A celebrated Labrador artist shares his story of losing everything because of alcohol and drug addictions ?–  finding his way back to sobriety by creating art

Scott Pynn,  born and raised in Labrador City, began painting and drawing at a young age under the guidance of his grandfather, Henry Pynn, also an artist. In school, Pynn studied engineering and psychology, neither of which he felt were the right professions for him. 

  “I said, I have to learn how to do something within the arts if I want to be happy in my life,” Pynn tells The Herald. 

It wasn’t long after that realization that he quit his job in construction to become a professional artist.

Success soon followed. Pynn, a talented visual painter, has sold his work and prints all over the world. His other business, a tattoo shop – the first of its kind to open in Labrador City – was also thriving. The business owner was living what remembers as “a great life.”

It was 15-years-ago when that life began to spiral. His struggles with addiction began as a teenager when he started drinking, leading to an alcohol addiction, and then to an addiction to cocaine. 

Says Pynn, “Addiction doesn’t take control of your life overnight,. It’s not like you drink once, and you’re an alcoholic, or you try cocaine once, and you’re addicted to coke. It’s a slow process.”

For Pynn, it came to the point where he was drinking hard liquor and using cocaine every single day. 

“I felt like I couldn’t even live without it. It spiraled to where I had no will to do anything else but drink and use.”

He lost everything that was dear to him? – ?his family, his money, his business and his health. He knew if he didn’t seek treatment for his addictions that he would die. “I always thought I was just one more night away from that fate.”

Pynn checked himself into the Humber Wood Rehabilitation Centre, in Corner Brook, in November 2021. The three weeks he spent there for treatment reconnected him to something he had replaced by drugs: ?his art. 

Pynn painted every day, realizing it was something that had gotten away from him over the years. “I painted maybe five pictures over two or three years. So when I went to Humber Wood, I promised myself that I was going to get back to my artwork.”

Today, he credits his passion for creating art, which kept his mind occupied, helping him towards his early recovery. 

At the end of his three-week stay, Pynn had painted between 20 and 25 pieces. Upon his release, he started a Facebook group, Scott Pynn Canadian Artist, which, in just one month, gained 25,000 members.

Life as an Artist

Pynn, who’s nearly 200 days sober, says his days now are rather routine. He wakes up early in the morning to practice yoga or meditate, listens to music, and paints all day long. It’s a routine that’s working out extremely well for him. 

“My relationships with my family are much better. The most important thing for any recovering addict to remember is people can’t help you if you don’t tell them what’s going on with you.”

He believes this is why he continues to receive such an outpouring of support from others? – ?it’s because he laid all his cards on the table. “I said, look, this is who I am, this is what happened to me, take me or leave me. But the support for me has just been unbelievable.”

It’s that level of support that gets Pynn through each day when, on any morning, he’ll see 500 Facebook messages from people all over the country, letting the artist know they are pulling for him. 

It’s that support that not only touches him, but gives him the accountability to stay committed to the path he’s on. “I’m not about to disappoint the 25,000 people in my Facebook group and go use or drink. That’s not an option for me anymore.”

Of the hundreds of messages left on Pynn’s group wall each day, he remembers one in particular from a young girl that particularly moved him. 

“She said my group is the most positive and addictive thing she’s seen on social media and my paintings look like they were done by someone who has crossed over to the other side and brought back the visions. I thought that was beautiful.”

Pynn says that everything he lost to his addiction? – ?his business, family, daughter, girlfriend and his health, he now has back. “Every day gets better than the last. I found it very easy to stay away from the drugs and alcohol once I had the knowledge of how to do it.”

Art of Recovery Program

For Pynn, it was important to him that addicts who have been suffering in silence have a place to turn. He recently launched an NFT project of 1111 different pieces and will be using a substantial portion of the revenues raised for his “Art of Recovery Program”, which helps pay for people to attend treatment centers and provides recovering addicts and people struggling with mental illness access to free art supply’s.

Since sharing his story, others have reached out to him to tell him he’s been an inspiration. “They’ll say I’ve been watching you, and you inspired me to decide to get clean. I know my story has made a difference in some people’s lives, for sure. Now that I’m helping other people, I feel amazing. Every day is better than the last.”

