UPICK is about life's simple pleasures - those days in the orchard when the air is crisp, and everything feels raw and real.
Going apple picking is one of my favourite family traditions. The unrelenting heat of summer has passed, but the skies are still blue. My kids hustle through each row of apple trees, as if in a race to find the juiciest, sourest, or sweetest apple they can, to see who can fill their bucket up first.
I painted UPICK during that bittersweet transition from late August to September, as summer made way for fall. Reds, and blues, and greens - ripe fruit hanging in the sky. The promise of apple pie, apple butter, apple cider, apple + cinnamon everything.
UPICK is about the Annapolis Valley in Nova Scotia, where apple orchards aren't just places, they're a way of life. You say Annapolis Valley, I say apple valley. For us, this is home.
And I guess UPICK is mostly about the bittersweet fruit and the moments we share. Each painting in UPICK tells a story of those moments, the laughter, the nostalgia, the joy of reaching for that perfect apple. It's a slice of life painted on wood, a reminder of the beauty in simplicity.
