P.E.I. dairy farmer pursues painting passion in retirement

Editor’s Note

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As a young child, Theresa Hardy loved to draw and colour. She took all the art classes she could throughout high school. “I dabbled in art to keep myself busy,” says the Montrose resident, which is located in the Alberton area of western Prince Edward Island.

Following high school, Hardy enrolled at Holland College and took architectural and mechanical drafting.

Afterwards, she got married and started to raise a family on their dairy farm. Here, she put her skills to work and drafted a few house plans for people in and around her community. She also had a long career as a dairy farmer.

“After 38 years, I retired my mechanical pencil and picked up the watercolor pencils,” says Hardy.

As a hobby, she began creating watercolour art. Hardy says she tried many different mediums, including acrylic, but fell in love with the watercolor pencil.

To learn more about her art, Hardy says she viewed many YouTube videos and became self-taught. She also joined art groups on Facebook, where you can ask others how to do certain techniques.

Today, Hardy uses Fabercastell Albright Durer watercolor pencils for her art. With her background in architectural drafting, it is no wonder her favourite subject is mainly drawing buildings. She also likes drawing boats and painting animals.

“Drawing lines and drawing perspective became a natural in my artwork,” says Hardy.

Hardy’s artwork hobby had started right before the Covid pandemic hit. She was, however, able to start her own art business called Art From The Heart by Theresa.

It seems, she says, that selling art just kind of fell into place.

One of the first paintings Hardy completed was of the Tignish memorial lobster trap tree alongside the Tignish church. She donated this painting to the Town of Tignish and gave them permission to make prints and cards of it for fundraising.

Out of everything she paints, Hardy says her most popular subjects are those she has done of lighthouses and animals. She also does a lot of commissions of portraits for family dogs.

But when it comes to inspiration of what to paint next, she says that if she sees a picture of something she might like to paint, she always first asks permission to use the owner’s photo. She also belongs to a Facebook group where photographers allow artists to use their images for painting.

When it comes to the future of her art, Hardy says she will have to wait and see. She is always focusing on trying to improve her artwork. Eventually, she would like to try some different mediums, and would even love to attempt a large canvas in acrylic.

Creating art is not a fulltime endeavour for Hardy. As a recent retiree, she says she dabbles in art in between traveling and visiting people.

Anyone interested in viewing or making a purchase from Art From the Heart by Theresa, can do so by contacting her. Her original prints are for sale through her home in P.E.I. and she can be reached through Facebook messenger on her business page.

She also has her cards for sale year-round at Elmsdale Corner Gas in Charlottetown, at the Riverview Market, in Belfast at Country Taste Bakery, and in Summerside at Inca Glow Boutique. She also sells her artwork and cards at PEI Creations in O’Leary.

During the tourist season, Hardy has some originals, prints and cards at the Makers Place in Rusticoville. She also does many pop-up craft markets through out the year.