New artist at Myers Cave

Jeff Green | Aug 03, 2016

People come to Frontenac County for many reasons.

In Debbie Reeve's case it was to have a home base, and a refuge for her and her husband to come back to at least once a year. So 13 years ago they purchased a property at Georgia Lake in North Frontenac.

Debbie’s husband Warren, the founder of Missional Church International Network, ran a church in Indonesia for 11 years and has been doing the same in Kuwait for the past six years. Debbie is a painter and art educator and she ran her business in Kuwait for the past six years.

The couple took up full-time residence at their cottage near Myers Cave last December in order to be able to work locally and provide support for family members. After spending the winter settling in, Reeve is gearing up her business this summer.

She has been showing her work in local shows, such as the Bon Echo Art Show & Sale and Napanee's Art in the Park. She will also be at this weekend's Cloyne Showcase at North Addington Education Centre.

Reeve is a realistic painter. Her paintings show a love for light and transparency. Her subject matter is diverse, as the need to be constantly creating is what drives Debbie to explore different painting challenges. She has paintings hanging in private collections in Indonesia, the USA, Australia, New Zealand, France, England, and Korea, as well as in Canada.

She trained at St. Lawrence College when she was younger, and over the years has studied at the Haliburton School of the Arts. She has also taken courses at the Ontario College of Art and Design.

“I've been painting a lot in the last few months, so I have more and more paintings of the local landscape, local flowers and things like Bon Echo Rock,” she said when interviewed from her studio early this week.

Reeve is also finally getting back some of her work from Kuwait, which took a long time to be shipped back. That work features a very different landscape, to be sure, as well as animals such as zebras and elephants.

In addition to painting landscapes, animals and flora in watercolour, she paints more abstract work in acrylic and mixed media as well.

The other part of her art business is as an art educator, and over the past few months she has been working hard to convert their garage into an art studio that is capable of hosting workshops.

With the work now completed she is offering her first workshops to the public this month.

“I'm starting with the kind of workshop I would never offer in Kuwait. It's a Paint your Paddle workshop on August 16, 23 and 30” she said.

There will also be more traditional watercolour workshops on August 24 and September 10.

“Most of my students have had little to no experience painting with watercolour or acrylic. I take great delight in teaching the secrets and techniques of painting and drawing while watching my students create works of art they never thought they could,” she said of the joys of teaching fine art.

Reeve also offers piano and vocal lessons from her studio. A schedule of workshops and lessons, with pricing and directions to her studio, are available on her website, Debbiereeve.com