Series comprises art work created by Irene Heywood. The works fall predominantly in the following categories: early works, window scenes and interiors, landscapes, flower studies, figure studies, watercolour and colour studies, organic and abstract studies, and portraits and self-portraits. Also included are three sketchbooks, one of which contains several drawings done in the Baie St-Paul area.
The majority of the early drawings, dating from the early 1930s, were executed near Boissevain, Manitoba and feature prairie landscapes, animals and farmhouses. Nude studies were possibly done in conjunction with life drawing classes at the Winnipeg School of Art. Many of the still life drawings and landscapes suggest the influence of L.L. FitzGerald in the choice of subject matter and style. Of note are several self-portraits of Heywood created at various ages and portraits of her husband, composer and musician, Wade Hemsworth.
Later works illustrate a growing interest in abstraction as manifested by a number of organic, stylized plant patterns and landscapes. Several abstract watercolours were, possibly, preliminary studies for larger paintings.
Also included in this series are two works which appear to be neither by Heywood nor by FitzGerald. They comprise one linocut tile for an image of the Madonna with Child and an organic sketch.
