By Gagandeep Ghuman
Published: Feb. 11, 2012.
The story of Fredrick Roy and Emilie De Rome’s artistic journey began with a painting of a nude woman that enlivened Roy’s living room.
“It was gift from my friends, meant as a joke,” Roy said.
But when Emilie Rome moved in with him, she didn’t find the nude painting too amusing.
“I said can I throw it in the garbage, and he said, but may be you can paint it over,” Rome recalled.
She took his advice and set about to repaint the image and came out with something more abstract than a nude woman.
Roy loved the nude woman’s transfiguration.
Until then, Roy had had a fleeting interest in painting, but the new painting evoked a dormant inner artist.
“We started painting together and we painted almost every day, two or three hours every day,” he said.
With some instruction from his artist mom, Roy took his painting hobby to high art, selling several of his paintings in Quebec City.
The couple moved to Squamish last September and have since exhibited their acrylic paintings at Nest Restaurant and at Portico Art Gallery in downtown Squamish.
“It started as a hobby, but now it’s my future,” Roy said.
Mountain biking and skiing is what brought Roy and Rome to the region, but they hope that their art will enable them to stay in Squamish for long.
The abstract paintings are a way of escape and inspiration, Roy said.
“Abstract lets you do whatever you want to do. I like that it has no rules,” he added.
