Some of Ev’s earliest memories are of drawing – mostly animals.  She won her first award, at the age of seven or eight for a drawing of a spaniel. After graduating from the University of Calgary with a Master of Arts degree, Ev went on to become a professor at Mount Royal College in Calgary.  Full time teaching and being Mom to three children, put a bit of a crimp in her painting as her energies were redirected  to more practical aspects of creativity such as the design and  construction of ski clothing, tents, bike covers, furniture, wall murals and so on. She did continue to paint, however, whenever she could, switching eventually from oils to the ease and convenience of acrylics.

With the anticipation of early retirement, and the revelation that watercolour need not be wishy-washy, she indulged her long-standing desire to learn more about the medium . She enrolled in  her first art course, in watercolour in 1990, and has since taken the Federation of Canadian Artists  Foundation Course as well as many classes in drawing, acrylics, and finally pastels.  And somewhere along the way, pastels and acrylics became her main focus.

She also had a couple of epiphanies with respect to pastels – the first during a semester of drawing with the FCA Foundation  course, when students were required to copy a photo of a dog with conte sticks – She was amazed at the effect produced in a quick sketch using about three colours!  The second, a couple of years later, was in a pastel workshop when she realized that pastels could do anything – the subtle nuances in skin tones, the varied textures and colour mixtures of animal fur, or the glint of light on glass.

Her characteristic style in pastels is very realistic, with a  painting typically taking forty to sixty hours to complete. She is continually exploring new methods and applications to push the limits of both pastel and acrylic media and is currently experimenting with a mixture of pastel, acrylic and collage, or some combination thereof.

Her subject matter varies, although most awards have been for  either still life or figurative pieces. Her three favourite subjects are animals being animals, peculiar antique collectible china jugs of which she has a very large collection, and people caught in a moment of living.

She has been  an  active supporter of the Arts in the Okanagan since her move  there in 1995. Already a member of  the Federation of Canadian Artists  she transferred her allegiance  to the North Okanagan Chapter, eventually spending over eleven years working in  various positions on the executive. She was secretary on the board of   governors of the Vernon Art Gallery for four years, on the executive of the Okanagan Artists League, and a volunteer with other organizations in the valley. She is a Signature member of the Northwest Pastel Society, based in Seattle, Washington, the Pastel Society of America, based in New York, an Elected member of the Society of Canadian Artists, a Master Pastellist with Pastel Artists of Canada, and a Distinguished Pastelist with the Pastel Society of the West Coast, a California group.

She shows and sells her work across North America.