Judith Fairwood started chipping away at her BFA at Emily Carr University of Art + Design in 1990.
She took one course at a time until she earned her degree in 2005 — the same year she retired from her job as a language instructor at Langara College.
“I think I might have set a record for the longest ever!” the Welsh native said of her undergrad studies.
Now, Fairwood fills her days with painting and sketching, sometimes on her own or on holidays with friends and fellow artists.
Typically, she’ll work in acrylics and on landscapes, creating series of images on a common theme; however, recently, she turned her focus to artists at work.
Through snapshots, she captured them absorbed in their craft then translated the figures on to canvas. For example, she has a woman sitting down on an iron bench with brushes in hand — on a summer’s day — and a partially clothed toddler standing before an easel with colour smears.
Fairwood wanted to interpret their body language and direction of gaze as they appeared to be cut off from the rest of the world.
The Vancouver resident painted a dozen in all for the collection and, last September, showed her Artists at Work at the West End community centre.
On Thursday, Fairwood will exhibit these pieces — plus eight other paintings of figures — at a new group show that opens in Port Coquitlam.
Fairwood is paired with Venus Soberanes for Colours of Dream, at the Leigh Square Community Arts Village.
Still, while Fairbridge reflects a calm disposition in her pieces, Soberanes has more of a vivid approach.
Her bright, expressionist paintings reveal a playful aspect “as though they have awakened from a bizarre dream,” said Sojin Kim with the PoCo arts and culture department, who helped to organize the display. The exhibit runs until Sept. 21.
• The opening reception for Colours of Dream is Thursday from 7 to 9 p.m. at Leigh Square (behind PoCo city hall). Call 604-927-8400.
