Ms. Canal’s formal training began at Manchester Community College where she earned an AA in Fine Arts.  She then focused on illustration at the Hartford Art School at the University of Hartford, where she received her BFA.  Furthering her education, she studied for two years at Western Connecticut State University developing her first book project and attaining an MFA in Illustration. 

Ms. Canal has exhibited her watercolors and drawings in various solo and group shows as well as appeared in local and national publications.  Moreover, she was the recipient of art awards and honors in Connecticut, Colorado, and Washington D.C.

At present, she is writing and painting her own extended all-ages version of 
The Sleeping Beauty. 

The artist paints in a naturalistic style incorporating the balance of the intuitive and intellectual, imagination and observation, and pencil and watercolor.  Thematically, she accents beauty, magic, nature, and the archetypal heroine while exploring and expanding upon ancient fairy tale, legend, and myth.