One of my closest friends is another full-time professional artist who lives about 3 hours from me just outside of Toronto. Janice Mason-Steeves and I met about 6 years ago when we both attended an encaustic workshop in New York. By a strange coincidence, I had been stunned by the beauty of her work at a show in Toronto just the week before. Here we were, the only two Canadians in a small workshop of 10 people. It was like we’d known each other all our lives and we instantly bonded.

We work in totally different ways which gives us a fresh perspective toward each others’ work. She paints primarily in oil and I paint primarily in acrylic. Her subject is primarily flowers handled in a mostly subdued color range. My subject is abstract landscape with a process-driven focus on color. Here’s one of her newest paintings called “Ballade”.

Ballade by Janice Mason Steeves

Her paintings appear to require endless hours of painting, yet she paints quickly in burst of intense, focused energy. My paintings appear to be painted quickly, yet they have countless layers and sometimes take a month to finish. Here’s one of my recent paintings called “Green Horizon”.

Green Horizon by Shirley Williams

In spite of our work being so vastly different, Jan and I have much in common because we speak the same aesthetic language, have similar career challenges and suffer similar bouts of insecurity about our work. Over the years we’ve been there for each other to celebrate the victories and soothe the disappointments of each others’ careers. What a blessing it is to have her as a friend because as artists it sometimes feels like no one can really relate to the intricacies of what we do or why.

On Friday, Jan stayed overnight with me on her way to a workshop in Wisconsin. It was the first time she’d been to my studio in Windsor. Mostly I visit her on my trips to Toronto and we keep up with each other through looooog detailed emails and phone calls.

What a treat to see her and as always, we talked and talked and talked. Sharing such a close, trusting bond with another artist is truly a rare gift, one that I treasure daily.