By Derek Cornet

‘One-in-a-million’: Northerner praised for artistic ability

Feb 23, 2018 | 9:00 AM

“In this wild world anything’s possible.”

Those were the words of Air Ronge’s Destiny Schafer, who has amassed a following of hundreds of thousands of fans online since she first picked up an old paintbrush in 2010. Millions of people have viewed her time-lapse videos on her Facebook page Stuff by Destiny, and countless residents of La Ronge and Air Ronge are also proud owners of her paintings.

One such individual is Air Ronge resident Jim Mac Eachern, who purchased 70 pieces of her work and retained 65 for his personal collection. He began purchasing from her in the early days, he said, as he wanted to have his home decorated with the work of one artist, and also help that person achieve their dreams.

“I had to find someone who was prolific and could produce the amount of work,” Mac Eachern said. “There was something in her work that grabbed you and said ‘Look at me. I stand out from everybody else and I have a gift here.’ Every time I walk in the room and I see one on the wall, it stops me in my tracks.”

Mac Eachern currently has his collection wrapped up for safekeeping, but said he has plans to decorate the walls of his home with them soon. He called Schafer’s skill in painting rare, and said her ability struck him like the works of Rembrandt, which he saw in art galleries in Montreal and Toronto.

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“The first stuff has talent and it was visible to me then,” Mac Eachern said, adding Schafer’s artisitc ability is one-in-a-million. “It’s progressed to a level that’s world-class now. She’s doing stuff with acrylics that people don’t understand how she’s capable of doing it.”

Having grown up in Air Ronge but now living in Saskatoon, Schafer gave credit to her family who encouraged her to be artistically inclined, but noted she gained a lot of inspiration from her grandmother, June Fletcher. It was Fletcher’s old paintbrush Schafer found back in 2010, which she cut the rough bristles from and painted her first piece.

As for her style, Schafer said she likes to stay in the realms of realism because of the tediousness of it. She has also found herself painting with a surreal or fantasy theme recently, with her Squirrels and La Ronge series. Those works include humanized squirrels in a variety of settings and actions like drinking tea, while the La Ronge series includes visuals of the town with creatures like giant jellyfish in the sky.

“Spending days painting the weave of a wool-knit sweater makes me so happy,” Schafer said. “It starts off just being blobs of random colours and suddenly it leaps off the canvas.”

Throughout the years, Schafer noted most of her support has come from the tri-communities. She said people will message her to let her know how much they love her artwork, and added those words mean a lot to her. Schafer also had a message to share with all her local supporters.

“I really want to hone in on exactly how invaluable their support was for me,” she said. “When I was a teenager, I thought I didn’t have a future. I struggled hard with most subjects in school and it got to the point I dropped out, because I genuinely thought I had nothing going for me.”

Schafer then began painting and said she never stopped.

“My mind was as clear as a bright blue sky and I loved it,” she said. “I continued with my paintings and it took me places I never thought possible. I was able to achieve my wildest dreams with the help and support of people like my parents, Jim, Joan, Betty, Shelley, Chris, Aubree, Laverne, Cindy and the list can really go on and on.”

For those people who are having trouble finding their path in life, Schafer said she wants them to know it’s alright. She urged them to search for something to get them through life, like an activity which gives a good feeling, as her painting does to her.

“You’ll never know what life has in store for you if you don’t wait long enough to see it,” Schafer stated. “Even if my life were to take a dramatic left turn now, I’ll always think back to that unnerving point of uncertainty in my life as a reminder that it’s always better to wait it out, even if it’s scary.”

derek.cornet@jpbg.ca

Twitter: @saskjourno