mixed media and began experimenting, but I am so glad I did. It just seems to combine everything I love; paper, patterns, stamps, stencils, color, paint and all the mediums you can dream of! Mixed media is freedom to do whatever makes your heart happy.

Art brings me so much joy and having the opportunity to share it with others is a blessing to me. When fellow creatives reach out and share with me that I have inspired them to create or that they have learned so much from my videos, or even that it lifted their spirits that day when they really needed it, I find that to be the best gift I could ask for.

One day in the not too distant future my husband and I hope to move to a more country part of Ontario. Just on the outskirts of town so we're still within shopping for the art goodies but out far enough that we have more nature and calmness. He will pursue his woodworking (which he is incredibly skilled at) and I with my art. I dream of having a big studio where I can spread out and learn even more ways to create. Like Pottery! Or maybe encaustics!!! Who knows!!!

There's no limits to creativity.

Sweet, crazy Tucker is no longer with us but I don’t want to take his picture down yet.