Image by Louise Elliott
Mainstreeter Staff
Louise Elliott has been a resident of Old Ottawa East (OOE) since 2007. She recently returned to painting as a form of leisure and to help her “stay in the moment.” You might recognize her name — for many years she was a senior parliamentary reporter for CBC News.
She explains that her painting displayed to the left was a labour of love for her friends, who rented an apartment for a decade in the large old house that’s attached to the Mike Galazka Auto Service Centre on Main Street.
“These friends, Hollan and Jordan Miseferi, were part of a group who met regularly outside in the evenings so our kids could play together and have some fun during very scary COVID times,” she says. “When Hollan told me they were moving out of OOE, I got out my paint brush and created this for them.”
“As I worked on this painting, I came to realize that, while I love historic buildings, they are nothing without the people who inhabit them. That’s what gives our neighbourhood a wonderful vibrancy,” she says. “Those were the feelings I tried to put into this painting. Old Ottawa East is a very special community, and I love the people here.”
Creativity runs in Elliott’s family. She also happens to be the cousin of OOE poet, Karen Massey, who is the partner of Tim Hunt, The Mainstreeter’s resident sketch artist whose latest work is found on page 27 of this issue.
