Skip to content

About me/
Work portfolio/
Art/

Art

While studying for my Communication degree at Auburn, I found myself in need of a creative outlet. This led to me declaring a Studio Art minor, where I took classes in drawing, painting, and printmaking. Oil is my favourite medium, but these days I find myself using gouache and watercolour more often due to the ease of cleaning up!

byleannag

artsy fartsy
part-time art student @ auburn

Yay! Something new! I broke out the acrylics and m

Yay! Something new! I broke out the acrylics and made this cutie wall art to commemorate Baby Beckett's first birthday 🥰

Finishing off the semester (and my Studio Art mino

Finishing off the semester (and my Studio Art minor) strong! For our final painting we were given no criteria aside from being able to show what we learned. Because I went with a relatively simple composition, I decided to do it in a large-scale format (36x48"! This thing is a beast!). I'm really happy with how it turned out, and it was fun getting to use all my big paintbrushes for once. I only semi-regretted my choice to paint such a complex glass as a focal point, but that's mostly because I left it for last and thus had to paint it alla prima. Now to find a wall big enough to hang it on 😅

Painting #2, in which I learned that I may like lo

Painting #2, in which I learned that I may like looking at abstract art, but that does not mean that I like making it 🫠

First project: Realism. I can't believe I spent ha

First project: Realism. I can't believe I spent half of the semester on this painting! We created digital collages, transferred them to canvas, laid down an excruciatingly detailed underpainting, and then went in with glazes and opaque hues. My theme is obviously things you might find in a teen girl's bedroom in 1999. I loooved painting this, and now I'm looking for more excuses to use quinacridone opera, the perfect shade of fluorescent pink 💖
.
#oilpainting #y2kaesthetic #nostalgiacore

I recently had the honour of having a piece select

I recently had the honour of having a piece selected for the 2026 Juried Fine Art Student Exhibition at Auburn, and tonight was the reception. I had so much fun getting to introduce my son and my husband to some professors and friends. And, of course, seeing all the incredible work that other students have done!

Me/Mine My final project! Inspired by Klimt's "Th

Me/Mine

My final project! Inspired by Klimt's "The Three Ages of Women," I wanted to explore the theme of motherhood and the idea that for the first ~six months of a baby's life, they think they are still part of their mother. I am a separate person from Elliott, yet I grew him, gave birth to him, and nourished him, so it felt natural to want to include him in my "self" portrait.

You can't tell the scale here, but this is a huge 30x40" canvas! I used acrylic for the background and oils for the rest. Can you believe I did this in under a week?? Due to the time crunch, I was limited by what I could do while working wet-on-wet. I used a palette knife for the flowers and I love the effect but I think I'll be waiting for it to dry for the next year! While I finished the painting enough for the purposes of class (and got an A!) I really don't consider it to be done yet, so I'm looking forward to returning to it later.

In other news, I'm taking Painting II next semester, so I'll be forced to be productive for at least the next few months!

My second-to-last painting of the semester! Anothe

My second-to-last painting of the semester! Another still life, this time using indirect painting. This meant doing a monochromatic underpainting (second pic), letting it dry, and then adding colour by glazing with transparent paints. This was really tough! I'm not entirely happy with how it turned out but I'm happy to have learned a new technique. I guess that's the point of painting class 😊

For this project I made a collage (see second slid

For this project I made a collage (see second slide) and then painted it. Loved having the freedom to play with more colours this time! I didn't quite nail the trompe l'oeil look I was aiming for, but I had so much fun with the process.

Another painting done! Still working with a limite

Another painting done! Still working with a limited palette--this time ultramarine blue and burnt sienna--and focusing on warm/cool tones.

I'm back, y'all! I had to drop painting last year

I'm back, y'all! I had to drop painting last year due to being pregnant so enjoy a repeat of this still life value study!! Each of these was done alla prima (in a 3 or 4 hour sitting) with just a few final touches added later. So happy to be back in the studio 😊

𝙄 𝘿𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙢 𝙤𝙛 𝙀𝙭𝙥𝙤 '86 Ink on Stonehenge paper For t

𝙄 𝘿𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙢 𝙤𝙛 𝙀𝙭𝙥𝙤 '86
Ink on Stonehenge paper

For this project we were tasked with creating an image of something endangered/gone, and making variations on each print. I chose to do the Friendship 500, better known as the McBarge, a floating McDonald's restaurant from Expo '86 that is now abandoned in Burrard Inlet. I really enjoyed getting to tell that bit of Vancouver history, and explaining what a hoser is made it even better.

