Leonard Sydney Heap was born on 16 June 1909 in Barnoldswick, Yorkshire England, a son of Leonard Heap and Florence Emily Heap (nee Whitehouse). His father was employed as a coal miner and in a mill in England, and as a machinist in Canada. The Heaps lived in the Parish of Salterforth, moved to Leeds c. 1923 and emigrated to Canada in 1924. They traveled on the Montcalm Cunnard Lines, landing in Montreal, and eventually moved to Toronto where Leonard spent the rest of his life. He married and had one daughter. Leonard worked in retail starting at Eaton's in Toronto as a parceller when his family first came to Canada and then spent most of his career with Tamblyn Drugs, starting in 1927, working in their advertising and graphic arts department, again in Toronto.
    Heap attended Coventry where he won a scholarship to attend art school in 1922. In Leeds he took evening classes at Brudenell Technical School studying Mechanical Drafting (1923-24), and attended Greenwood Technical Evening School where he studied Commercial Art and Advertising Layout and Design.
    This painting is signed "oil painting by Leonard S. Heap, 1944" verso. There are several auction records for Leonard's paintings dated from the 1940s through the 1960s. He is not listed in any art reference book.
    Leonard Heap died circa 1979. Much of the information  above comes from Heap's nephew.

    Jennette Elizabeth Stuebing was born about 1901 on St. Joseph's Island, Canada, a daughter of William Henry and Jessie Thompson Stuebing. She and her sister, Margaret visited Bermuda in August 1929 and their ship docked in New York City upon their return. Both Margaret and Jennette gave their occupations as "teacher" and residence as Jarvis, Canada. The purpose of their visit to Bermuda was not stated, but was likely a vacation. Jennette worked as a teacher in Hamilton, Ontario from 1922-1939 at Prince of Wales Public School and later at W. H. Ballard School. She started seriously studying art in the early 1930s, initially with John Beatty, a well known Ontario artist. She traveled and painted in oils for the following three summers and asked Beatty to critique her work after her return at the end of each summer. In the winters she practiced dry point etching under the tutelage of Leonard Hutchinson.She became well known for her dry point work and was made an associate of the Canadian Painters-Etchers and Engravers in the mid-1930s. She exhibited at the Canadian Society of Graphic art and the Canadian National Exhibition. She moved to Taxco, Mexico in 1939 and in 1940 married a Taxco silversmith named Rafael Dominguez. Rafael was the son of a silversmith and student of both his father and well known Taxco silversmith William Spratling. Jennette changed her name to Juana and became a highly regarded artist in Taxco. The Dominguez's shared a studio in Taxco.  Stuebing/Dominguez is mentioned in Climbing the Cold White Peaks: A Survey of Artists in and From Hamilton 1910-1950 by Stuart MacCualg, Visions and victories: 10 Canadian women artists, 1914-1945 by Natalie Luckyj, and in Stuffed Shirts in Taxco by Leslie C. de Figueroa.
    Jennette was still living into her eighties.

    Radek Vizina is a painter who lives in London, Ontario, Canada. He is an instructor at The ARTS Project in London and for the continuing education program at the University of Western Ontario. He was profiled in the September issue of Artscape a monthly London art magazine. His art varies from abstract to surreal to realism. He describes himself as primarily a contemporary realist who is still searching for his voice. He strives to "provoke thought in the viewer, have them question what is being said". That is what attracted me to this painting.

    Thomas Mower Martin was born in London, England on 5 October 1838. He came to Canada in 1862 where he became one of Canada's early prominent artists, founding member of the Ontario Art Union, the Ontario Society of Artists, the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts, and founder and first president of the Ontario School of Art. He is the first Canadian represented in my collection and is going to be a tough act to follow. I was quite lucky to get this painting, probably because it has a couple of condition problems, which I believe can be corrected. In the mean time I am happy to be able to care for this painting until it can reach it's potential. More on TMM's biography later, after I have had time to go through all of the information available for this artist.