It was a beautiful weekend for the North Frontenac Back Roads Studio Tour

Craig Bakay | Oct 04, 2017

Nestled into Ridge Lane near Ardoch, where a group of cottages front on Malcolm Lake, you’ll find Red Dragon Studio and Gift Shop, where Cathy Owen displays her watercolours, stained glass, mixed media, sculpture soaps and beauty products.
This was Studio 10 on this year’s North Frontenac Back Roads Studio Tour and the fourth time Owen has participated in the annual event.

“It’s a little quieter this year, other years have been much busier,” she said on Saturday morning. “But there are 24 artisans this year and it’s a big area.
“The weather has certainly been a blessing.”

It was indeed a beautiful fall Saturday. And that allowed Owen to bring many pieces outside for display, a space she spared with her daughter, Wendy Clement, who was showing watercolours, acrylics and mosaic pieces made of glass and tile.
While she works in various media, Owen definitely has a preference.

“My true love is watercolours,” she said. “I teach watercolours here and in Ottawa (her winter home).
She said she and her husband, Trevor, were drawn to the area for the “peace and quiet” and because it was much more affordable that areas south of Hwy 7 they’d looked at.
She’d always wanted a studio and this place was perfect for her.

“We named it Red Dragon Studio for my husband’s Welsh background,” she said. “He’s always been my encourager from the beginning and he even bought me my first sketch pencils.
“I couldn’t have don it without him.”

She said after a short time as strictly an art studio, she added the ‘gift shop’ part and started selling soap and jewelry.
“That’s gone rather well,” she said. “I have a lot of repeat customers in the summer.

“It’s especially convenient for people who don’t want to drive all the way to the city when they need to buy a gift.”
This year’s tour featured featured 24 artists and artisans in 15 studios from Myers Cave to Snow Road Station and as far north as Buckshot Lake Road.