Eleni Manolakos

Eleni embarked on her professional artist career in Ontario, Canada, and continued after a move to Halifax in 2013. After years of expressing herself creatively in fine dining, operating successful restaurants in Toronto, she and her husband began their new adventure in Nova Scotia. The changing views overlooking the Halifax Harbour, the memories of their trips to Europe and the every day beauty of life inspired her to recreate and re-interpret those moments of awe on canvas. She credits her mentor, artist Mary Therese Carmichael, with encouraging her to just ‘paint what you see’. Working primarily in oil, she also occasionally works with acrylic on canvas.

Eleni’s success in both group and solo shows in Ontario and Nova Scotia, has lead to her artwork being included in collections in Canada, the United States and Europe. A series of vibrant, ever-changing skies is bringing a sense of hopefulness and possibility to her art practice.

"The colour of the sky in Nova Scotia speaks to me of wide, open vistas, changing colours and shapes and most of all, of unending possibilities. Life is unpredictable, but the sense that the sun will rise and create beauty against a blue horizon, or streak the night sky daring us to acknowledge that there is opportunity awaiting; those are the feelings that arise in me when I create my ‘Sky’ paintings."