Welcome to this web-site, created by watercolour artist, Gena LaCoste, in order to share with you her version of today’s living west. This is how Gena sees and interprets the new and vibrant, beautiful and diverse life that has evolved here on the Canadian prairies over the past 2 centuries.
Gena LaCoste was born and raised here, into a ranching family….. the people, the wild places, animals and the lifestyle have profoundly influenced who she is and the filter through which she interprets life. Gena started trying to draw and paint all these things while still a pre-schooler, and it has continued to be a compulsion throughout her life.
The road to becoming an artist has had a few side trips and tangents for Gena however. Rather than do the intuitive thing and go to art school, she became a nurse instead….a person should be self-supporting after all! The next 2 decades were a blend of marriage to a rodeo cowboy, the ownership and management of a western store and the joy of raising a son, all of which left her with little time to paint.
Finally in 2001 Gena closed her business, and has devoted most of her energy to creating all the paintings that had been stacking themselves up in her mind. “What a relief and what a profound privilege,” says Gena. ” I’m so grateful to all the fabulous artists who have mentored and instructed me and all the friends and family who have supported me financially and in every other way.” One of the many side benefits of Gena’s life in the western store business and in the company of rodeo people, was the many friendships she established among the ranching and rodeo communities, providing the authentic experiences she brings to her work.
This web-site shares with you that which brings Gena such richness and satisfaction, the hope being that it will bring some of those things to your life; that it will inform you and enable you to see these same wonderful sights in a more meaningful way. As artist Gena LaCoste has said, “Maybe in this way we can all come to value and experience this Living West in a way we never have before.”
