Like most children, Bev Durand loved to draw, paint and make things. Wax crayons, pencil crayons, paper, glue and scissors were her first art supplies. Then she inherited an unopened set of oil paints from her oldest sister. She made several little paintings on canvas board and then she was hooked. After high school, Durand went to Algonquin College in Ottawa and studied Graphic Art. She worked as a Graphic Artist for a time and then went back to school to study Fine Art. She graduated from the Ontario College of Art with a focus on drawing and painting.
Durand has always loved the tactile experience of handling oil paint, applying it onto canvas, feeling the spring between brush and support, and directing the paint, thin and thick to see an image emerge. Sometimes she paints on location, but mostly, her work is created in the studio.
She often sketches on location or takes photographs of her subjects, and then returns to the quiet of her studio to complete her compositions.
Durand has exhibited paintings in solo and group shows in Ontario, Québec and New Brunswick. She belongs to “The Bottom Line” drawing group, which is a weekly figure drawing workshop. She currently resides in Ottawa.
