Award Winning Artist Specializing in Contemporary Wildlife Art

That Dawg, available in framed, canvas, as well as under $100 paper print.  

For several weeks now, I have been rebuilding my website in order to have it align more with the art I now create.  I've been quietly rebuilding my little corner of the internet and also slowly been constructing a fine art print store. 

Why now?

I wanted the print store to reflect where my art is today, so I needed to build up new collections.  I have had several changes these past years with what I create, how I create, as well as vision challenges which are now greatly improved.  This print store is part of a larger vision I have, and not a rushed project.

Original works will always remain my focus and not every painting will become a print.  Prints are another way people who enjoy my work can enjoy my art in their homes for a price that makes them accessible.  Prices vary depending on whether these are framed, or canvas prints, and size.  I also have a collection for prints under $100 CAD so that anyone can have access to a wonderful collection. These are open edition, and eventually I'll have signed limited editions available. 

I need to also point out that I searched for a very long time for a service that offered high quality printing on archival quality materials.  These ship print on demand from a renown printing partner, and they ship to many places worldwide.  

As stated, not every piece will become a print.  Each piece is chosen intentionally.  They are designed with collectors in mind, in various sizes and formats to allow people to chose what best suits their needs.  I do not have giant prints at this time though.  Very large prints require a whole new level of photography, which is challenging, and small pieces do not make good large prints.  You just should not turn an 11 x 14 into a giant print.  It won't work well and quality is lost.

These prints are offered via a Shopify store front too.  While my FASO website is the best for selling my originals and having a gallery wesbsite created especially for artists, the print service didn't meet my needs. By building a separate Shopify store, I'm able to offer prints worldwide and in different formats and platforms.  It's just a more convenient service for me as well as clients.  

Prints also make wonderful gifts for art lovers.  The framed prints come ready to hang, and so do the canvas prints.  Prints under $100 require framing.  

This is a new chapter in my art career and my website nw reflects my artistic direction more clearly.  This print store is one more step in that evolution and I am so excited to continue adding new paintings and stories to my blog.  I had to step back from a lot these past years because of my vision, but am so very happy to be able to return to my art.  It's also why my art is changing and I am now focusing on my originals, especially with a focus on northern wildlife since being from the north is a huge part of who I am.  Time is short! We're all gifted with something, and having faced the threat last year of giving up painting, I am grateful for this second sight, so to speak, and plan on creating meaningful art, art that I need to create.  There are stories and things I need to express in my work, and I've got no time to waste. 

I've always believed that art should find the people it's meant for, and it has.  Oh boy, it sure has! And in pretty wild ways too, pardon the pun.  Originals will remain at the heart of what I do, but I'm so happy to finally offer another way to bring these stories into your home.  Thank you so much for being a part of this journey with me and I hope you keep enjoying art.  

Carole xo 

Not Ours
30 x 30 oil, Carole Rodrigue ,Copyright 2026

 I’ve been incredibly inspired to paint more black bears lately.  Having lived in the North most of my life, they are often around, even in the city.  They come looking for food.  As urban areas expand, they lose more of their habitat and feeding areas.  

Black bears are a reminder that they have always been here. The first people to walk these forests are gone. The trappers are gone too. The loggers, the miners, the farmers who cleared fields by hand and built homes from trees cut nearby. Most have become names on weathered stones, their stories carried away by time.

Yet the bear remains. He is strong, he is resilient. Long before roads crossed the North and long after they crack and disappear beneath the forest floor, bears will continue to follow ancient paths through cedar swamps, blueberry barrens, and rocky ridges.

We often speak of nature as though it belongs to us. We draw lines on maps, build fences, and mark property boundaries. But the bear knows nothing of deeds or ownership. It moves through the landscape as it always has, answering only to the seasons. Perhaps that is the lesson.

The land is our home, but it is not ours alone. For a brief moment, we share it with those who came before us and those who will remain after we’re gone. This bear is a reminder of that quiet truth. We all belong here, we all share these spaces, but they’re not ours.  We are stewards, not owners. The forests will forget us after we’re gone, so will the cities.  In the end, none of it really belongs to us. Not Ours.  

And being French, you know I just had to put a twist on that title.  I kinda like it.  I hope you do too, as well as the painting.  

This is now available at the Backstreet Gallery in the French River area in Ontario.  

A year ago, I was contemplating giving up art.

Many already know, and many don't, but I've had early onset macular degeneration for many years now.  It probably started in my late 40s. I felt my vision gradually declining, but thought it was just normal aging. In 2019, I notice the wavy lines in a book, called my ophtalmologist the next day, and had to wait until March 2020 for the test which confirmed I had AMD.  It was pretty well managed with the recommended vitamins until 2025 when my vision took a drastic turn. My doctor confirmed one eye had gone "wet", meaning there's bleeding in the eye.  It was recommended I start monthly injections immediately, which I did, despite the fear.  Humans have an innate fear of getting things pricking their eyes, and I was terrified.

I don't normally like discussing medical issues, but since I'm an artist, I feel this is part of my journey and part of my art and how I paint.  I started injections in September 2025, and as of  now, I'm delighted to report my vision went from 20/60 last fall to 20/30 in March, and still improving.  I've been lucky the injections worked well, and I also attribute lifestyle and diet changes which keep inflammation down.  So, the good news is I still get to paint.

Throughout the past few years though, it became clear to me that I needed to change how I painted and what I painted.  

I used to do a lot of commission work, pet portraits, as well as teach.  I had to stop these. I just couldn't see the subjects well enough to render accurately enough for clients, and my ability to see certain colours such as pinks was diminishing. My favourite colour!  So when I was teaching, I couldn't even be certain I was seeing the same things students were seeing.  All of this also made me think that if my time remaining to paint was finite, then I needed to paint only what I wanted to paint, and I was getting to a point even this was difficult.

