About Me

My mother, Alexandra Budlovsky, always had some art supplies--watercolors, even few oils and pastels--on hand, which in the postwar Czechoslovakia wasn’t easy to come by. But she managed. And she managed to find the precious moments to paint. She seems to have inherited the desire to paint from her father, the Austrian painter, poet and actor, Albert Paris Gutersloh. I watched our mother paint and often joined her, always awed by the delight in her paintings.

Later, in the seventies, I summoned my courage to try on my own. I signed up for a course in life drawing at Mohawk College in Hamilton, Ontario. I was lucky to be instructed by Walter Hickling, who led me with inspiring understanding. The evenings of art classes became highlights of my life. I soon wanted to do more than use conte. I wanted color and whatever else there was in art making. At that time, Dundas Valley School of Art just started a new full-time program; I enrolled and passionately embraced all instruction. I was on my way!

I began painting independently around 1980 in my studio in Dundas, Ontario. I subsequently entered juried shows, had some solo shows, became involved in the artist group, Women on the Bay, participated in some of the group shows that we organized. From 1985 to 1993, I received four Government Assistance Grants for Exhibiting Artists. In 1994 I moved to Houston, Texas and started to work on my doctoral studies at Rice University. During that time, painting was at a stand still. After graduating with Ph. D. degree in French Studies, I began painting again in my new studio that my husband John and I built at our house. I lived in Houston till the end of 2005 and had no shows during that time.

My paintings have brilliant, decisive colors and shapes. I paint what I see, but give reality a personal twist. People find my work joyful and energizing, and with depth.

In 2005, my husband and I moved to beautiful Georgian Bluffs, Ontario where Nature beckons to create. A new stage of my life began. To see my work in person, visit Kemble Rock Studio; please call first, 519-534-4604, for an appointment.

(Mosaic; May 2008, Vol.15, No 8)