As for the technical side, I experimented with a method that was tedious but ultimately satisfying: A jigsaw print with MDF for the landscape and a hand-carved lino block for the barge, and then the decay was added via hand-painted monoprints.

Okay, I unexpectedly LOVE oil paints. Here is the

Okay, I unexpectedly LOVE oil paints. Here is the first project from my painting class: a series of monochromatic still lifes to study value. Ordered from fave to least fave (yellow is so hard to work with!!).

𝙄𝙣𝙣𝙚𝙧 𝙋𝙚𝙖𝙘𝙚 1 & 2⁣ Ink on Masa paper Y'all I am b

𝙄𝙣𝙣𝙚𝙧 𝙋𝙚𝙖𝙘𝙚 1 & 2⁣
Ink on Masa paper

Y'all I am back in a couple studio classes and I'm so excited to share my work. One of my classes is relief printmaking and it is so much fun! For this project we had to combine two cliches and create a diptych using white and black lines. I chose to contrast mandalas and pop art portraits to create these anxiety-ridden girls trying to find inner peace. I learned so much in the process, especially about how a design that looks great on paper won't necessarily be the best for carving. Like, I definitely won't be designing anything with thin text or tiny sharp curves for the foreseeable future! Overall though I'm so happy with how these turned out and can't wait for the next project.

I had a lot of art plans this summer but uhhhhh…

I had a lot of art plans this summer but uhhhhh...
Here's the one sketchbook page I finished before Tears of the Kingdom came out

𝙔𝙄𝙈𝘽𝙔 Acrylic and ink on canvas 24" x 30" The fin

𝙔𝙄𝙈𝘽𝙔
Acrylic and ink on canvas
24" x 30"

The final project! Our task was to transform data into art using any medium. I chose to make a heatmap of the walkability in Auburn using Walk Score data. We unfortunately had three classes cancelled (out of five total for this project) and I definitely struggled with missing the in-person brainstorming phase to develop my ideas further. Still, I'm pretty happy with it! I used my fave shiny gold ink for some minimalist streets and I think that really added the bit of oomph it was needing. My biggest disappointment was that critiques were much briefer than usual so I barely had any time to radicalize my classmates!

𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙒𝙞𝙩𝙘𝙝𝙚𝙨' 𝘾𝙞𝙧𝙘𝙡𝙚 Acrylic and ink on cardboard

𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙒𝙞𝙩𝙘𝙝𝙚𝙨' 𝘾𝙞𝙧𝙘𝙡𝙚
Acrylic and ink on cardboard

Growing up, I loved spending time in the forest across from my childhood home. One day, as my friends and I ventured off-trail, we found ourselves in a small clearing with a number of strange objects: a bathtub full of murky water, a broken-down Jeep, old dolls, and a smattering of adult magazines. The most enchanting feature was a ring of tall, thin trees, one of which had a tire seamlessly encircling its trunk. As a bunch of tween girls obsessed with the movie The Craft, we immediately concluded that this was a magical place, and it came to be known as the Witches’ Circle.

With this composition I wanted to recreate the experience of stumbling upon a mysterious place. As the viewer moves around the bust they are taken on a tour of the Witches’ Circle and the oddities located within it. Some objects are partially hidden deep in the planes of my hair and face, balancing feelings of curiosity and unease—why are these very unnatural things in the middle of the forest, and how did they get there?

Realized I never posted this… Project #2 this se

Realized I never posted this... Project #2 this semester was a wire sculpture. I hated every second of it 😂😭 Possibly the wonkiest thing I have ever created. I have learned so much about trusting the process in my art but this truly got more janky the more I worked on it. Onwards and upwards though, because my current project is much more in my wheelhouse...

First piece of the new semester – I present to you

First piece of the new semester - I present to you Sushi Train 🍣 This composition is made of elements representing homesickness and nostalgia thru the Vancouver skyline, mk i SkyTrain motif, Gameboy skyscrapers, and jazz design ocean. I used a whole bottle of Mod Podge and learned that I really hate making collages.

My final project (self-portrait) and a preliminary

My final project (self-portrait) and a preliminary sketch from a couple weeks prior. I've never attempted realistic portraits like this before so I'm really happy with how it turned out! You can tell I ran out of steam when I got to the hair though 😅

(most of) the things I've drawn this semester. one

(most of) the things I've drawn this semester. one project to go!
.
.
.
#artclass #artistsoninstagram #artwork #pencildrawings #penandinkdrawing #stilllife

Follow on Instagram