Call us: (250) 542-8544 
or (250)308-0758 







Located at 3101 31 Avenue, Nadine's Fine Art & Frames is a wonderful little gallery in the heart of Downtown Vernon. 

We are open Monday to Friday  9:30 to 5:30,  Saturdays, 10;00am. to 4:00.  Please call the store for an appointment if necessary @ 250-542-8544

Quality and Integrity are the cornerstones of Nadine's Fine Art & Frames. Her years of industry experience and education in Fine Arts will provide you with excellence in custom framing and fine arts supplies. Nadine and her staff are committed to providing you with old fashioned customer service in a positive and friendly atmosphere.
Call Us at 250-542-8544 or 250-308-0758
Artists Open House March 9th 4 - 6 pm


 My name is Larisa J. Strobel and I’m a mixed media artist living in Vernon, B.C. Four years ago, I was given a gift of time of ten weeks off from work, and I used that time to open a new chapter of my life. I began painting. I tried various techniques
by using other artists work as inspiration and through each phase I was learning, critiquing, trying something new and it all profoundly added to the growing joy in my life. For two years I kept on working at my new found skill but it wasn’t until the summer of 2022 that I finally stumbled upon where I wanted to go.

You see, my husband and I have renovated homes together for twenty five years and our love of breathing new life into old spaces has been so rewarding for hundreds of homeowners as
well as provided us with a living. So my skills of demolition, drywalling, mudding, rebuilding, sanding, painting and tile setting all came together in my artwork. I began reusing birch panel canvases that I had painted on previously and no longer
enjoyed. In the process of sanding down parts of the work I had done before, a new aesthetic began to emerge that I recognized as me. I found my voice.  I was finally telling my story.

I saw that what had been created before didn’t have to stay in the closet or thrown away.
I could change the narrative. I could build on the mistakes, erase part of them, paint over top, sand that layer down and in the process I pressed the past and the present together making something new that people were drawn to.

I began to incorporate drywall mud to elevate the textured parts and in doing so, I honour my Dad who had been a drywaller for 52 years. Another passion, and I share this with my Mom, is that I wanted to draw upon my love of really old books. I adore the feel of the linen covers and the discovery of an inscription on the inside pages. Sometimes I get lucky and there is tissue paper that protects a beautiful pen and ink image inside. Making the difficult choice to dissect these antique books, and subsequently destroy them feels like a tiny death, but the incredible esthetic that it adds to my work gives that book another life. I believe the
extraordinary beauty inside millions of old books is being lost and so I want to undo some of that
lostness.

I painstakingly remove the covers and soak them in warm water until the linen can easily
peel away from the cardboard backing. The linen or leather cover dries overnight and then they
are cut into strips and filed into their specific colour coded boxes. In the moments of choosing a colour  palette for the new work, I lay out the pieces of dried linen or leather, portions of carefully chosen text from stories, several measures from an antique music book, sometimes an old photograph or an  image from one of the books that I was drawn to and then I begin to build the narrative. Layers of acrylic paint, drywall mud, watercolour, oil pastel, tissue paper, old papers, book linen, sheet music, and photographs are all worked into a piece, carefully and intentionally to form a story that I can share with the viewer.

At the moment of resolution, when it all comes together, I feel like my heart is going to burst with joy because of what I have created. Bringing something into life is the most wonderful feeling and sharing that joy with other people is a gift I love to give.

Larisa J. Strobe




Larisa J.  Strobel is the Feature Artist for March and April 2024


nadinesfineart on facebook
Nadine Wilson on LinkedIn
Share by: