Picture this

Perhaps you wondered who had painted them.

That would be the work of Marg Gale. Her family runs Gale’s Septic located in South Branch, Codroy Valley.

Marg was searching for someone to put some paintings on those septic tanks to promote the family business.

After much searching and no luck, she decided to give it a go herself. Using garbage can covers for the circles and paint that was lying around the house, she transformed the tanks into roadside attractions.

Her paintings were also featured on the Maclean’s Magazine website with a headline of “Something Interesting.”

“It’s a new found hobby and I didn’t think I could draw a stickman before those,” she laughs.

Her granddaughter was able to recognize Dora the Explorer on the tanks and so she thought to herself that if a child can pick it out, she must have done something right.

From there, she gained a new hobby and hasn’t been able to put down the paintbrush since.

Marg had been and still is an avid photographer. She has used her photographs and some that have been taken by family members as the inspiration for her paintings.

Since painting the tanks, Marg has produced 52 more paintings, on canvasses. Her very first painting was of a girl sitting by a tree reading.

“I am far from a professional,” she said. “I am just starting out.”

She tried several different types of paintings such as cartoon characters but has more recently been working on landscape and portraits.

Her first painting taken from a photograph was one of fishing stages in Rose Blanche. She said behind the shacks are rock cliffs and she just couldn’t get them right. So instead she inserted the Wreckhouse mountains.

She uses the Internet as her main teaching resource.

“I have learned a lot of different things just from YouTube,” said Marg.

• Marg’s first painting from phtotgraphs of the Rose Blanche fishing stages with the Wreckhouse mountains behind." />
• One of Marg’s newer paintings of Little River Lake in the Codroy Valley." />
Marg Gale stands with two of her paintings and her granddaughter Cecilia Agombar and great niece Neveah Gale. Marg is teaching the two young girls some beginner painting." />
• View the gallery

It only takes her a couple of hours now to complete a painting, noting that her paintings are never exactly like the pictures. She likes to put her own spin on things.

“When I gets at a painting,” said Marg “I can’t put it down until it’s finished. Some call me the speed painter.”

Some may have seen one of her paintings on Facebook during the CBC Searchlight contest involving Sherman Downey.

Marg had painted a picture of the singer’s face with the slogan “Vote for Sherman He’s number 1.”

That painting was one she slapped together in less than an hour. She said even though it was rushed, Sherman said he really liked it.

She said her hobby is very inexpensive which allows her to keep going with it. Most of her supplies can be bought at dollar stores.

Marg has more recently introduced painting to her granddaughter and great niece, who have taken a great interest in what she is doing.

“I look at it like you are never too old or too young to learn a new hobby,” said Marg.

As of the morning of April 24, she didn’t have one that she was currently working on, but did have a picture picked out for her next idea.

“I could be at that this evening,” she said.

She doesn’t know what she will do with all her paintings but for now she is content with hanging them all over her house.

She has given quite a few away to her daughters and other family members.

It’s her keen interest in art that keeps this hobby going for her and she is nowhere near being bored with her painting.

“I don’t know if I will ever be able to give it up,” she said.