Find Scott Pynn at www.facebook.com/scottpynncanadianartist/ and www.spynnergy.com

As an artist, Michelle Rowe knows beauty when she sees it, generously sharing that beauty with others at The Cove B&B and in her art studio as well, Ocean View Gallery and Gift Store located in the town of Carbonear. 

Rowe, who was born and raised in the Carbonear area, shared that she never even knew “The Cove” existed, it was that well hidden and secluded. 

“We were thinking about an old saltbox somewhere on the water and we were just kind of driving through (Freshwater) and I saw a for sale sign on the road and we went, ‘Oh, I can’t believe this is here,’” she said.

She’s long gravitated towards the ocean, she said, and the second she saw the property – perched on the edge of the ocean overlooking Carbonear Island – she was hooked.  “It was immediate for me. I instantly fell in love,” she said. 

An artist’s dream

It’s easy to understand why. Most every window overlooks the ocean, and those that don’t have an ocean view showcases instead the serenity and the peacefulness of the garden or the history of the century year-old property.

As a painter, inspiration is often found in nature, and The Cove is an artist’s dream cone true. 

“I live, breathe and sleep art. I’ve been teaching art as a career now for 15 solid years and painting longer than that, but now there’s a freshness to what I create since owning the property,” she shared.

On the day we visit, Rowe decides to teach this writer to paint – something she says “anyone” can do. 

From hanging dried salt fish and icebergs to old fishing store doors and more, if you have seen it around this province of Newfoundland, she has probably painted it. On this day, it’s fishermen mending nets against a brilliant sky that we are painting. Beginning with a blank canvas, with every paintbrush stroke, the painting takes shape. 

 ‘It’s only paint’

“I think if you have the right person to guide you through a painting, it will take all the worry away. Yeah. There are things that I can do for you to make things much easier, but I think more than anything, I’m just a motivational speaker. And I’m there to say, ‘Try this or do this,’ and to remind each student that it is only paint.” 

With Come Home Year 2022 in full swing, what’s she looking forward to most? Making connections with people again, she said. “Over the years, we’ve always had people come through the doors. During the winter months, it’s very much community oriented, but during the summer months it’s always about visitors and the experience of getting around the bay to explore and we’ve always been about providing something for them to take away with them, whether it’s through the gift store or if they get to create their own piece. Either way, they get to know you a little bit and you get to know them. It’s not just a painting relationship. It’s an experience,” she said. 

With all the beauty of the area and with the view from The Cove, we surmise that she will never run out of inspiration. Rowe smiled.

“I will never be bored in my lifetime. There’s not enough lifetimes out there for me to create everything that I’ve had the honour of seeing or experiencing.”

Her main inspiration comes from this province’s unique outport history. 

“If I see a piece of wood sticking out of the ground, I’m like, ‘Oh, what was that?’ I’ll do the research and I’ll find out what it was. If I see an old house with a curtain blowing out a broken window I go, ‘Oh, somebody lived there.’ I’ve gone through abandoned homesteads, I’ve walked through people’s gardens and there you can see the pits and the raspberry bushes and the remains of a vegetable garden. And there’s an outhouse out back and there’s an old twine loft there. There was life then. It’s just so sad that it’s gone and I just want to hold on to it and give it life again.”  

Come Home Year 2022!

There’s much going on in the arts world this Come Home Year, she added. From artist showcases to live painting events where spectators can watch the magic happen in real time.

“You’re painting outside and you’re not going by a photo. You’re looking at the colors as they are changing every few seconds. The clouds are moving and the lighting’s changing and you have to think differently and your paintings are more expressive and much more free,” she said.

Rowe hopes this year of Come Home celebration is an inspiration to everyone. 

“I have a real passion for this province, and so many others do as well, and I’m privileged that I get to capture the beauty and share my version of that with others.”

For more, visit The Cove at The Cove Vacation Rental, Carbonear on Facebook or michellesfineart.weebly.com or Michelle’s Fine Art on Facebook

His early artistic endeavours were with watercolour and oil paints and were strongly based in what would be called a realistic style, artist Reilly Fitzgerald of Clarenville began.

“In the late 1990s and early 2000s I did a series of paintings in a collection I called ‘Ghosts from the Past’, which involved painting realistic people from older  photographs in grey tones and adding a more colourful and often more expressionistic background,” he said.

In 2011, following the return of his chronic back pain and arthritis, he left his full-time teaching position and immersed himself into painting.

