Born and raised in the Okanagan valley of British Columbia, Angie Roth McIntosh started out training to be a physician. After her 2nd year of Medicine at the University of British Columbia, Angie was doing the summer Rural Doctor's program at the regional hospital in Penticton and she spent a couple of days with the psych patients who at the time were fortunate to have an art therapist.  Instead of staring at the patients as they worked, she picked up a paint
brush, and the path of her life changed.  Although she didn't paint anything really inspiring, the therapist asked her if she had any interest in painting. After thinking about it momentarily she replied, "I have always loved watercolors but had never imagined actually creating them myself.  How would I do this?".  With suggestions to buy a little "how to" book at the local art supply shop she vigorously persued the pleasure of her new found interest and had a wonderful summer painting.  Much to the shock of her family, in her seventh year of study at university following her childhood dream of becoming a doctor, just five months after she had picked up a paint brush, Angie left her training as a doctor to follow her interest in painting.

She was voracious, reading every book on the subject she could find.  For her birthday, her boyfriend and future husband, Dr.Robert McIntosh, surprised her with five art lessons with local watercolorist Jill Lier Salter, which he purchased at a Lion's Club Dream Auction Fundraiser. Angie was delighted. This was the first time she had ever seen a real artist at work. She then took watercolor courses at the local college continuing education department with Grant Willis and drawing with artist George Traicheff. Angie was thrilled when she heard that famous painter, Zoltan Szabo, was teaching a workshop in Vancouver.  Angie took the class and drooled over his controlled watery technique.  But she was terrified--she didn't know how she would ever do this.  But she persisted.

Soon after this she took a traditional Chinese painting workshop through the local Okanagan School of the Arts and after Angie expressed  disappointment in the modern art educaton available then (1980's) at  local art schools, the instructor, Vancouver Chinese artist Nigel Szeto, suggested she should study painting in China. Several months later he invited Angie to join a group he was taking on a cultural art tour to China.  One stroke of fate after another and she ended up studying with renowned artists from  the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Bejing which still has a gallery at the old campus off of Wanfujing Street. Amazed to discover that they have a strong traditional school of western realism watercolor and oil painting based on the methods of the Academy of Fine Arts in Paris in the 1940's with some post communism Russian influence with lots of studio time, hours of life drawing, and study of the old masters' works, Angie would learn alot about strong principals of design and color theory.  With an amazing bit of luck she was organized to study with two remarkable artists from the Central Institute, Yan Feiyun and Professor Wei, for three months, that summer in 1987 due to the kind attention of her soon to be dear friend from the Central Institute, sculptor, singer, and writer, Professor Tommy Wu.  After hours of watching Professor Wei work on a portrait of his niece in watercolor, she finally thought, "oh he better put some blue under her eye".  She had been staring so deeply at his model for so long that finally her eyes could see, see the way an artist does! This was another turning point in Angie's life. She was on the road to being an artist. She made some wonderful friends and connections in China. Returning home from her inspiring trip, armed with 1500 incredible slides of an amazing country and it's remarkable people, Angie settled in to pursuing her painting. She continued to take workshops with some wonderful artists, Carol Orr out of La Connor, Washington,  and world famous Tom Lynch.

Angie got married and two years after traveling to China and nine months pregnant, Angie had her first solo show at Leir House Cultural Centre, where she had a studio.  The centre was named for the family of her first painting instructor, Jill Lier Salter.  Luckily she didn't have her dear daughter a few days earlier or she might have never moved down the road to being a serious working artist as surely she would have been sidetracked by her delightful children.  Sadly, shortly after the first show, she lost track of her friends in China due to the Tianamen Square incident,  which occured just down the street from the old art school off of Wanfujing Street.  Two kids later and Angie was back at exhibitting her work in annual solo shows and group exhibits.  She also organized exhibits for artists at Leir House and was invited to hold exhibits in local wineries. Angie was invited down to the States be the feature artist at a wine tasting weekend at Sun Mountain Lodge. She helped organize a painting workshop in Mexico in 1999 taught by excellent Canadian artist, David Armstrong at her friend, artist Yvonne Dubeau's home in Bucerias.  They had alot of fun!  

In 1999 Angie  journeyed on her own to paint in gorgeous southern France and was pleased with the amount of work she got done as she had no friends or family along for diversion.  She had fun working in her sketchbook. In 2000 she was reunited with her dear Chinese friend, Professor Wu from China,  after she learned, while browsing the web, that his remarkable life story, "In a Sparrow's Voice" had finally been published.  Angie planned to organize cultural art tours and painting workshops to China and was able to return to China in October 2000 to travel, paint, and be reunited with Professor Wu who had moved from China to the USA and back again in the years that we had lost touch.  She developed an extensive website about her art trips to China which were the precursor of her new website, WorldArtTours.net. McIntosh worked for two years to put together the China trip so that others could experience China as she had--travel, paint and enjoy the scenery and remarkable culture in the amazing land. 

Angie spent a great deal of time in 2001 teaching art to her son's class each week upon the invitation of his inspiring  teacher, Mr. Rob Tucker,  who in a tremendous loss to his family and school,  tragically passed away shortly thereafter.  Angie taught painting workshops at her daughter's french immersion school camp that year as well.  Teaching the kids was a highlight!  With good basic principals even children learn to be delightful artists but Angie thinks that she learned even more from them and they inspire her tremendously.  Angie was so pleased when, in the summer of 2001,  she was invited to conduct a workshop on Teaching Art to Children to the teachers at her son's school.  Angie was extremely busy in 2001 and 2002 lobbying the City of Penticton to modernize their home business licencing bylaws so that artists might be able to sell their works from their own home studios.  Happily for her and others who create their own products, the zoning bylaws were amended and finally passed in August of 2002.  Angie wouldn't have to pay fines for selling her artwork from her own studio (although the publicity might have been good).

