In June 2026, I spent a month in Newfoundland as an artist in residence at the Pouch Cove Foundation. I went to paint and spend some time exploring a part of Canada I'd wanted to visit for years.
I grew up on Cape Breton Island, so I've always felt a connection to the East Coast. But despite growing up in Nova Scotia, I'd never actually been to Newfoundland. This seems to surprise people!
For one thing, Newfoundland isn't particularly easy to get to. You can't exactly hop in the car and drive there for the weekend. And since moving away from Cape Breton when I was 18, most of my trips back east have revolved around visiting family. When you live on the other side of the country, there's never quite enough time to see everyone, let alone explore somewhere new.
I'd been saying for years that I wanted to visit Newfoundland and paint there, so when the opportunity came up to spend a month in Pouch Cove , I didn't need much convincing. I made the decision to go almost immediately.
A month in Pouch Cove
Pouch Cove is a small coastal community about half an hour north of St. John's, right on the edge of the Atlantic Ocean.
As a Maritimer, there was a lot about Newfoundland that felt familiar. The fishing communities and rugged coastline reminded me of home, particularly the way the ocean is such a big part of everyday life. But the landscape felt bigger and wilder than I expected, with enormous cliffs and weather that could change completely in a matter of minutes.
One of my favourite parts of the residency was how easily all of that became part of my everyday routine. Most mornings, I'd wake up, make myself a coffee, get a little work done, and then head outside with my second cup. Just 20 seconds down the road from the residency were these incredible rocks overlooking the Atlantic. I'd sit there for half an hour, sometimes longer, just looking out at the ocean.
Sometimes I'd be thinking about paintings, noticing colours or the way the light was hitting the water. Other times I'd just sit and enjoy being there. Having that kind of landscape right outside my door felt like an enormous luxury.
Growing up in Cape Breton, I don't think I fully appreciated how beautiful it was. I was surrounded by the ocean and these little coastal communities my whole childhood, and it all just seemed normal to me. It wasn't until I moved away that I started to see it differently. Being in Pouch Cove brought back a lot of those feelings about home.
Exploring Newfoundland
When I wasn't painting, I was trying to see as much of Newfoundland as I could. I spent a lot of time exploring the communities and hiking trails around Pouch Cove and St. John's, but I also managed to squeeze in a few bigger adventures.
I drove the Irish Loop, which takes you along the southern part of the Avalon Peninsula, and had one of the most memorable lunches of my life at Lighthouse Picnics in Ferryland. I also went on an incredible whale watching and iceberg tour out of Bay Bulls, where I'm apparently related to half the town according to my mother, but unfortunately didn't manage to meet any of my long lost relatives. Haha.
I made it up to the Bonavista Peninsula twice, actually. The first time was to meet up with my mom, who lives in New Brunswick. By complete coincidence, we both happened to be in Newfoundland at the same time, so of course we had to get together!
Then, toward the end of my residency, my bestie Marcelle, who lives in Nova Scotia, came to visit for a few days. We packed in a whirlwind trip around the Bonavista Peninsula, went whale watching in Trinity, and did some spectacular hikes. I finally got to see puffins, too! It was all pretty magical.
I saw so much in that month and somehow still barely scratched the surface. Newfoundland is HUGE. I had hoped to make it to Gros Morne National Park on the west coast, but the roughly nine hour drive from Pouch Cove was a bit more than I wanted to tackle.
As much as I wanted to see everything, I also wanted to enjoy having a whole month in one place. There were paintings to make and trails to explore, but I was also perfectly happy spending a morning sitting on the rocks outside the residency, drinking my coffee and staring at the ocean.
Gros Morne will have to wait until next time.
From Newfoundland to the studio
I painted a LOT while I was in Newfoundland. Along with a pile of small plein air paintings, I completed six large paintings that I thought would form the beginning of my new collection. But when I got home and looked at everything I'd made, something didn't feel quite right. I liked the paintings, but they weren't quite what I wanted the collection to be, and I couldn't really put my finger on why. So I decided to put them aside for a while.