“I painted a prolific amount of realistic pieces in watercolour, including many portraits such as children and hockey portraits. Most of these were requested gifts for family and commissioned pieces. Then, in 2012, I discovered acrylics and a change in style and attitude followed,” he shared.

‘Change in focus’

The changes happened about the same time he began to experiment with a more colourful and expressionistic style. 

“I also stopped taking commissions as I felt they put added pressure and time constraints to my work. I found painting for myself to be very therapeutic and one of the only things that distracted me from the constant pain I endured. This change in focus can be clearly seen in my work at this time.”

He has continued to develop his own style, strongly influenced by Canadian artists Ted Harrison and Lawren Harris, as well as NL artist David Blackwood. “I continue to incorporate bold colours and outlines in black and more often white lines, and generally paint the scenery, people, history, wildlife, and culture of my home in Clarenville, and then more generally in all of Newfoundland and Labrador,” he said.

His work, which is available through Facebook or through his daughter at Eagle Photo Studio, are compelling and quite stunning. It’s been a difficult journey, he shared openly. “I say my success is more along the lines of not falling into all the rabbit holes,” he laughed.

Born with physical challenges, he’s had to adjust to a life of pain and discomfort from a very young age, he shared. 

“I can have very limited movement and it’s gotten worse. I spent a nice bit of my early years in the Janeway. Finally, in grade five, the teachers and the doctor realized my hand was impeding my ability to write and they sort of switched me over from being right-handed to left-handed. That must have switched my brain too because one side of the brain is more artistic than the other and suddenly I was the artist in the classroom.”

The community of Clarenville, where he settled to teach, has been good to him, he added, not just for inspiration but for friendships as well. 

It’s hard when you have to leave your job due to pain – financially and emotionally – but money was raised and support was offered, he said, and for all of that, he’s grateful. Something else he’s grateful for? That he was able to continue to paint. 

“I think painting is the only thing that I have left from my former life that I can still do. I couldn’t be the father I wanted, I couldn’t be a teacher. I couldn’t play sports, couldn’t coach. Painting is the only thing left that actually gives me relief. I know if I focus on my art, it’s the only thing that can distract me from the pain of my arthritis and my lower back.” 

Joy & Peace

Painting has given him “a unique point of view of the beauty of Newfoundland and the joy that’s around.” What inspires him? “Newfoundland, the things around me, I think I’ve painted all my neighbour’s houses and the scenery around my house more than anything. But I love wildlife too.”
 We ask how long it takes him to do a painting. He paused. “There’s no real answer to that. Some of the paintings take longer than others, and I usually have a few on the go at one time.”

Anything else he’d like to share? Another pause. “Just thank you for showing an interest. I’ve struggled, but my art is my joy and my peace and I hope it brings the same to others.”

For more, visit www.eaglephotostudionl.com or follow Reilly Fitzgerald on Facebook 

Darrin Martin’s creative life as a painter began about  20 years ago. Diagnosed with conversion syndrome, a rare condition where the brain converts mental stress into physical symptoms, Martin offered that as a performer, he had to learn to express himself in a new way.

“I lost my voice so I couldn’t audition for music school. I was always an artistic person – always drawing, always sketching. I decided instead of just waiting to feel better, I’d go to art school first, so I did.”

The show must go on

Then, the theatre came calling, he shared. One music director even said, ‘you cannot let that boy paint. He has to be on stage singing.’ “Male lead roles were available in this production, and I was kind of thrust into professional theatre at 19 years-old and so I let the paint brush go for awhile,” Martin offered.

With many Spirit of Newfoundland productions under his belt, just to name a few, Martin became a well established performer. There was Jesus Christ Superstar in 2006 and many performances alongside one his favourite sidekicks,  Sheila Williams. Martin had a healthy career in the performing arts. 

“Whatever anyone needed me to do, I was there. It got to the point where I could probably count on my hands the amount of stuff I painted and drew.”

‘Get back to your art’

Then, three summers ago, his wife Georgina encouraged him to pick up the paintbrush again. “She said, ‘You really need to get back to your art. I think you’re missing that.’ And I said, ‘You know what? That part of my life, the door is closed. I’m done with it.’”

His wife encouraged him to “just paint one.”

