Mette is a Danish-born Canadian artist living and working in rural Ottawa. Her textile productions — scarves, table clothes, place mats, aprons, Indian kurtis, cushion covers and fabric — are just the latest turn in her varied career.
As a Danish lawyer, Mette was appointed to India with the Danish Foreign Service. That career was somewhat abbreviated when she married a Canadian Diplomat and commenced a family of four sons — each born in a different country. During a posting to Australia, Mette finally found time to return to a childhood passion — oil painting. Studies at the Canberra School of Art, and experience with a number of notable artists in Australia and Canada, provided the foundation for developing her interest in painting into a new career. She has had exhibitions and conducted workshops in many far-flung places — in Canada and Denmark of course, but also locations as varied as Greenland, Italy, Australia, New Caledonia and the USA.
She now lives in Dunrobin (1/2 hour from the centre of Ottawa) and has a large bright studio right in the house. This is where she paints, teaches and shows her work — both paintings and art-textiles.
About My Painting
Quite simply, for me painting is sheer enjoyment. I paint whenever I can. I love the process itself and enjoy capturing a scene that for one reason or another makes an impression on me. Right from the beginning I have painted in oils and still love to work in that medium. I do paint in acrylic as well – mainly so I can help the students who prefer this medium.
Landscapes enable me to celebrate the change of seasons and the incredible beauty which surrounds us. Any one of many different qualities in a scene may catch my attention: the play of light and shadow, the varying stark or subtle seasonal colours, or maybe the special mood that comes across at different times of the day.
I have always loved flowers – fields of wild flowers, profuse gardens or filling a house with their beauty. Painting flowers is therefore a most enjoyable extension of this passion. Mostly, I paint them where they grow and truly belong – to me that is where they are displayed at their best.