Maureen Carroll - Artist

Art can open our eyes to natural beauty; it can trigger memories and elicit emotions. This is what painting does for me. The two main themes in my watercolours are English gardens and the Great Lakes of Canada, for reasons that are entirely personal. 

Over two decades ago, I came to the UK to take up an academic post in Archaeology. Since that time, I have become an avid gardener and have come to love the prolific array of plants and colours typical of England, especially in spring and summer. Aside from growing a riotous array of colourful plants in my own garden in the historic city of York, I enjoy visiting the many gardens and parks of Yorkshire. 

But I was born and raised in Canada, on Lake Erie, and I am still deeply drawn to the changes in lake weather, the colours of the water, and the geological variations on the lakeshore that were part of my childhood. The longing for them has never gone away, and I make a trip every year to southern Ontario to embed myself in these landscapes and gain fresh inspiration.