On Tuesday my hubby and I were on our way back from one of our final trips of the year to my MIL’s cottage, when we stopped at Belleville, Ontario, to visit our friends Sharon and Al who we hadn’t seen in Y-E-A-R-S!

Our kids were close friends with their kids and went to public and high school together…Kate with their daughter, Allison, and Alex with their son, Eric…and we socialized with them a lot when they lived here, so we had so much to get caught up on. After we got the usual stuff out of the way, and the men went off on their own to talk guy stuff, I had a chance to talk with Sharon about all the incredible artwork that they had hanging in their home.

Some of it was from their worldly travels and living for a few years in Hong Kong, but much of it caught my eye because it was so unique. I came to find out that Sharon, herself, was the artist! She made the most beautiful mandalas using dots of paint to create the most striking designs. I was intrigued so she told me more.

Sharon said that during the early days of the pandemic when everyone was quarantined she needed something to keep her busy. Like many people during that time, she too found a new hobby to keep her occupied when we were all stuck at home. It all started with a kit from Amazon something like this, but it grew to so much more…she was hooked. We quilters can understand that concept.

Sharon started off with painting small canvases, but has branched off into trinket trays, keychains, magnets, bookmarks, molded art stones and Christmas ornaments. The photo to the right with the wire tree shows a sampling of her stock for an upcoming sale happening in the Belleville area shortly. You can find her on Instagram @harmonydotdesign (no “s” on the end) and her Facebook address is Harmony Dot Designs (this one has an “s”). You can also email Sharon at HarmonyDotDesigns@gmail.com if you’d like to place a custom order.

Below you can see the three items that I fell in love with and purchased from Sharon…the middle one is my favourite because it’s done in my fave colours. It even has metallic gold paint added to highlight the amazing design and I love how Sharon wrapped the design around the edge of the canvas. I might just have to commission her to make more for me.

I wonder how many other artists, like Sharon, found their calling during the pandemic?!