“She said, ‘See how it feels. If you really feel that that’s it, then let it go. But try it.’ And sure enough, I painted one painting, which became two and three and the light switch came back on and I was like, ‘OK, I really was missing this.’”

Back to painting

Now, 500 or so pieces in, he’s glad  he didn’t let that part of himself go.

“My anxieties were making my performing more and more difficult. People would say to me, ‘You don’t look nervous.’ When people get used to you at a certain caliber, you can’t let that go. You can’t have people say it wasn’t a good performance but I could just feel that I was drifting and then COVID really put the final nail in the coffin.”

Martin told himself he couldn’t “just sit around doing nothing” so he went back to painting as a way to stay focused and creative.

His painting has been helpful in many ways, he shared. “It helps with depression. I use a lot of bold colours because I always tell people that the real world has got enough dullness so I want to paint it with as much life and colour as I can, because that’s what I want to see.”

The feedback has been really good for the most part, he shared, though it can be ‘a tough crowd.’ “We are spoiled in Newfoundland in the arts because there’s talent everywhere. Art here is cultural. If you go to a Sheila Williams show, you’re not going to get any better entertainment if you go to Las Vegas or if you go to New York and it’s the same in the art world. The talented visual artists are as incredible here as anywhere.”

Martin has been lucky, he added, and his works are selling “all over the world.”

We ask about the journey from performer to painter. “I always drew and I always painted and sketched. Art was a huge part of my life. It’s just because of circumstance that it got pushed to the back burner but getting back into it was very serendipitous.”

Martin likes to say he’s “making art” not creating it. “I believe that I’m a channel so I don’t usually say I created a piece. I just don’t feel that it’s me and me alone because inspiration and talent comes from somewhere, so I say I made a piece of art.”

If a day goes by and he hasn’t painted, something feels wrong, he added.  “I could have cleaned the house and bought groceries and still feel like I accomplished nothing if I didn’t paint,” he shared.

Nostalgic pieces

With all the isolation that came with COVID, Martin shared that painting has been his escape.

“I don’t know how I would have figured it out. I really don’t. There’s a painting I did of a vase of flowers that’s cracked. It’s sitting on a shelf and it’s the idea that we often give things too many purposes until it topples over, until it’s useless. And for me, that was kind of my own story. I had spent years of my life running from show to show or from gig to gig. I was meeting amazing people and working with great people but I burned myself out. That’s how I kind of felt. I had too many purposes and I couldn’t fulfill them.”

And now? He feels so much better, he shared. “I find that art is so much more than what the face value is, more than what you see,” he said.

“A piece of art can be beautiful. You can just look at a painting by anybody and say it’s beautiful. But the comments that I enjoy the most are the ones where people tell me how one of my paintings brought out a memory for them. Maybe a nostalgic pieces like a lamp brought someone back.”

‘Storytellers’

It’s then you know your art is reaching people, he added. “Artists are storytellers. I want my art to tell stories.” 

The creative process has allowed him to do just that, he said. So what story is he trying to tell? 

“I’ve been a creative type all my life. I can give you a really long list of things that I’m not good at and I always try to put that into perspective because we all have gifts and abilities,” he said. It hasn’t always been easy, he admitted.

Creating and painting just makes things a little easier and he’d love to see others try it as well.

 “If someone is struggling from a mental health situation, whether it’s depression or anxiety, I think trying something creative would be a great avenue, not only to voice how you feel, but to help you get to a place where you feel a little bit more confident and happy with where you are.”

 Fore more visit: northsidestudiosnl.com

Clifford George has the soul of a poet. A true artist, he sees beauty in all things, including this very writer.

When we arranged to meet to chat about his Solace in the Canvas show at the Christina Parker Gallery, George mentioned how he wanted to wear his red shoes, his fancy bow tie, and his special cap. I couldn’t be outdone!

DRESSED TO IMPRESS

I hit up the divine diva herself, Shelly Neville, and borrowed one of the most glorious gowns she had and showed up ready for the occasion. Playing dress-up made both George’s and my day a little brighter. Pandemic times have been challenging, and a gallery showing — even at the prestigious Christina Parker Gallery — isn’t the rubbing elbows that it used to be.

George grows reflective as we explore each and every piece in his collection. “Time stood still,” George told me. “It’s like a COVID play that has no ending yet. Our younger generation will remember when they grow older, the days when time stood still”.

