Janet of www.janetmurphy.ca is me, a freelance designer located near Ottawa, Ontario. Although I have labeled myself a graphic designer, when it comes to art, I consider myself more of a “Jack of all Trades”.

I have spent most of my life experimenting and perfecting with one form of art or another. My love of clothing took me to Dalhousie University where I completed the Theatre Department’s Costume Studies Program. After my two years at Dalhousie, I was ready to further my education and enrolled at the Nova Scotia College of Art & Design, where I planned to extend my work with fabric and clothing in their textile department. Ironically, it took only one semester in photography for me to fall in love with a new medium and choose to follow that route to receive my degree.

In the fall of 1999, I moved to Ottawa, for a change of scenery but found myself once again enrolled in school, this time the three year Graphic Design program at Algonquin College. During this time, I began to take on many freelance jobs and started up www.janetmurphy.ca. After receiving my diploma, I relocated with my husband to Wetaskiwin, Alberta in July of 2002 and continued to work for many different companies across Canada and the United States.

In 2007, my husband and our kids relocated back to Ontario for new job opportunities. Although somewhat sad to leave the mountains behind, without one last visit, we are happy to be that much closer to our roots.

Although I spend a lot of my working time on the computer, I love the new expression my knowledge of technology and design brings to my other forms of art. In my free time, I blog at www.ordinarymom.ca about trying to find balance and creativity in the everyday. I pushes me to try to play and experiment with traditional (i.e. messy) forms of art outside of design. I enjoy sewing, quilting and decorating. I have dabbled in lino prints and acrylic painting. I use these elements and experiments to further my design skills and sensibilities along. I find inspiration in many places and can adapt to almost any style, from loose and free-form to organized and formal.

Because of this, I think the only way to define me is “artist”. Anything more than that is not telling the whole tale.