Housebound Heather paints her bedsheets. People buy 'em

Heather Offord initially gave her paintings to her husband Russ Offord as a gift of love.

And to get them out of the house so she'd have room to make more.

Since Heather started painting only 11 months ago, she has produced hundreds of beautiful abstract works, starting with the ones she painted on the couple's bedsheets.

Some of her works, now made with the finest art supplies (no more bedsheet canvases), are on display at Gallery 705, which Russ opened yesterday in Station Mall.

That's where SooToday.com found Heather hanging with her hubby and listening to visitors comment on her work.

The Offords are seen here with James E. Evans, whose photographs are also on display for the opening.

Heather's colours are vibrant and true, her forms range from solid and heavy, naked tree-like objects to ethereal angelic and musical motifs.

"One of her works' greatest selling features is its price point," said Russ. "I'm selling some of the smaller prints for upwards of $25 and some of the larger originals even go as low as $350 for an original."

Heather will be one of 500 artists from across North America participating in the 2009 One of a Kind Show and Sale in Chicago this December.

She started painting almost a year ago with no training or experience whatsoever.

"When I married Russ and came to live with him in Canada, I couldn't work. So I wanted a hobby to keep me busy," she said. "I started with some old bedsheets I taped to the wall and painted with house paints."

In her busy former life in marketing and sales in the United States, Heather was highly motivated and a self-professed workaholic.

But the artistic drive in her refused to lay dormant, even if she didn't know it was her creative voice wanting to be heard.

"I used to walk by art displays in malls and feel so angry," she said. "I was envious that these artists were creating things for a living and I never knew why that made me angry."

Now she understands it was because that's what she wanted to do, even if she didn't realize it at the time.

Heather's urge to create and experiment with different media quickly filled the couple's first small apartment.

It then expanded to fill most of the larger semi-detached house they moved into.

That's when they sold a few pieces in the U.S. through her website and bought better art supplies.

"I would see textures on walls and in other artwork and I would want to reproduce them," Heather said. "I would go home and try different things. I even tried cat litter for one of my experiments. Thankfully I've since discovered texturizers!"

But an artist driven to create will try just about anything when in the zone at 3 a.m. and no stores are open.

She credits the Sault Ste. Marie and District Arts Council with providing plenty of guidance and support for her very steep learning curve.

Wildlife photographer James E. Evans, whose work is also currently at Gallery 705, has 25 years of experience photographing wildlife in its natural habitat.

"Everyone has a story," Evans says. "They come in and they might see a picture of a fox or a loon and that inspires them to tell me about an experience they had with the animal."

Evans is known for his wedding, sports and special-occasion photography, but wildlife is his passion.

When he sees a good light situation developing, he gets the urge to go visit one of his 'spots' and it sometimes pays off in a big way.

Pointing to a photo of a young fox basking in the golden glow just before sunset, Evans describes how he got the shot.

"I'd been there and gotten a lot of shots of those foxes, but when I saw the light I just knew I had to go back one more time," he said.

Sometimes Evans spends a lot of time at one location, just waiting for the perfect shot.

The image he captured of a snowy owl about to scoop up a mouse on the snow is one such example.

"It was a cold wind, but when the wind would stop, I could feel the warmth of the sun on my face," he said. "I knew that would bring the mice up by those blades of grass in the back there."

His patience paid off in a stunning and dramatic shot.

Evans said he is sometimes inspired himself by stories people tell him about animals they've seen around the area.

On a regular basis, he treks out in search of elusive animals people have spotted.

Russ Offord said he invited Evans to be one of the first to show his work in Gallery 705 because of Evans' experience, quality of work and because his photographs complemented Heather's work so well.

"I didn't want to have artists in here that were competing," Offord said. "Soon we hope to add more jewelry and maybe later, if things work out, we'll look at other art forms as well."

The name of the gallery was chosen to reflect the fact that it's an opportunity for artists from Northern Ontario to showcase their work, he said.

The first showing with Heather Offord, James E. Evans and jewelry from a variety of local artists will run through November and December.