Ardythe completed her first eight years of schooling, along with 17 other students, in a one room school house near Havelock, Ontario, She especially looked forward to Friday's art class where she sketched in pencil and coloured with crayons. She was first introduced to mixing paint in an acrylic class in the 70's under the direction of Edwin Matthews, artist and owner of the Buckhorn Gallery On The Lake in Buckhorn, Ontario. There was little time to invest in artistic endeavours while her children were growing up however she began painting with watercolour in 1984 in a class instructed by Ed O'Neill of Waterloo. Ed became a dear friend and once said what she lacked in talent she made up for with enthusiasm! It wasn't until 1994 when she and her husband retired to Nova Scotia that she had the time to paint regularly. That province's rugged and diverse landscape was a great incentive to pick up the brushes. After three years Ardythe left the east to be closer to a growing family and settled in Thornbury, on the shores of beautiful Georgian Bay. Within a couple of years she returned once again to the Waterloo area where she now lives in St. Agatha. Ardythe has been inspired by many fine Ontario artists whose workshops she has attended. Among them Devona Paquette, Beatrice Hogan, Gordon MacKenzie, Art Cunanan, In addition to painting with watercolours and acrylics on canvas she been introduced to the art of painting on silk with French dyes. Ardythe has benefited greatly from painting with fellow artists. She is part of a group called 'Colour Wheel'. Their sharing of techniques and generous feedback has been a most valuable part of her growth as a painter. The subjects of Ardythe’s paintings are varied, reflecting her love of nature as it relates to home, land and sea and she strives to capture them in a simple, representational style . Being familiar with three mediums she is able to choose the one which best suits the subject that inspires her.
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