Everyone of Louise Naud's paintings tells a childhood story.  In fact, for her, children represent the genuine joy of living and they literally fill our lives with unforgettable souvenirs.  “My greatest wish is that  when people hang one of my paintings on their wall, with a simple glimpse, they can think back to when they were kids themselves and remember wonderful magical moments filled with simplicity, vitality and the joy of living” comments the artist.

Third in a family of four children, Louise lived an extremely joyful childhood with her parents, her sister and two brothers in Barraute, a tiny village in Abitibi situated in the North-Western part of Québec, where the sun rises upon hundreds of lakes and rivers, where you can see numerous mine shafts reaching out to the sky to extract rich minerals from our fertile gold bearing earth; where the boreal forests touch just before the twilight, where the northern lights dance on a star filled sky, where we can enjoy the long hot summer days as well as the rigorous  winter nights… It is in this rich and colourful universe of wonderful landscapes packed with heart warming ambiances that filled Louise’s childhood memories, which joyfully inspired several scenes that she so cleverly brings back to life with her paint brush.

A self-made artist, at a very young age, she drew little people everywhere in the house.  She even drew a picture twice her size on the interior wall of the family garage!   Back then, her mother put her to bed with her box of coloured crayons instead of the usual teddy bear.  “I remember, when I was very young, I would go to sleep under the glance of all these colours and I would imagine all these little people that were playing and having fun and I would think of  the ones  I would be drawing the next day.”

Her creativity and her natural talent for drawing made her grow rapidly.  At her village high school, she was the one, with another friend that drew the back scenes for the annual yearend shows.  After her high school, Louise continued her education at the Abitibi-Témiscamingue Cégep in Rouyn-Noranda after which she put aside her passion to start a new career in a telecommunication company in Abitibi.

It’s 15 years later, during an English immersion course in Toronto that she rediscovers the great Canadian art galleries.  “ I had the greatest fascination of my life” claims Louise.  She spends all her weekends and spare time visiting these art galleries in several parts of the town and it was then and there, that her creative and colourful passion that had once filled her childhood was reborn.

When she returns from Toronto, she is drawn back to this universe of colours and creation and finally, in 2001 she decides to display her artwork in public for the very first time in a local exhibition for Val-d’Or companies to rent out paintings. Her paintings were the first ones chosen and this is when she realizes that the scenes that filled her childhood which she brought to life on her canvas, were reaching the public, touching them and making them smile.

Since then, from word of mouth, from one exhibition to another, her painting portfolio grows thanks to multiple requests that come either from people wanting to relive their childhood memories, or to contribute to charitable donations, and also to serve as gifts for important personalities that visit our region… In 2006 and 2007, Louise obtains a recognition trophy at the Chamber of commerce company Gala in Val-d’Or and in January 2008, her paintings will be exposed in a prestigious art gallery in the business community of Toronto.

“When  I paint, I get my  inspiration from  sites, locations and memories of Abitibienne photos by making them vibrate with characters that I create my own way…comments the artist.  I like to paint old landscapes such as those in Bourlamaque, an ancient mining quarter of my Abitibienne region where we can find little log cabins and all their tiny sheds in the back alleys. When I was little, these back alleys with their clothes lines stretched in every back hards, belonged to the children.  In several of my paintings,, I see these childhood memories that I demonstrate in my style with different games:  hockey or baseball, and all sorts of scenes with children… Of course, I can take houses from different neighbourhoods and invent a brand new scene where the children are always the super stars !!”
 
For Louise, painting is a way of expression in itself where the children’s world constitutes a rich and infinite vehicle of expression, a universe where all adventures are possible, where it is possible to relive joyful moments, simple and full of energy.

Louise Naud’s universe is made up of imaginary people where our youthful souvenirs can be reanimated….