The Pickering-based artist recently finished her eighth commissioned painting for the organization, and has started a ninth. All of the paintings have been placed in the boardroom and depict key landmarks in the communities that Veridian serves.

"The last one was of the Port Perry municipal centre, and my ninth is a painting of Gravenhurst town hall," said Beach. "They're usually town halls, although with Uxbridge it was the library, and with Ajax it was the waterfront."

Beach, who makes her living as an artist, also commissions for the City of Pickering, and teaches art classes.

"I've been teaching classes since 1996," she says. "I teach watercolour classes through the culture and recreation program of Pickering, and I teach at Curry's Art Store in Whitby."

Teaching helps to supplement her income. "Artists don't get rich until they're dead," she laughs. "It's a pretty tough struggle."

The struggle is made easier by her love of painting. "It's a lifelong passion of mine," she said. "It's the making of it, not the end result that is important. It's such an interesting process, how one thing leads to another. The work tends to feed off itself."

Though she did not receive any formal training in her youth, she sought to rectify that by enrolling at the Ontario College of Art and Design in 2000. Calling it a great experience, she majored in drawing and painting and graduated in 2004.

As she continues to paint and instruct others, she has found other avenues to give her work exposure. On Oct. 1 and 2, she took part in the Station Gallery's studio tour and sale, which allowed people to visit Beach at her home studio and see her work up close. "It's a great chance for students and the public to come out and see my work. I have about 70 pieces hanging around, including acrylics, cards and experimental pieces."

Those experimental pieces may alarm the untrained eye, for Beach does not limit herself to portraits. "I do the more traditional representations, that's how I put myself through school. But I have another side that likes to play around with non-traditional, non-objective pieces that aren't made to resemble something. It's quite liberating, and it's more of an emotional response."

The pressures of making a living off her art have not dulled her enthusiasm for it. "It's something that comes from within, that you're driven to do. It just seems to be a need that I have to fulfil. I'm happiest when I'm working."