Welcome to Saltons Cove Studio. My name is Candace and I am a self taught mixed media artist. I use a variety of mediums and surfaces to create pieces that are vibrant and full of texture. I live in a small town on the eastern shore of the island of Newfoundland, Canada, and draw inspiration from nature and everyday coastal life for my artwork. Found treasures from the natural environment and salvaged vintage ephemera often make their way into my pieces as a method of preserving them or transforming them into something that will endure as well as sharing their beauty with others. 

I started making and creating as a little girl. When I was almost five, my brother was born with numerous health conditions that mean my family spent a lot of time traveling to and from medical appointments. My parents always encouraged us to fill the road trip hours by using our imaginations and being creative. There was always a travel bag with sketchbooks, coloring books, paint with water books, drawing pencils, crayons, and markers in the car and I would spend the six hour return trip sketching and coloring pictures to help occupy my little brother. As he got older, it became a guessing game and I tried to hone my drawing skills so that he would be able to easily guess what the sketches were.

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When we weren't traveling or in school, our family spent our time together exploring and creating. My mother's love of making things - needlepoint, sewing, cooking, and baking - was shared with both of us on a daily basis. She was constantly planning crafting activities and providing opportunities for imaginative and pretend play. My mother also instilled in both of us a deep love of reading and learning and an appreciation for all types of art forms, whether it be visual, written texts, music, or textiles. My dad restored antique cars on weekends and often let me watch and 'help' him as him mixed paints and applied intricate decals and detailed artwork to the new paint. I credit him with providing the foundation for my knowledge of paint chemistry and how to use different mediums, additives, and applications to achieve different results.

 

When I finished my university Arts degree in English and German, I had planned to pursue a career teaching university level German, but life had other plans. I met my husband later that year, fell in love and decided to put career plans on hold to get married, start a family, and support his lifelong dream of becoming a Mountie. In late 2006 we embarked on a cross country journey to begin our first RCMP post in Lillooet, British Columbia. While away from my family and home in Newfoundland, I embraced being a mom and law enforcement wife and began teaching craft classes in my free time as a way to get involved in the community and develop new friendships. Teaching creativity skills became a way to break the ice and find kindred spirits in each new RCMP post.

 

In 2016, after sustaining an on duty injury, my husband retired from the RCMP and we settled permanently in my hometown where we have embraced the simple quietness of country life and spend our days with our three children and two Saint Pyrenees pups exploring the coast, hiking, homeschooling, gardening and walking the forest trails behind our property. I try my best to find time to create in the early morning hours or in the early afternoon after we're done schooling for the day. I'm currently working on a series of large seascapes inspired by the unique geological features found along the local coastline.

 

The name of my art studio, Saltons Cove Studio, comes from a small cove near my childhood home. The actual spelling of the little cove on local maps is Saultons Cove, but I chose to use the spelling Saltons because my brother passed away when I was fourteen and I still have a letter he wrote to me in which he asks me 'sissy will you take me skating in Saltons Cove today please.' Leaving out the 'u' was a small way of including him in my journey.