Spring is a time for new beginnings. It’s the perfect time to say hello to the new. Here at La Quaintrelle we want to give a warm welcome to one of our newest vendors. Meet Isla, a 16-year-old girl living here on Cape Breton Island in Boularderie.
Originally from Sydney, Isla discovered her love of art at a very young age. Beginning the way any artist does with drawing, then working her way up to painting first with watercolor, then acrylic paints.
When you look at Isla’s paintings, you can see how much skill and passion went into creating the piece. It teleports you to the place in the painting. Whether that be a warm afternoon in your grandmother’s yard with the clothes drying on the clothesline, to the yacht club in Baddeck watching the sailors. There’s something nostalgic about her pieces, the more you look at them, the more details you find and love.
When you have a talent like Isla’s, it would be a shame not to share it with the world. When she was 11, she wanted to take horse riding lessons, so she started selling her work. She painted and sold her watercolour paintings of families and pets so that she could save up enough.
Naturally it was a success, but she didn’t stop there. She worked on her skill and branched out towards acrylic paintings of landscapes. Many of her paintings are of local landscapes. “There is so much beauty to see on our island” Isla had said. Isla said that she will often find herself look for water and skies when she’s in need of inspiration. Here in Cape Breton there’s no shortage of that. She encompasses the beauty of our island in her paintings very evidently. The paintings you see here in the shop, and online are places she love to visit in the summertime when school's out.
Her great-grandmother was an artist in Scotland who specialized in watercolour, it’s nice to think that she’s following in her footsteps. Her family have been her hugest supports. Her parents have supported her love of art since the very beginning, allowing her to discover and explore the world of art!
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