HIGH ACHIEVERS: Artist Bill Brown experiences first Ottawa Sport Hall of Fame induction through his portraits

By Martin Cleary

Kanata artist Bill Brown wasn’t aware Ottawa had a specific house of honour for its most outstanding athletes, coaches, builders and teams.

But now he certainly knows about the 58-year-old Ottawa Sport Hall of Fame.

Brown, a portrait painter for the past six years, was asked to donate for auction his oil works of Ottawa curlers Rachel Homan and Emma Miskew, who were welcomed into the Hall of Fame during the May 27 induction dinner and ceremony at Lansdowne Park’s Horticultural Building.

When he agreed to that and attended the dinner, he was overwhelmed by the experience of a whole new world in his life. He sat at a table with some of the who’s who of Ottawa curling, including Anne Merklinger and Ottawa Curling Club executives. They made him feel right at home away from the easel.

“I had never been to the Ottawa Sport Hall of Fame dinner,” Brown admitted this week in a phone interview. “I didn’t know we had a sports hall of fame in the city.

“It was a fantastic night. I felt like I was at someone’s family reunion. It was totally an honour to go. The energy was so positive. I’d love to go again. I’d rather be an artist in a room full of athletes than an athlete in a roomful of artists. That was the pinnacle of my (painting) experience.”

Sitting at the curling table was a great experience for Brown, who had his initiation into the sport this winter, when his 12-year-old daughter Gracie joined the learn-to-curl program at the Huntley Curling Club. In the winter of 2026-27, he plans to join the club’s adult-to-curl program with his wife.

And when the 2026 Milano-Cortina Winter Olympic Games played out in February, the Nordion employee was tuned in to all the action, especially when it involved Homan’s Canadian team, which emerged with the bronze medal.

Brown is always looking for people to paint and when he saw Homan slide out of the hack to deliver a stone, he was enthralled with the sheer determination in her eyes.

“A portrait painter looks for inspiration and I could see it in the focus of her eyes,” explained Brown, who generally paints portraits of co-workers and friends and occasionally athletes and politicians.

“I love the drama of the Olympics. That look when (Homan’s) throwing the stone and her focus. I loved that look. It’s so genuine as the camera zoomed in on her.

“Everyone I’ve talked to about this experience (asked) was she as intense in real life as you see on TV? Not at all. She’s as friendly as can be. She’s very nice. I bought her book (Curling ABCs Slide, Sweep and Find).”

Read More: Tears flow freely as Emma Miskew & Rachel Homan honoured for (ongoing) Hall of Fame careers

Brown took photos of Homan and Miskew as well as teammates Tracy Fleury and Sarah Wilkes from screenshots of the CBC Gem Olympic broadcast and used them to produce his oil portraits.

He painted individual action portraits of Homan, who is delivering a stone, and Miskew, who is calling out instructions, as well as tight head shots of all four curlers.

When Dave Best, the chair of the Ottawa Sport Hall of Fame board of directors, saw Brown’s portraits on Facebook, he had his own inspirational moment. He messaged Brown and asked him if he would consider donating them for an auction to support the Hall of Fame.

Brown was happy to help the Hall, which sold the Homan and Miskew action portraits at amounts pleasing to the board of directors. The four individual curler portraits have made their way to the Ottawa Curling Club, which has been Homan’s home club for the past 19 years.

But it took some negotiations.

Early in the evening, Brown promised to give the individual head-shot portrait of Miskew to her father Art. But when a member of the Ottawa Curling Club later suggested the four individual portraits would look good at the club, Brown said he had already promised one to Art Miskew.

Merklinger visited Art Miskew at his table and struck a deal to have all four individual portraits brought to the Ottawa Curling Club.

“She was an absolute force of nature. Anne went to the (main) table and it appeared she had clout. They knew her and had her attention,” said Brown about the 1990 world women’s curling championship bronze medallist, a four-time Canadian championship medallist and the CEO of Own the Podium.

Brown only started painting during the COVID-19 pandemic and he became non-stop obsessed with it during his free time. He refers to his home as a gallery with more than 300 portraits on display.

His entry into painting was triggered by the time he invested in improving his sloppy handwriting skills. When he wrote notes at work, sometimes they were illegible. People noticed.

“I learned to slow down,” Brown explained. “I learned to control my handwriting better. I wrote a kids’ story and wanted to get it illustrated. Or maybe I could learn to draw. I went into painting.

“My aunt (Beverley J. Hughes) encouraged me. She’s my angel investor. She put money into a start-up kit for me and aggressively believed in me. She said ‘paint more.’”

The Calgary-based Hughes used her fighting spirit, intelligence and love of connecting with people to become a philanthropist. She created the BJ Hughes Foundation Supporting Entrepreneurial Women and the BJ Hughes Centre for Clinical Learning at the Western College of Veterinarian Medicine. Hughes passed away on May 5. She was 82.

During the Hall of Fame induction ceremony dinner, Brown took many cues from Merklinger, some humorous, as there was much to learn in his debut.

When the Hall inductees were brought in be a bagpiper, Merklinger stood and Brown followed. When emcee Terry Marcotte asked for Hall of Fame members attending the dinner to stand for a moment to be recognized, Merklinger stood and so did Brown, who didn’t clearly hear the question because of a less-than-perfect sound system.

Merklinger turned to Brown and asked how did he get into the Hall of Fame.

Brown shyly said: “Fake it till you make it.”

If Brown continues to paint and donate portraits of upcoming Ottawa Sport Hall of Fame inductees, maybe he’ll be considered as a future candidate for the builder category.