About ME

My name is Meredith Ender.

Creating images of people and faces began when I was very young as I enjoyed sketching people and working with pastels.

I took drawing courses at Western Kentucky University, however, upon graduation I also felt a need to travel and see the world before I settled down, so I became a flight attendant.

During my travels, I would visit art museums and would always be drawn to figure paintings and portraits that moved me - especially those by Degas, Renoir, Van Gogh, Manet, Rembrandt and Whistler. I eventually learned portrait painting at the Baker Hunt Art & Cultural Center in Covington, Kentucky and have taken figure drawing and painting courses at the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) in Toronto, Ontario.

During the spring of 2021 I devoted much of my time to a series of paintings involving elegant ladies. I have since created more than 80 of them.

I love painting people for many reasons.

1. Witnessing a canvas magically come to life when the eyes are being painted is quite a thrill for me.

2. The larger figure paintings involving women have such a presence that when my back is turned or through my peripheral vision, I will often be fooled into thinking that someone else is in the room.

3. And because of the penetrating gaze of the women staring out from the canvases, much in the same way as a child might believe their dolls come to life when they are not in the room, in some fantastical way, I entertain that these paintings will come to life also.

In other words, there is a sort of magical feeling of life exuding from the canvas that I find fascinating.

I have also recently been painting floral and water abstracts that allow me to play with colour unhindered by the need to be exact with a precise drawing. It is very liberating and I enjoy it very much.

Born and raised in the charming city of Louisville, Kentucky, I now happily reside in the beautiful, coastal town of Cobourg, Ontario with my piano playing husband, figure skating 13-year old daughter and spunky little Malti-poo.