“The communities gave me a new offering, alone in the silence I found solace in the canvas.”

— Clifford George

LONELINESS IN THE ART

As he embraced “the new normal,” George began to paint. “I found myself, at the beginning of the epidemic, painting in the stillness of my studio to the new normal. I looked back at my sketches or I visited a new place, and I just felt what I wanted to express. It’s all happiness. All my paintings are happy, but it’s also a reminder of how alone we have all been,” he continued.

“This silence is hard to explain,’ he added, “but there is a peace in the silence.” As George reaches out to touch one painting he shared, “I added bits of rock to this from where I painted. It gives texture. Over here I have sand added to the paint from that very beach in the painting. It’s part of my style. It’s a reminder,” he shared.

“A MAGICAL KIND OF WAY”

He paused. “I am overwhelmed with the sounds in my head. Sounds of rivers flowing to the sea, fishermen on the stage head in the morning mist, sun dancing on the rocks. It touches my soul in a magical kind of way. And then, I put it on canvass.” Beautiful words. Stunning artwork. Inspirational man. George loves to share his craft with others, saying that he loves nothing better than a “suffering artist.” “During this period I posted several videos of me painting to inspire others to carry on in this lock downtime.

RELATED: POPULAR
Eastduck Adventures, Episode I: Brewdock
Mad About Majumder
Alick Tsui: A Passion for Photography

I communicated with friends on Facebook; writers, musicians, other artists, and the feedback was tremendous,” he shared. Yes, we were alone, but we could also be together too, he explained. “When spring came in 2020, out I went doing Plein Air painting. I traveled around the Avalon and down to Twillingate where Art at the Gate organized a Plein Air painting video with myself and J.C. Roy for educational purposes.” The sights and sounds captivated him, he added. While he has a favourite place to paint (Salvage), there’s beauty to be found everywhere, he said with a smile. Every little community has a story to tell. And every place, no matter how big or small, is worthy of being captured on canvass.

SOUNDS OF THE TOWNS

“While I was painting, I could hear the sounds of each community. There were dogs barking, cars driving by, people calling out to me to say hello, crows were cawing and the wind was blowing through the coves. I captured it all. I stayed and traveled around the area and did some more painting in Little Harbour, Purcell’s Harbour, etc. In the evenings, J. C. and myself would have a few drinks and talk about days gone by, it was great to laugh and get reacquainted again.” There was more travel. Gander Bay, Musgrave Harbour, Lumsden, Cape Frees, Green’s Pond, New West Valley, all placed George considered “a painters dream.”

“TIME WAS IN A TRANCE”

“Travelling for miles, the shoreline seemed to go on forever. Communities were in silence, signs on the road said restaurant ahead and signs listed a special, but the sign on their doors said closed due to Covid. The only thing moving was the clothes on the lines and they were all flapping in the wind. “Time was in a trance, waiting for the curtains to open and for life to start up again. I painted life in these communities. I learned the stories and I listened to the sounds.”

“…the loneliness I saw out in the world was telling me that other people might want to see these paintings.”

— Clifford George

As we sashayed around exploring the paintings, as we poured through his glorious sketches and read his poetic ponderings, as we happily posed for picture after picture, as we laughed at one another’s jokes, there was still a sense of the magnitude of this pandemic that George had painted his way through. “The communities gave me a new offering, alone in the silence I found solace in the canvas, thus the show’s name. It gave me peace and it gave me joy,” he said. Something else that gave him joy? Playing dress up for The Herald as we helped kick off his show in fine style, in spite of the realities of the pandemic.

THE FEELING OF STILLNESS

“This has made all this painting worth it. It was like the loneliness I saw out in the world was telling me that other people might want to see these paintings.” When COVID came into the world it changed so much, he added. “Our way to create changed and most of my paintings were done during a time when everyone stayed away. All along the coast clothes swayed in the wind, but even the clothes lines looked lonely and not a soul could be seen. Stores stood, but all the doors were locked.” His Solace in the Canvass collection captures that. “The feeling of stillness is there. It’s hard to explain, but I did find solace in the canvas, and I hope others find that too.”

For more on Clifford George and the Christina Parker Gallery, visit christinaparkergallery.com. For more stories by Pam Pardy, click here, or visit our new Instagram page for story updates as they happen.

Correction: A previous version of this story misattributed authorship.