Canadian Artist Morgan Booth finds resilience while painting strong women.

“The characters that I created in (this) collection embody a lot of strength and resilience, and I think creating the collection itself helped me find those qualities in myself.” - Morgan Booth

Ready, Aim. oil, acrylic and metallic paint on panel, 24” x 18”, 2025

This week on the Creative Altar, we are pleased to introduce Morgan Booth, a Toronto based painter talking about the powerful women depicted in her recent solo exhibition Tooth and Nail at Arch Enemy Arts.

Hi Morgan! Please let us know who you are and what is your art form.

I am a mixed media painter working in the pop surrealist genre. I’ve been an artist for as long as I can remember - but dedicated to this version of my practice for the last 7 years.

What’s something that you've created that you are proud of or that you consider your biggest accomplishment.

My biggest accomplishment I would say, is recently executing my first gallery presented solo exhibition. I was creating it during a time when life was feeling really intense and pressurized, and I really wasn’t sure how it was going to come together. I chose to lean into having faith in myself, and after that the ideas behind the work came easier, and I was able to get into flow.

The characters that I created in that collection embody a lot of strength and resilience, and I think creating the collection itself helped me find those qualities in myself.

Reap What You Sow. oil, acrylic and metallic paint on panel, 24” x 18”, 2025

How do you access your creativity? Tell us a bit about your process. Do you experiment or take risks in your creative practice?

I’m most often creating for themed exhibitions, so accessing my creativity is usually in a fairly directed way, where I’m trying to connect a theme to inspiration, and then ultimately to an idea that will turn into a piece. For example, I’m working on a piece right now with the theme “Meliorism” which is the belief that the world can be made better through human action. There are so many possibilities in that, endless. So I’ll let my brain just mull on that, letting my thoughts push and pull and look at different angles. Eventually little wisps of ideas and images will start to form and I try to catch them and make them more solid with little rudimentary sketches. Sometimes an idea is loud and comes easily, other times it’s like trying to catch smoke.

Then I’ll go into what I think of as research mode, where I’m looking for reference images that I can start collaging together digitally, and from there I’ll move into actually painting.

In terms of risk, sometimes it can feel risky to commit to an idea, because what if there was a better idea that I could have done? The more work I create the less risk I feel around that, because elements of the ideas that I don’t choose for one piece, might show up in a later piece, and often do.

“Sometimes an idea is loud and comes easily, other times it’s like trying to catch smoke.” - Morgan Booth

Eye For an Eye. 12” x 16” oil, acrylic and metallic paint on panel, 2025

At what stage of the creative process do you notice your inner critic appears or is the loudest?

I think my inner critic is loudest before starting the physical process of creating the piece, which usually manifests as procrastination. I can get intimidated by how excited I am by an idea. What if I’m not able to execute it and the vision is wasted?

It can also be very loud when a piece I love doesn’t sell right away, but I’m learning that sometimes pieces just take a while to find their person. Many of my sales this year were of older pieces that were discovered by their collector a little later, or a piece someone watched for a while and saved up for.

What type of things does your inner critic say to you? What’s the meanest thing your inner critic has ever said to you? How does that affect you in your creative journey?

I have an interesting relationship with my inner critic in the studio, because there's an inherent perfectionism to my work. I create with very specific techniques, and I’m always trying to have the physical piece be as close as possible to the idea and the reference that I design for it.

I want it to be clean, I want it to be exact.

The inner critic can be very loud about any perceived imperfection in a piece, telling me that I’m not good enough. The process of creating my work can be very deeply satisfying, but if I let the inner critic’s voice become too loud it can become difficult to enjoy.

“No work is ever going to be completely perfect, I’m a human being making human art. Making as much peace with that as I can is the only way to actually call something finished.” - Morgan Booth

Morgan Booth in the studio. Photo credit: Scott Lennon

What coping mechanisms, tools or techniques do you turn to, to help you overcome your inner critic?

Kindness, and giving myself permission to move through it rather than to try to push it down. Pushing it down just lets it fester, and become more of a beast to deal with later. I can acknowledge the voice of the inner critic without agreeing with it. I’ll sometimes characterize the inner critic as my inner child, which is usually expressing a need.

What are some unhealthy/ unhelpful habits that you turn to?
The unhealthy coping mechanisms that can show up for me are procrastination or conversely, overworking, not taking breaks and isolating myself. Monofocus.

What are some healthy or supportive tools that you have discovered?
Healthy coping mechanisms that I use often are meditation, tapping (EFT), calling my mom or sister for a chat, and checking in on my body’s needs.

“You’d be surprised how often your negative thoughts get loud when you’re dehydrated, drink water guys!” - Morgan Booth

Detail of “Eternal”. oil and acrylic on panel.

Do dreams play a role in your creativity? Is there a dream or dream image that you can share?

I’ll often listen to history or general knowledge books or podcasts as I’m falling asleep, and occasionally my brain will continue to engage with those concepts as I’m dreaming. I listened to a book about whale communication that bled into the most wonderful dream about being a sea creature, I’d love if that somehow trickled into a piece sometime. 

Install view of Aqua Art Exhibition 2023, photo credit: Arch Enemy Arts

What are you working on now?

I’ve got an exciting year of group shows, and a solo in October that I’ll be working on soon, right now I’m getting the studio ready with a tidy and a refresh to take it all on.

How can people find you?
You can find me at @morganboothart on instagram and morganboothart.com

You can find my recent solo “Tooth & Nail” with Arch Enemy Arts here:
https://www.archenemyarts.com/toothandnail25

Works in Morgan Booth’s 2025 solo exhibition Arch Enemy Arts.