Paintings took me a very long time by last year.  Even an 8 x 10 could take me the better part of a month. Then aside from the colour issue, I would also have to use very bright lights to see what I was painting, and artists know when you use very bright lights, you tend to paint darker.  It's a phenomenon that happens because what you paint is brightened, so it seems bright enough when it actually isn't.  you don't notice until you step away from the piece and turn off the bright lights.  This made me have to do several extra layers, because my vision was betraying me and what I saw.  And painting chiaroscuro the way I loved? Terrible.  Paitning into dark had become nearly impossible.  You just cannot see dark paint being applied into dark.  I still struggle with this, but have created some just the same.  It just takes me longer.  I need to step away more and evaluate how much more I need to lighten layers.  No impossible, but tough.

But I had come to the sad decision last year that I either was going to have to quit making art professionally, or change my style.  

I Started Experimenting

Many artists have a stack of used canvas from pieces they've scrapped or haven't finished.  I was going to take this pile to the dump, but decided to start experimenting.

Several years ago, I started exploring abstract and fell in love with work by Jessica Zoob, Gerhard Richter, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and others.  I opened myself up to a new world after being trapped in rigid realism.  I still love realism, and still paint it, but artists need to experiment and open themselves to new creative ideas.

I had also experimented with collage and paints a few years ago when my vision was getting worse.  I'd fallen in love with collage artists who mixed paint, abstract textures, with collaged images.  What a world this opened up!  Creative ideas just started flowing and I played with some of these ideas for fun, and even created a nice pink piece I'm going to hold on to.  I've got it hanging in my home in a nice gold frame.  It's very special to me now.

This was my first collage, and though it not something I'm doing commercially, it has fuel injected my creativity.

Then I started taking out some of the old used canvases.  I laid one on my work table, slapped some paint on without thinking of anything.  Every once in a while, I'd walk into my studio, slap on some more paint.  A few days later, I'd walk in again, make marks with different media and colours, leave it for a week or two.  I'd come back, make some more marks, try some more techniques, and just applied paint and allowed myself to play with art like a child.  I felt the child I used to be come out a bit, and she had fun.  Before I knew it, I had this brilliant pink and colourful abstract piece, which I'll also frame and hold on to.

A very vibrant pink abstract. It was a welcome change to work with so much colour. 

I started doing more of these.  With one piece I created earlier this year, I allowed myself to just express whatever I felt at the time.  It felt great.  I applied some angry strokes for stuff I was angry about, some nicer marks, and so on.  I did not allow myself to think or plan, just make marks.  Then I applied transparent oil glaze, made a handprint, wrote some stuff, without consciously thinking about what or why I was doing this.  After a while, I called her done, stepped back, and days later realized I had done something profoundly personal and meaningful.  

While paining this, I was not planning or thinking, as stated already, not analyzing.  I just allowed myself to enter a state of flow and do stuff, in a very pure form. Without intent, without planning, I allowed something wild to happen.  Stepping back from this piece, it wa alsmost as if parts of myself had found their way onto the canvas before my conscious mind even understood them.  

This piece became deeply personal and there's a lot of emotion in this.  While only see scribbles, others get it. 

Rediscovering Freedom

Experimenting and playing with paint surprised me not only for the finished paintings, but the feeling, their freedom, the absence of pressure, the return to play.  

For the first time in my adult life, I wasn't trying to paint perfectly.  I was simply creating.  It gave me hope.  I felt young, and I made things simply because it felt good.  No audience, no expectations, no rules.  This was how I felt as a child making art.

Evolution

Now, I am grateful for my improved vision and am counting my blessings.  This feels like a gift, a second chance. With this second chance I feel I need to be more expressive in my art.  I love wildlife, I love realism, but I'm loving expressing myself with paint.  It's as though I've opened myself up to a new wave of creativity, and I'm discovering another layer.  Now, I want to combine the two things I love to do, painting animals, and being expressive with my art via abstract,  maybe some symbolism when I can, or little messages.  I'm still going to create some traditional animal pieces, which I love, but I'm also letting myself evolve with some new works.  I want to paint pieces where I hope the animal becomes part of the message, rather than the entire message.  Sometimes the animal might express the human feelings.  

Allowing the transitioning of blending abstract and realism in a tongue in cheek piece about the viral video, but it also expresses something human, an artist allowing childlike play and expression in a work.  The beginning of my evolution! It was a tad scary releasing this peace when everything I'd done had been so hyperrealistic, but it sold as soon as I brought it to the Backstreet Gallery. Notice an ironic trend with colour? 

Hindsight, Or Maybe -- second sight?

Looking back, it's it's strange to think how what I thought was ending my art actually ended up actually being the beginning of something.  I was nudged toward something new and I don't know exactly where this path leads, but for the first time in a long time, I'm excited to find out.  

Somewhere along the way, I stopped trying to just make pictures, painting for others, and am starting to want to say and express something.  The animals are still there, but now they're bringing stories with them.  Sometimes these will be my stories.  I now feel I have permission to see differently, and express myself.  I used to think creativity was about finding my style and making more of that.  Now I wonder if it's really about removing the things that hinder us from expressing who we are, what we feel.  

As an artist, I'm not changing into someone else.  I'm becoming.  My art is evolving.  Not because I'm changing who I am, but because I'nm finally allowing myself to become.  

Pink About It, another piece with pink at a time when my ability to see it was affected.  

You can check the availability of this piece as well as others here.