Meaghan
Smith
Hi, I am Meaghan Smith and I am first and foremost a creative force. I am known throughout Canada as a JUNO Award winning musician, and I am also a passionate painter.
I have always loved art and music in equal parts. I studied classical animation at the esteemed Sheridan College, and after working as a storyboard artist for a few years I shifted into the music scene in Nova Scotia.
After creating my own album and performing locally for several years, I was signed to Warner Brother Records and began extensively touring Canada, the US and the UK. While being on the road playing music had its thrills, I began to desperately miss painting.
I loved visiting antique stores in the various cities and towns our band was gigging in and started spotting miniature frames in many of the local shops. Their uniqueness and size sparked an idea. These little frames were calling out for tiny portraits and I was just the one to paint them. As they were small, they were portable enough to fit in my suitcase. This offered the balance between art and music I craved in my life.
On my next tour I packed my tiniest paint brushes, my oil paints, and a small heavy weight watercolor paper pad in my suitcase. Every free second, I had backstage in green rooms, hotel rooms, and on tour busses was spent painting my little creations.
Inspired by their frames and bursting with rich jewel tones and personality, bunnies wearing top hats, fish in monocles, and wild bears sporting flower crowns began to appear. They amused me to no end and were so fun to create. I decided to sell them at my shows. And the Mini Art Show was born.
Each painting starts off with a frame. The color, size, texture and shape of the frame inspires the character who will appear within it. I then sketch my vision on heavy weight watercolor paper. Using oil paints and minuscule brushes, I painstakingly illuminate each tiny detail – fur, scales and little whiskers. Flower petals, hats, and bowties. I spend fifteen to a hundred hours on each painting, depending on the complexity and detail of each one.
