Hi! I am Diane Payne. I have always loved art and crafting. Twenty-one years ago, I sold my flower shop to be a stay at home Mom. As the years went by, I seemed to have some extra time on my hands. So I thought crafting would be a great way to supplement our income. My crafting has changed many times over the years and now for the past seven years or so, my husband, Randy, has joined me in the business.

We love to recycle. We like to find unusual or broken antiques to paint or re-use. Randy likes to decorated birdhouses with his “junk” to create unique and one of a kind pieces. Our son, Jesse, calls them Redneck Birdhouses. Randy often puts birdhouses on old chairs and garden tools to create beautiful garden decorations. I on the other hand, love to paint on antiques. I usually paint houses, or farm scenes on milk cans, irons, toasters, saws, tools, kerosene cans, or anything unusual. Lately, our newest creation is painting on window screens. It is actually a very old art dating back to the 1800’s in Baltimore, Maryland. My most common screens are flowers, but for the winter I love to paint snowmen. We do recycle old windows by taking out the glass and replacing with it screen. When the frames are in bad shape, Randy will salvage what he can and make his own frames.

You can find our artwork at the General Store in Leaskdale, at Country Crafts in Rosedale, and at the Classically Unique Shoppe in Shelburne. Can’t find what you want there? Feel free to call us and find out where our next show will be or come by and visit us at home.

I work mainly in watercolours. I like the unpredictability of watercolours. I can plan my subject matter but there is always that element of “surprise” – especially when painting a sky. Skies fascinate me. I can guide the paint but I never have complete control of it. – I am drawn to bright, deep colours and contrasts between light and shadow. Light and shadows on flowers appeal to me. I often paint large close-ups of single blooms to highlight this contrast . Landscapes usually have some human element in them: a boat, a shed, a person, or path, The darkest values complete the painting for me.

I find inspiration everywhere: the shadows on my peonies, the scenery around Uxbridge, images from my trips to Europe, throughout Canada and to the USA. I’m especially drawn to mountains and seascapes. I need to visit the ocean at least once a year.

After graduation Jamie worked full time in the wholesale industry with Jewellery and all she could think about while sitting behind my desk was how she wanted to be sitting behind the pottery wheel instead.

After the birth of her son she took this opportunity to open my own studio. Jamie has a small home based studio where she also teach pottery lessons several nights of the week as well as the weekends. In the studio she tries to inspires new potters to create and experienced potters to step outside of their comfort zones.

Jamie create functional stoneware as well as a line of ceramic jewelry. Her personal style is an expressive array of natural color selections and instinctive contemporary designs. She enjoy using colored slips, cut outs, stamps and texture to enhance the surface of the clay. She try to create something for every home. A handcrafted accent each different in a small way.