As the weeks passed, I started thinking more about memory, and how differently we remember a place compared to how we experienced it. Some things I could picture perfectly, like the colour of the water at Flat Rock or the enormous cliffs along a stretch of the East Coast Trail near Pouch Cove. Other details had already started to slip away.
I became interested in what would happen if I stopped trying to paint Newfoundland exactly as I'd seen it, and instead painted what I remembered.
So I picked up my brushes and started again, painting many of those same places for a second time. I started leaving parts of the paintings unfinished, letting the coloured grounds show through and describing some stretches of landscape with only a few marks. Some areas are built up in thick paint, while others are barely touched.
I've always cared more about how a place feels than how it looks, and in this collection I pushed that further. Sometimes that meant changing the colours completely, exaggerating certain parts of the landscape, or leaving out details I would normally have included. I found myself making decisions based on what I could remember about a place rather than constantly referring back to my photographs.
Those paintings became East of Everywhere, a collection of 13 works based on the places I visited during my month in Newfoundland.
East of Everywhere launches November 12!
The full collection of 13 original paintings will be available on Thursday, November 12 at 10:00 a.m. Alberta Time.
Want to see the paintings before they go live? I've put together a preview of the entire collection, including photos and dimensions of each piece.
A few favourite things from my month in Newfoundland
I couldn't write about my time in Newfoundland without sharing a few of the places and experiences I loved most. Here are some spots I'd recommend if you're planning a trip of your own!
Hikes and places to explore
- Skerwink Trail, Trinity East: One of the most spectacular hikes I did in Newfoundland. It's a coastal loop with enormous cliffs and sea stacks, and the views are ridiculous.
- Torbay Point: I spent quite a bit of time exploring this part of the East Coast Trail while I was staying in Pouch Cove. There are huge rocky cliffs overlooking the Atlantic, and the colour of the water here was one of the things I kept coming back to in my paintings.
- Shoe Cove: A little cove tucked between steep hills and rocky cliffs. Worth stopping to explore if you're driving along the coast north of Pouch Cove.
- Chance Cove: I loved this hike! The trail takes you along the coast past little beaches and coves, and the water was the most unbelievable shade of turquoise in places.
- Grebe's Nest Inlet, Bell Island: Take the ferry over to Bell Island and make your way to Grebe's Nest, where you can walk down to a little cove surrounded by towering cliffs. There's even an old tunnel carved through the rock connecting two beaches.
- Signal Hill, St. John's: An obvious one, but for good reason! The views over St. John's Harbour and the Atlantic are spectacular. Make sure to explore some of the walking trails beyond Cabot Tower.
- Spillars Cove, Bonavista: The rock formations here are wild. I couldn't get over the size of the cliffs, and it's one of those places where you really feel tiny standing next to the landscape.
- Elliston Puffin Viewing Site: PUFFINS! I was so excited to finally see them in person. You can watch them from land here, which is pretty amazing.
Eat here!
- Lorina's, Torbay: I dream about their turkey sandwiches. I'm not even joking. They also make a great Americano, and I stopped in more than once while I was staying nearby.
- Lighthouse Picnics, Ferryland: One of my favourite experiences of the whole trip. You pick up a picnic lunch and take it out to enjoy on the grounds surrounding the historic lighthouse, overlooking the Atlantic. I watched an iceberg float by while I was eating my lunch and may have shed a tear from the beauty of the moment.
- Tinkers Ice Cream, Petty Harbour: A great excuse to visit the ridiculously picturesque little community of Petty Harbour. The sundaes are next level.
- Grotto, St. John's: I had a braised moose pasta that I still think about.
- Twine Loft Dining, Trinity: A delightful three course prix fixe dinner. Make sure to book ahead!
- The Lovely Grand Bakeshop, Bonavista: Very delicious cookies.
- Portage, St. John's: One to put on your list if you're looking for a really good dinner in St. John's. Everything we had was amazing!
Other things not to miss
James Baird Gallery, Pouch Cove: A wonderful contemporary art gallery right in Pouch Cove, attached to the residency where I spent my month. Definitely worth a visit!
