She always had an interest in art, but it wasn’t until Wendy Provins found out she had a rare eye disorder that she reconnected with painting.
Provins, a former Flin Flonner, was left nearly blind after being diagnosed with Marfan syndrome about a decade ago.
“One day I woke up and my vision was blurry,” says Provins, now retired and living in the Okanagan Valley in BC with husband Dave.
It took 20 different doctors and a visit to Flin Flon for her grandmother’s funeral for Provins to find out about Marfan syndrome, a connective tissue disorder in which the lenses of the eyes and the retina disconnect.
“My sister called me afterwards and said, ‘You’ve got to Google this,’” recalls Provins.
Provins took what she learned about Marfan syndrome to her doctor and received the official diagnosis.
Since then she has undergone six surgeries to help correct her vision – five surgeries on her left eye and one on her right.
Growing up, Provins says there may have been signs of Marfan syndrome, but she wasn’t looking for them.
“On occasion…I would see a flashing light, but I didn’t know if it was just me who saw it,” she said. “And I don’t look like someone who has Marfan syndrome.”
Typically those with Marfan syndrome – which can affect the eyes, heart and other major organs – are tall and thin because of the stretching of ligaments.
Through Provins’ diagnosis and recovery from surgeries, she was able to pick up her brush again and work on small, detailed paintings.
“I wasn’t totally blind,” she says. “I could see double and see little things. About a year after my diagnosis, I realized I could still paint.”
But Provins wasn’t able to paint on a large scale, as the big picture was too hard to focus on. Small objects like refrigerator magnets were the perfect size for her.
“I was able to hold it far enough from my eye and even though there was extreme details, I could do it,” she says. “It kept me from going crazy. When you’re painting something big, you step back from it, but that would have been difficult to do. It was easier to see very close.”
Provins worked on magnet-sizes pieces of art in watercolour and ended up catching the eye of Winnipeg’s Misericordia Health Centre, where her surgeries were performed.
Provins and her husband were living in Winnipeg when she was commissioned to make 300 of the magnets as Christmas gifts for the centre’s volunteers.
“I was very humbled,” she recalls. “I was amazed someone asked me for them.”
Provins had sold pieces here and there before the magnets, but nothing of that magnitude.
Provins grew up in Flin Flon with a love for art but was urged to take a different career and educational path.
“I was persuaded because it wasn’t a good-paying job,” she says.
Provins graduated from Hapnot Collegiate in 1971 and later attended classes at the University of Manitoba for two years, enrolled in education and art courses.
She spent her summers between classes back in Flin Flon working for the Flin Flon General Hospital as well as HBM&S, now Hudbay.
Provins also worked at The Reminder as a social editor, court reporter and proofreader from
1975 to 1978.
While living in Winnipeg she met and married her first husband. The pair later moved to Flin Flon, where he worked as a geologist and they raised a family.
Provins lived in the community until 1981 before moving to Snow Lake. The well-travelled artist has also lived in Winnipeg, Timmins, Ont., Burlington, Ont., and Australia before moving to BC last year.
A mother of three, she took various art classes in each of the communities she lived in.
With art not seen as a viable career, Provins worked in banks in her “black and white job” before going home to her “colourful job.”
“My dining room was always covered in paint,” she laughs.
Over the last five years, Provins has advanced from watercolour to acrylic painting and from magnet size to full canvasses.
Her online website offers various sizes and mediums – such as canvass or phone cases – for each print.
Provins’ artwork, which often features birch trees inspired by her love of the North, has also been showcased in a number of galleries in Manitoba and BC.
“Even as I’m talking to you,” she says in a phone interview, “I’m looking out my bedroom window and looking at the mountains.”
Provins continues to draw inspiration from the things she loves – especially the scenery of the North.
“I grew up around trees and lakes,” she says. “I credit a lot to northern Manitoba and Ontario.”
Provins’ unique eye continues to capture images that speak to her and others. A number of pieces can be found not only in galleries, but also in the homes of friends, family and buyers from across the country.
She currently has a catalogue of roughly 40 pieces of artwork, nearly two-thirds of which she has created since moving to BC last year.
Social media sites like Facebook have helped to promote Provins’ website and generated sales and interest.
In Flin Flon, local supporters are able to view and purchase Provins’ art from The Orange Toad as well as Rocky View Bed and Breakfast in Denare Beach.
Trees are Provins’ bestsellers, but she is branching out, so to speak, into something new.
“Right now, I’m trying to do lighter colours like pastels,” she says. “I’m just trying something other than trees.”
Provins has typically used nature as her inspiration, but she says ideas can come from anywhere.
“I’ll watch a YouTube video, buy a book or look at another artist and then make my own,” she says, though she’s careful not to look too long so the pieces aren’t the same.
“I’m not sure what [it is about art]. I’m just fascinated.”
Art can play a prominent role at any stage of life. Provins says it’s never too late.
“I know some who have started as kids and then some started in theirs 60s and 70s,” she says. “And it doesn’t matter what type of art you do. Just go for it.
“I thought for years I had to do other things. But just go and buy materials.”
Provins knows she won’t be getting rich off of her paintings, but the sales she does make help her offset the cost of her supplies.
“I’m happy to cover my costs,” she says. “It gives me such joy.”
