Portrait artist and illustrator Laurie McGaw has recently seen her designs engraved in the latest run of three special coins put out by the Royal Canadian Mint.

Last Friday, Ms McGaw accepted the federal government's invitation to Ottawa to participate in the launching of three new commemorative gold coins which acknowledge the Olympics coming to Vancouver in 2010.

Ms McGaw's contribution to these coins is the border of faces on the coins, each one of which otherwise carries a different centre. These centres were designed by artist David Craig. The faces were to include several nations, a variety of ages and both genders. Her name was put forward to the R.C.M. by an art consultant who negotiated between the Mint and the artists. To land the contract for the coins, it was necessary for Ms McGaw to produce a design in competition with other artists.

Ms McGaw, who lives with her husband and two children in the countryside near Shelburne, commented in a recent interview that the requirements for the design were quite demanding.

However, the wide variety of faces which would represent all the required aspects of human society was less of a challenge than one might expect in that our own area is home to a reasonably diverse population. So, the faces around the coin border that Ms McGaw drew are, for the most part, the faces of local residents, who are now being distributed across the nation on gold coins retailing for $1,500 apiece.

The trip to Ottawa was, naturally, well worth the time. There was the presentation itself with the other artists and a duly warranted acclamation on the part of those assembled. Then, they were given a "wonderful tour" around the Mint, with a full explanation of how the coins are made, which is a lengthy and complicated procedure. The original design is reduced mechanically from its original 10" diameter to coin size.

During the tour, Ms McGaw made the lady engraver who did the work on the faces coin. This lady also engraved the effigy of the Queen on the Queen's coin.

No government-funded trip would be complete without lunch and, indeed, they were escorted to dine after the official part of the day's schedule.

This was not Ms McGaw's first coin, nor her first coin competition. In 2002, her design was chosen for the coin issued by the Mint, celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Stratford Festival with a 50¢ sterling silver issue. Later, she competed for the coin commemorating the Queen's Golden Jubilee, but missed the cut. So, she was doubly pleased that her hard won faces design made the grade this time around.

Since her success with the faces, the Mint contacted Ms McGaw directly to submit a portrait of Joseph Brant for a "Proof Silver Dollar 2007" which was also launched at the event last Friday.

Of course, Ms McGaw's work comprises much more than coin design. She has a long list of books and portraits to her credit, many of which are award winners.

Most recently, her book "African Princess" won an award from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Her illustrations for the children's book, "Polar the Titanic Bear", based on a true story, was nominated for the Governor General's Award, won the Silver Birch Award and has sold more than 680,000 copies, world wide, and has been published in five languages.

Several of the 13 books she has illustrated have been historical in nature and this aspect intrigues Ms McGaw very much as she enjoys the research into accurate period dress.

Ms McGaw's life as an artist began with a revelation when she was five years old. During a stint in the hospital to have her tonsils out, she shared a room with a 16- year-old boy who showed her how to draw a fence post with shading so that it looked three dimensional. She was so impressed with this simple technique that she began to draw and never stopped. As a teenager, for five years at Thistletown Collegiate she had two art periods a day. It was her whole life.

After high school, she took a few months to live and work in Europe. When she came home, she began working for her father who owned a lithograph business. She went on to work as an illustrator for a Canadian magazine until she was made an offer by Chatelaine to help them completely over haul their publication.

She found that less fun than it should have been, in many ways. At the time she was taking night classes, where she met Will Davies who persuaded her to go to college full-time. So, in 1974, Ms McGaw went back to school to the Ontario College of Art and Design (OCAD).

It was a great experience for her. It was a great time for OCAD too. She explained to me that, during those years, her teachers were all illustrators who also taught.

In 1977, Ms McGaw graduated and a year later, she began her life as a freelancer. Her talent was matched by some good luck when she started doing two illustrations a week for the Toronto Star. That got her illustrating noticed and naturally led to more jobs -especially for books and magazine covers. She has fond memories of Peter Gzowski from her days of drawing the covers for his Morningside Papers series of books.

In 1989, Ms McGaw illustrated her first children's book, The Secrets of Vesuvius. She followed this, in 1994, by illustrating the children's book Polar, the Titanic Bear. Her further illustrations for The Ice Man brought Ms McGaw the Mr. Christie Book Award in 1995.

All in all, her life as an artist has been very fulfilling. Presently, she is working on a number of interesting portrait commissions, as well as another coin.

Still, after her recent lunch with officials and fellow artist in Ottawa, to pass her time fruitfully while she waited for her transport home, Ms McGaw went to the National Gallery where she saw some "wonderful sculptures."

"I would love to try some three-dimensional work soon," she said. "It really inspired me to think in three dimensions."