When Lynn Erin’s latest exhibit is unveiled to the public on Thursday it will mark a new beginning for the painter, sculptor and artistic entrepreneur.

For three years she and partner Sylvain Vallee have operated the Fireweed Art Studio and Valley Music Studio in Scotch Creek.

“It was really a happening place,” Erin told The Daily News on Tuesday, adding she’s entertained 3,200 people during 18 concerts.

But last summer’s floods put the damper on what is already a short tourist season in the Shuswap, so Erin decided it was time to make a change.

For one, she’s back teaching art to children, this time at FACES Fine Arts Studio in Blind Bay, which is something she’s enjoyed doing all her life.

Then there’s the exhibit It is the Dawning, which begins Thursday and continues until Feb 2 at the Old Courthouse Cultural Centre at 7 West Seymour St.

“I’m looking forward to that,” she said.

Erin promises a vibrant, colourful show featuring acrylic paintings and sculptures about landscapes. Up until now, she’s worked in watercolour, but has a current fascination with the fast-drying paint. She also works in concrete and welds.

She went with a nature theme because she had enough pieces to put together a cohesive show. Erin also creates figurative paintings, she said.

“I’ve never stuck to just one thing,” she said.

With It is Dawning, Erin intends to bring a splash of colour to the winter landscape. And she hopes people will find it contemplative, profound and playful.

“I think it will brighten people’s spirits to come out,” said Erin.

Erin grew up in northern Manitoba and developed a passion for art at a young age and decided she would pursue it professionally after graduating high school in 1978. She studied art at the University of Manitoba, Red River Community College and Brandon University.

She moved to the Shuswap in 1990, where her work has won several awards in the Shuswap Lake Festival of the Arts and the Okanagan Mainline Regional Art Show.

Her paintings and sculptures have been juried into the B.C. Festival of the Arts and more than 20 Federation of Canadian Artist’s Show.

Vallee, an accomplished musician who’s opened for Martina McBride and Keith Urban, will perform at It is Dawning’s official opening on Friday. The event takes place at the Old Courthouse main gallery from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m.