Forty talented artists are part of the second annual Hope Art Crawl which includes couple Ed and Dawn Thomas — two versatile painters who are returning with their watercolour, acrylic, and oil paintings.
“We had a 150 people come last year. It was great,” Dawn said. “It’s been really fun and we were blown away last year by the number of people who came. There was people from all over the Valley, from every single town, down to Vancouver and Victoria. We even had a few visitors from other countries.”
Dawn, who returns to the Art Crawl with her husband as participants, is one of the organizers for the event. Started in the summer of 2022, the Art Crawl was formed by four local artists — Sabine Keil, Dawn, Desjardins, and Billie Shauer — who created the event as a way for local artists to promote, share, and sell their artwork, as well as showcase the diverse talents of artists in Hope, Laidlaw, Spuzzum, Ruby Creek, and Sunshine Valley.
For the couple, their love of painting and skill as artists is clear the moment you walk into their house — which is the location for visitors to see their works, both for sale and not for sale. In fact, whether it be the kitchen, the living rooms, the bathroom, the hallways, or their own rooms, every space in the Thomas’ home is covered with the paintings that they’ve done, all equally stunning and with beautiful, thoughtful, details. Yet, despite their clear passion for art, the couple said that their participation in the art world only started later in their life.
Ed is from Liverpool, England and Dawn is from Vancouver. The couple, who have been together for many decades, first met in Germany while working there temporarily. They started dating and later moved to, and got married in, Vancouver. Together they have two children and five grandchildren.
Both artists are self taught and work from their dining room studio (which is just a table at their dining room). According to both Dawn and Ed, the couple took up painting much later in their lives though each at separate times. Dawn was the first to discover her love for painting, in 2008, after she was first diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and wasn’t able to continue doing her outdoor hobbies with the same frequency. After being diagnosed, she started attending meetings being put on by Artist at Work — a local group, founded in 2007, that provides artists a group setting to paint. Soon, Dawn said she “found a new passion” in painting.
“For me, it’s so all absorbing. I can spend hours, and they just fly by, because I just get so absorbed in what I’m doing. It’s a passion,” Dawn said. “When I first started painting, I was mourning the loss of my old life because I was sick and I wasn’t able to do any of the things I used to do outdoors. And painting quickly became the new passion.
“And it’s been wonderful just getting to lose myself in it. Art’s been a real therapeutic time as well as fun.”
Ed, meanwhile, only started painting when he retired 12 years ago. While he did take a couple of acrylic lessons through the Art Machine, Ed said he found that watercolours suited him best, and he quickly began painting a variety of wildlife.
“My watercolour tends to be more detailed than the average watercolour,” Ed laughed. “I’m not a loose painter. I don’t know why I chose watercolour. Maybe just to be different from (Dawn).
“When painting, I like to see the finished product — when it’s good of course! But it’s also fun trying to figure out what to do when painting.”
While each painter gravitates to different themes and mediums, the couple do paint similar themes and subjects. Dawn’s preferred subjects are landscapes, seascapes, animals, birds, cityscapes, and portraits. She also prefers oils and acrylics and her love of texture has her painting on canvas and sometimes wood. Meanwhile, Ed prefers more experimentation with his subjects but does return to painting the land, seascapes, wildlife, and flowers. He prefers working in watercolour and prefers tighter detail when painting.
The couple said they’re happy to be participating again this year’s Art Crawl. And they’re looking forward to receiving an even more visitors this year and making connections through their art. Of course, they’re also happy that they can participate together — as well as continue to share their love of painting with one another.
“It’s really fun. I get to ask Dawn what do you think of this,” Ed said. “And she gives me tips and stuff like that. And we talk back and forth.”
Dawn said she agrees with this.
“Yeah we can bounce things off each other. We can ask each other, ‘how does this look? Do I need to do anything more or do I need to change this’?”, she said. “Yeah, it’s really fun having a hobby we both enjoy. And we don’t ever throw paint at each other!”
Dawn and Ed, along with the other 39 talented artists, will be proudly displaying their work during the Hope Art Crawl, taking place Aug. 12 and Aug. 13, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. both days.
READ MORE: Registration for Hope Art Crawl 2023 open until May 12
@KemoneMoodley
kemone.moodley@hopestandard.com
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