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Meredith's artistic past spans from studying at the National Ballet School to working as a portrait painter at Canada's Wonderland. She says she has been 'drawn' to the arts all her life and continues to immerse herself in the arts, painting portraits and teaching.

SP: How did you get into art?

MB: While I was dance-focused, the visual arts were loyal back-up singers. In my teens, they took over the mic. My family was always very supportive of my creative slant - they sourced mentors and supplies and stored many a questionable work-in-progress. I have had great teachers and supporters along the way, some official and some unofficial.

SP: Describe your experience working at Canada's Wonderland as a portrait artist.

MB: It was terrifying! For minimum wage, eight hours a day, while wearing the same black Reebok shoes as 1500 other Wonderland employees, my job was to complete a sketched portrait in 20-25 minutes. I was 16! I couldn't chat and draw a face at the same time. As people approached my easel, I would chant to myself, go away, go away, go away...

Now I often set up at festivals. By choice. And I love it.  I have come to understand The Wonderland Years as essential practice, or, as Malcolm Gladwell might say, some of my "10,000 hours".

SP: Why do you think you are compelled to paint portraits?

MB: Maybe it was dance that taught me how much a body can say. A face even more. And I thrive on the challenge of discovering a "likeness". During my Fine Art degree at Guelph, I never had any intention of ever making such "representational" art. But the blue shadows at the side of the nose keep beckoning.

SP: How do you maintain momentum in your art practice?

MB: I have a great community of artists around me. They recommend phthalo turquoise and they lend books and I give them back with paint on them and they lend me more books. I paint quickly and as often as I possibly can and rarely look back. I paint over things. I challenge myself to figure studies and I put up with poor lighting. And I teach. The finest thing about teaching is that it continually tests all the things you are SO sure about.  The questions you throw at your students bounce off their canvases and echo at you back in the studio.

SP: Where do you see yourself and your art in the future

I see us together on a beach, hand-in-hand, finding more of a balance between the commissioned work and the figurative work of my own composure, where I get to start with the story that I find most compelling. Frida Kahlo continually reminded herself that her art should serve the revolution. I would like my art to serve something greater and I look forward to the possibilities.

Artist Stats

Growing up, Meredith Blackmore studied at the National Ballet School. Later, she focused on sculpture and printmaking at the University of Guelph and completed her Fine Arts degree in 1999. Currently she is a portrait and mural artist and mainly paints figurative works. She lives in Fergus, Ontario, and teaches through The Elora Centre for the Arts and The Wellington County Museum.