A few of you have asked why I call my painting space the Arctic Room. The short answer is that it’s the coldest room in the house. It is a smallish, underground room that I’ve made my own for the purpose of imagination.

The map on the wall is a map of the Yukon and Northwest Territories in the Arctic Circle. The places on the map are remote, and have stories that fuel my imagination, like the lonely outpost, Alert.

The space itself feels ancient, with its wall paintings as if on the walls of a hidden cave. Here are the wasp and the giraffe, two of the many creatures that adorn the walls.