Tammy Ryrie is a little bit surprised about the attention she has been receiving as of late. The 43-year-old Bowden-area mother of four has become the talk of the town and region recently by making ripples in the local art scene with her unique and colourful creations, and even winning an award at a Didsbury art show.
"It just sort of fell into it," she said. "My husband Brenton and I recently started a business, Aluminum Pictures.ca, transferring digital files such as art, certificates, signage and photography onto aluminum, and through this process I found myself working with Photoshop quite a bit."
Ryrie began fooling around with the Paintbrush aspect of the Adobe program and soon discovered that she could begin with a blank canvas, add different colours and manipulate them into amazing and beautiful patterns and designs.
During her very first experimentation with this medium, her children and husband came into the room to see what she was up to. "They were all very impressed. Then my husband informed me he was going to print it," she said.
That first piece, one she calls Strong Bird, was transferred onto aluminum, and Ryrie was amazed by the effect. "Anything white or light coloured in the piece took on a pearly effect. It was beautiful."
Over the next few months, Ryrie continued to create artwork on the computer, which her husband continued to transfer onto aluminum. "I found I really loved doing it. Every day I just wanted to sit down and do more and more," she said.
She began showing a few of her pieces at the Saturday Winter Market at the Innisfail Co-op mall, and at the beginning of April, she decided to display her work at the Didsbury Art, Travel and Trade Expo. To her surprise, not only did she sell two of her pieces, Ryrie also won the People's Choice Award. "I was astounded," she said. "People from 10 to 80 years old really seemed to like what I was doing."
Back at home, Ryrie now spends as much time as she can perfecting her craft, with the blessing of her husband and children. "It is nice that we have our own business, because it allows Brenton the freedom to say, 'I've got the kids, go into your room and do your stuff.' He's very supportive."
She is still experimenting a fair bit with her process. "Sometimes I use a blank Photoshop canvas, add a background colour and just start painting. Sometimes I take images and manipulate them as well," said Ryrie. The results are truly spectacular and each piece of art is definitively unique.
As for aspirations of glory and fame, the Innisfail native says she is just having fun making pictures right now. However, she is looking to bring a few of her pieces into a couple of art galleries, just to see what might happen with them.
"I'm already getting phone calls from people interested in my work, from just the small amount of exposure I've had so far," she said. "Who knows? Maybe someday it will balloon into something really big."
In the meantime, anyone interested in seeing more of Ryrie's work can visit her Facebook page, Aluminum Pictures.ca.
