Interviewer's note: Josh Englehaupt suffers from cerebral palsy. While he is not mentally disabled, he is non-verbal and unable to answer interview questions directly. So while the questions are directed at Josh, his mother, Carol Englehaupt, who is also an artist, answered and told me about about Josh and his work, as well as her own, as Josh listened in.

LE: Do you work on more than one piece at a time?
CE: Josh works on as many as five pieces at a time, which he lines up in the living room to look at and decide what to do next. I work when the mood hits, usually in the winter and I'm stuck at home, or if we have a show coming up and I need to help Josh expand on what he has.

LE: How often do you exhibit at shows?
CE: We'd like to do six a year. We're up to about four, but we'd like to do six. There's something exciting coming that I don't know for sure will happen but the Farmer's Market in Ottawa is talking about expanding to artists and artisans and if that happens, we'll be over there once a month through the season. All of the local artists are interested and it's a great opportunity.

LE:Do you have a favorite work?
CE: That's a hard question. I don't have a favorite piece of my own. My favorites of Josh's are the daffodils, that I love, and the daisies that are beautiful. I don't know where he's going to stop. I don't think he's anywhere near where he'll be. I see better things coming.

LE: He's done beautiful work in flowers and of the girls. Is he interested in other subject matter?
CE: Definitely. He wants to expand. He wants to do animals. He wants to do wildlife. He's shown an interest in birds. I think he'd like to do landscapes and still life. He doesn't draw so I don't know quite what we're going to do, but I think we're going to collaborate. I'll do the drawings and he'll do the paintings and we'll have both signatures on those. That's in the very near future.

LE: So he's also self taught?
CE: I taght him so what I know, he knows. He also watches a lot of DVDs and VHS instructional videos and has a library of reference books.

LE: Do you exclusive work in one medium? Are there other mediums you want to try?
CE: Josh works exclusively in watercolor because he doesn't have a lot of hand control and the water helps the paint move. I like to use different mediums, but I do a lot of training in watercolor so I can help him.

LE: Who are some of your favorite artists?
CE: Josh loves Susan Boudreau and Susan Harrison Tustain, who are both watercolor artists. Both do wildlife and Tustain does beautiful portrait work.

Josh definitly wants to branch out into other subect matter. I'm not sure what he'll do but I know that he will grow as an artist both in knowledge and technique. He has the 'want to' and that, to me, is far more important that the result. I love seeing him challenge himself. I see him making goals and working toward something. He's ambitious and motivated and that is the real gift art has given him. That alone makes it all worthwhile.