Nathalie Girard

A JOURNEY OFF THE BEATEN TRACKS...

A shepherd in the Alps once said to me: “But you have lived the life of 100 men! “It made me laugh, but in the end maybe he was a little right…

CHILDHOOD My father was in the military, therefore we moved every 3 years. I was delighted since I could always make more friends. I did my preschool in England, then my elementary school in both Quebec, and Orleans, Ontario. I discovered a passion for drawing at the age of 8 when I was stuck at home with chickenpox. My teens and early twenties were pretty dark years. Drawing was my main way of exorcising the darkness within me. I only used graphite.

LIFE ABROAD I first started my career as a special education teacher on Native American reserves in Quebec with serious behavioral-problem teens. Then I crossed the Atlantic to teach in international schools in Germany and Turkey, this time with children aged between 3 and 6. Although I loved my profession, I felt hindered in the school system. So I left teaching to explore other jobs. Love brought me to France where I worked for a marketing firm in Lyon, then became a beekeeper and worked winters in an Alp ski resort. My creation mainly involved crafts for my work during this period.

BACK IN CANADA Back in Canada in 2014, I first worked in customer service at Tremblant. Then, in 2017, I returned to my first love and started a full-time online tutoring business. It is still my main livelihood.

AMAZING DISCOVERY I kept telling anyone who would listen that if I made the million, I would go back to studying art. Tired of waiting, I decided last summer (2021) that I didn't need to go to university to draw, so I took a little Doodle course on Domestika, just to put myself back on the saddle. Then, a 2nd lesson in watercolor. I had never painted in my life. And Boom! It was love at first sight. I have been painting ever since. I have a particular interest in Laurentian wildlife and images for children's books.

DOODLE ART For the Art-Thé contest for artists of the MRC in March 2022, I created my first 18x24 Doodle and the result was spectacular. I really liked the semi-stained glass effect of these designs. Before then, my Doodles had always been the size of a sketchbook.