With a BFA from Ontario College of Art & Design (2011), Elly Smallwood has garnered an international following for her lush, visceral figurative painting. Smallwood loves to create on large canvases however, she occasionally paints small and these works have an intimate, personal feel. Living and working in Ottawa, Smallwood seeks to explore raw, vulnerable moments of the human emotion. Her subject matter is a confluence of mythology, nature, anatomy and everything mythical. She works in oil, acrylic and, very occasionally, watercolour. Thick textures, dripping paint, unfinished areas and rough mark-making are intrinsic parts of her style. Smallwood draws inspiration from the people around her, as well as history, old anatomical books, tarot cards and the forest. With an extensive exhibition list, Smallwood has held solo shows in Munich and Toronto and numerous group shows in Miami, San Francisco, New York, Toronto, Mississauga, Victoria and, most recently, Tofino.