Carla Rudy never focused on art through school, nor has she taken formal training, but she has found a muse which has her busy at the easel whenever family allows.
Asked what attracted her to her art, Rudy, who now has works hanging at 5th Avenue Cup & Saucer in Yorkton, paused in searching for an answer.
"I really don't know how to answer that question," she began. "I guess sketching has always been something I've been into." Although she noted art was not even a class taken in high school in Yorkton where she was born and stayed until her graduation in 1998.
Rudy, who now lives in East Kootenay, B.C., did add that her family has always had an interest in art."My mom and her mom are big crafters, so I guess I definitely got it from them," she said.
Then when Rudy started a family, she found some time to take the interest in art more seriously."I'm a stay-at-home mom," she said, adding by being at home it allows her to "spend a lot more time painting."
While home life affords some opportunities to paint, Rudy admitted it's not as much as she might like, considering she has three young children, and that makes private time a premium.
"I need to be alone to do it (paint), and I'm never alone," she said with a grin. She added her husband Brandon has learned when she is in a mood to draw so he "takes them (kids) for a walk, or to the park."So Rudy said she tends to work as sales dictate.
"As they sell I do more," she said, adding her major outlet is the Snow Drift Cafe in her hometown, where her works hang, and are part of an art walk in the community.
"I'm still an emerging artist, so that's big new for me," she said.
As for her style, Rudy said being essentially self-taught, it is something which is still evolving.
"I think it's always changing," she said. "I'm definitely getting more into different mediums."
At present Rudy said she is into using coarse pumice gel, which leaves the painting surface with a rough, textured finish, over which the actual images are then added.
"It's fun to play with the sand," she said, referring to the pumice.
Once she has the rough finish, Rudy said the actual paintings tend toward nature, with a fantasy twist.
"I do spend a lot of time outside. I know that does inspire me," she said, adding she takes lots of pictures which give her some basic ideas to work with, before adding her own imaginative twists.
In addition, Rudy said she likes the images she produces to be vibrant.
"I've definitely always stayed with bright colours," she said.
The finished look is one she said one writer termed 'surrealistic fantasies' a label she said works for her.Rudy said she hopes to continue seeing her work evolve as she grows as an artist.
"I want to see what my paintings look like when I'm 35," said the 29-year-old artist. "Just because of how I've been growing lately."
