Empty nest

The older I get, the more life resembles my childhood, and with all this free time, I am returning to familiar pastimes. 

Painting, plants, animals, music, and solitude.

Life is very good.
 

Himba woman

 

 

I am an armchair traveler. My virtual journey to Africa resulted in a series of paintings.

 

My Sunny Son

Every day, Adam would get up early, with a smile on his face, and step out into the world. The last 20 years of his life were filled with loneliness, physical pain, madness, and poverty, yet he never complained. He never gave up. He never begged, borrowed or stole. His strength and integrity keep my spirit high. 

If he could do it, so can I.

 I have been frozen in grief since November 18, 2023, and his memory keeps me strong. 

Thanks to God and my children

 

I am a lifelong artist, gardener and herbalist, and maker with a deep love for the natural world and traditional ways of living. I was born in Vancouver, BC, and raised in a homesteading family where my grandmother taught me how to sew, knit, can food, garden, forage, and make healing remedies from plants. She passed down more than skills—she passed down a way of life rooted in simplicity, care, and self-reliance. My mother carried that spirit forward through handmade goods and homemade food, which shaped my early love for creating and living with intention.

I’ve always followed a minimalist lifestyle, guided by nature and what I can craft with my own hands. I’m a self-taught artist with formal training in makeup artistry, esthetics, and herbal remedies, and I’ve spent years immersed in the wilderness as a gardener, tree planter, and backwoods traveler. These e

experiences deeply influence both my artwork and my apothecary work.

Whether I’m blending skincare, wildcrafting, painting, or cooking, I draw from my ancestral techniques and natural materials. I also love working with traditional fine art methods, natural dyes, and calligraphy—arts that keep me grounded and inspired.

Through my practice and my business, Angelica Botanica, I aim to offer fine art, and naturally derived herbal and skincare products that are not only beautiful and effective but deeply connected to healing, living gracefully, and honoring the earth.

My inspiration

 Adam was a real forager. He was always on the go, and made little bits of cash with his found treasures.

I've decided to honour his memory by urban foraging. I'm collecting herbs and plants for my homemade products.  

nobody told me there would be days like these

 Life was good.

Little did we know that things would get crazy. Both my children became addicts, only one survived.