Toronto’s ‘beauty and simplicity’ inspired this artist, whose works have now adorned the faces of Mayor John Tory and the Raptors

It was the summer of 2011 when budding artist Nadia Lloyd painted her first large-scale abstract of Toronto’s skyline.

“I’d brought home this big four-by-four-foot canvas. My son, who was six months old, was in his Jolly Jumper, and I had an urge to paint.”

She deftly shaped an outline of the city using vertical brush strokes of burnt orange, forest green, black and amber, with drips representing the reflection in the water.

“I painted it in two minutes,” she recalls of the finished canvas called “Utopia”.

“I love the magic of one minute it wasn’t there and the next minute it was.”

It was a meaningful moment in the career of the now well-established artist, designer and event planner. The city’s iconic skyline anchored by the CN Tower became her signature theme in a collection of home decor products and fashion accessories, printed with her art.

In 2013, she founded Toronto Art Crawl to promote the work of other local artists and artisans. The next event, an outdoor market called The Urban Exhibit, is planned for Sept. 10 at The Bentway (underneath the Gardiner Expressway), where 80 creative types will sell their wares.

But it wasn’t until 2020 that Lloyd got the first of two “big breaks” in her artistic pursuits. While sewing pandemic face masks from repurposed cushion covers, she designed a special one to celebrate Pride in June, catching the eye of Toronto Mayor John Tory.

“He told me he loved my work and obsession with the skyline, and promoted it for a year and a half,” Lloyd relates.

She got her second break in July 2020 when she designed a Black Lives Matter mask with her young son. After posting on social media that she wanted to donate masks to the Toronto Raptors, she received a team order for 35, which they wore for months, notes the thrilled designer.

“My 15 minutes of fame was more like 15 months of fame; it kept going and going and going.”

As sales exploded, she donated the proceeds to various charities, raising more than $22,000 to date. Last year Lloyd was voted best local artist and best face mask designer by NOW magazine readers.

“As a self-taught artist, it went beyond anything I ever dreamt of,” says Lloyd, who owned a fitness business in her previous career.

Her home decor creations that are sold online include abstract and skyline paintings, mostly priced at $675 to $875, and cushion covers for $49 and $58. She also sells fashion items for adults and kids and does custom designs.

Lloyd’s love affair with Toronto began as a young girl when her family moved here from Montreal in 1988.

“I felt at home right away,” she recalls. “I had friends from different cultural backgrounds.”

She began developing her artistic skills in her 30s, painting small works in a windowless basement studio in East York, where she lived then.

Now, from her condo in Liberty Village, Lloyd has a clear view of the city’s “classy, elegant, sexy silhouette.

“I think it’s the beauty and simplicity of it, she says, explaining its pull. “It’s like a living painting.”

When she’s creating, she says the picture dictates the colours and brush strokes: “I’m just the medium that brings it to life.”

The big canvas hanging on her living room wall still captivates her as it grows older alongside her son, now 11.

“To this day, I lie on the couch and just get lost in it.”