2001 and 2002 became tremendously busy for Angie.  She was designing a massive renovation to her home which happily was going to give her family much needed space and Angie a much needed studio.  It was especially challenging because along with her interested in a healthy plant-based diet, Angie wanted to build her home using non-toxic construction methods and this involved a fair amount of research.  Little did she know at the time how important having a non-toxic home would become.

Angie's China art tours were becoming an international affair.  Angie would journey with artists Toby Pollock of SanFrancisco and Nora Sanders of England to China in July 2002 and would  be returning to China with a larger international group in October. Art had enriched Angie's life in so many ways and she wanted to share some of this with others.  The trip in July was almost as much out of a dream as the mountains poking through the mist and clouds in China.  They saw so many wonderful places, met  dear Chinese friends, and made new friends.  They experienced an amazing  China and painted alot.  The group journeyed to parks and gardens, traveled to caves and down rivers on rafts.  They travelled over back country roads and saw incredible sights.  It really was too good to be true when near the end of the trip Angie experienced a severe lifethreating reaction to multiple factors, which looking back, they figure must have occured due to a reaction to antimalarial medication.  Angie  almost scared the life out of her group too and ended up in a Chinese hospital and then a foreign hospital where noone could figure out what was wrong with her.  Angie almost didn't make it home but luckily  got back to Canada and spent a few months recovering before returning to China in October, with her own personal physician in tow (dear husband Rob wouldn't let her travel alone).

They rendezvoused with their wonderful 15 plus person group in Beijing.  But sadly, much to her husband's chagrin as he was really starting to enjoy the trip, after five days, Angie couldn't tolerate the pollution in the air or the chemicals in the rooms, and they had to leave the delightful group in the very capable hands of their translator, professor Wu, artist and instructor,  Professor Xia and the guides from CITS (ChinaInternationTravelService).  The group were fantastic troopers carrying on without Angie and Rob but Angie was terribly disappointed to leave them.  However she didn't want to cause them any further concerns.   Local Penticton residents Cynthia Rouschorn and Yvonne Dubeau returned with wonderful tales of the groups adventures.

Luckily when Angie returned home to Canada's clean air, and a careful diet she fully recovered and is in good health now.  However she is definitely wiser about the many chemicals that we encounter in our  lives at work, home, and play and wants to help educate others on how to avoid these as they really aren't good for anyone.  Now Angie knows why she felt so ill when exposed to formaldehyde in the cadaver lab at medical school!!  Angie spent the rest of 2002 and 2003 working very hard as the general contractor,  building their home using non-toxic construction methods.  The McIntosh Family moved on to the deck of their house in June and luckily  were in their new home  in time for cooler weather and school in the fall of 2003.  Their in-laws took them on a wonderful family reunion to Alaska and whetted Angie's appetite to explore Canada's north some more.

The McIntosh family are settling into life in their renovated home.  Angie is delighted with her spacious studio, although it is always in need of some organizing. In January 2004 she ventured off to explore the lovely winter landscape in northern BC and Alaska, visiting Stewart and Hyder. Angie also lived out one of her lifetime dreams and found an old 22 foot Elite motorhome with large picture windows that she can use as a mobile studio.  It made for some wonderful painting excursions, able to make her lunch, relax in comfort, have tea whenever she felt like, not having to pack up when there is a wonderful moody rainstorm.  Angie was able to do some fantastic short jaunts to the Kootenays with her friend, artist, and gallery owner Nel Witteman, and she ended up returning for a little hotspring and caving trip with her family.  In the summer, Angie traveled up to Canim Lake outside of 100 Mile House to camp for a few days and gather material for her paintings and website.

The children, finally old enough to get out and have fun on the water spent a wonderful summer last year learning how to sail, wake-board and water-ski.  Angie managed to find to sneak away and paint with her friend Frieda Coenraad and they traveled to paint at Bromley Rock near Princeton.  Angie also journeyed up to Salmon Arm to paint in the late summer and then went out in the motorhome alot in the fall to paint at one of her favorite spots up above Vaseux Lake near Blue Mountain Vineyards, south of Penticton. It was a really busy year and in October Rob and Angie took the family to a Nutrition Conference in Los Angeles (that's her other life passion, sharing information about healthy plant-based diets and the kids got to work in a little visit to Disneyland.  In December Rob and Angie went to Montreal on a business trip.  Although it was too rushed and too cold to paint on location, Angie managed to get some lovely digital photos of the city that she hopes to paint some day.

The spring of 2005, Angie was busy painting, with alot of focus on the local landscape especially the Kootenays.  She also worked on some floral paintings and has now completed a detailed canal scene from Zhouzhaung in China. In 2005 she helped organize some parts of an excellent nutrition conference in Penticton and was delighted to host world renowned physician and researcher, Dr. T. Colin Campbell, Phd and Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn, Jr., MD and their wives. At the end of the summer, Angie returned to the north and decided to take on a great project of creating an artist's retreat in Stewart, BC in the region of the southern tip of the Alaskan panhandle as well as working to develop a project of artists working to give back to the communities they visit and work in. This project will keep her busy well in to 2006. She returned to Stewart at the end of January, 2006 with Frieda Coenraad to paint and make plans for the retreat. There will be alot more on this later. Excitingly the art studio in Penticton got its lovely French style wrought iron sign.   Angie has been devoting much of her time to developing this website as she truly hopes to  share her love and passion for art and travel with others.