The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

34 - The Oakville Beaver, Wednesday October 17, 2007 www.oakvillebeaver.com Artscene Oakville Beaver · WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2007 34 DEREK WOOLLAM / OAKVILLE BEAVER ON DISPLAY: Artist Jeanette Mayer-Gayford with some of her paintings on display at Timothy's Coffee shop in downtown Oakville. Her exhibit runs until Sunday. Artist hopes to brew up interest with coffee shop exhibit By Jasminee Sahoye SPECIAL TO THE BEAVER It may seem unusual to walk into a Timothy's Coffee shop and find the walls adorned with paintings of all sorts. However, that's exactly what you'll find in downtown Oakville. This is just what artist Jeannette MayerGayford was looking for, at least for a start. She hopes to eventually have her pieces on display at a local art gallery. Mayer-Gayford has been quietly making inroads with her work at small events, but sees the opportunity of showing off her work at Timothy's as a way to grow and be confident for bigger exhibitions to come. Her almost 27 pieces of varying sizes and expressions have been fixtures on the walls, both upstairs and downstairs of the coffee shop since Sept. 23, and will be there until this Sunday. She believes the pieces have created a friendlier ambiance to coffee lovers and visitors to the shop. She also thinks it would give art lovers and collectors a chance to take a closer look at her work. Mayer-Gayford told The Oakville Beaver some of her pieces have been sold and the shop's owner said that many have complimented her work. "She did say everyone is quite impressed with what they see." A graduate of Sheridan College's illustration program in the '70s, Mayer-Gayford said she has painted only occasionally over the years because she spent more time raising her young family. It was only about five years ago that she started to put more effort into painting, now that her kids have all grown up. "I started off some years ago painting with water colours and then moved to acrylics and just in the last year, did some paintings in oil," said Mayer-Gayford. She said a large percentage of the paintings on display are done in oil, but there are some in watercolour and acrylics. Mayer-Gayford's works are inspirational pieces from visits abroad and locally. "Quite a few of them are done from photographs that I took in Java, Indonesia and I found that just going through villages there that everyone just seems to have their laundries hanging out on the lines, so I took from that inspiration." There are also a number of pieces of scenes in Germany, most of which are houses. She loves architectural paintings. "Germany, I have always loved visiting. My father came from there and when I go I tend to be inspired and taking photographs of most of the cities there, and always think I would want to paint later on." Mayer-Gayford believes her pieces are inspirational, and with a laugh adds, "inspirational to me...I'm inspired when I travel and I see certain things that I photographed and that would inspire me when I paint from that." She has done some paintings of fall scenes in her area as well. So what's next for Mayer-Gayford? She is continually painting, putting in about three to six hours a day and she looks forward to having her work on display at a local gallery. She is currently working on a piece based on a visit to the farmers' market. Mayer-Gayford says she also produces pieces based on clients needs, and puts in hours to meet their demands. She prefers viewers of her work walk away with their own impressions rather than having her say what she had set out to paint. "I'd prefer for people to look at my work and they take their own feelings from it, since everyone has different tastes. I don't like to say something, people might think, `Well that's not what I'm thinking at all.'" Moreopportunity You want your business to succeed. We want to help. More service · One-on-one time with your dedicated Cogeco Account Manager · Personalized service packages designed to meet your needs and budget · Round-the-clock technical service support ­ any day of the week STARTING AT Cogeco High Speed Business Internet More speed · Get the fastest Internet service available* with up to 16 Mbps $ 5495 Call: 1-888-989-9229 Visit: cogeco.ca/biz Business Solutions PER MONTH FOR 12 MONTHS High Speed Internet *The download speed of Cogeco High Speed Business Internet is faster, in every service category, than the download speed of corresponding high speed Internet services by phone (DSL); based on data published by suppliers. Rates may change at any time without notice. Some restrictions may apply. Subject to availability in your area or building.