Nova Scotia artist paints in famous French garden

N.S. artist paints in famous French garden Meet a Maritime artist who was inspired by the French legend Claude Monet to paint in the same gardens he made famous in his works.

Artist Joy Laking is back in her studio in Portapique, N.S. along the Bay of Fundy.

She's just returned from a two-month vacation in Europe with her husband, but her sketchpad and watercolours were never far away.

“It's always that way,” says Laking. “I did 39 sketches and 16 paintings while I was there and I wrote some word pictures I call them, they're like poems.”

Over the last four decades, Laking has painted hundreds of landscape scenes. Many of her subjects are within an hour's drive of her home.

While the oil paintings on her gallery walls offer a glimpse of life along the Bay of Fundy, Laking has always been a fan of the French impressionists.

While in France, she got the chance to sketch in Claude Monet's garden at Giverny.

“You wouldn't think that a garden would be absolutely beautiful in April, but it was just at its height,” recalls Laking. “I painted the boats that he painted in his paintings and I painted the water lilies and the bridge. It was just really fun.”

Laking will now start work on framing the watercolours. She hopes to have them on display for an exhibit at the Joy Laking Gallery by October.

With files from CTV Atlantic's Dan MacIntosh