How did you get started with your Christmas-themed window designs?

It started through a downtown mural project for the Downtown BIA. They said they had no funding, but asked if I could paint their windows for Picklefest. Picklefest was actually my first windows ever. That was 14 years ago.

How many do you do each year in what must be a reasonably short time frame?

It's a five-week window. I assume the number of windows I've done has passed 1,000, but the number of places varies. I would say this year we're at about 135 places. Last year it was 150, so between 120 and 160 every year.

Once you get started with the Christmas designs, what is your daily work schedule like?

Myself and my work partner, we meet at a quarter to eight. We hope to be on the road by 8. That depends on how late we went the night before, because brushes have to be cleaned and we have to make sure we have all the supplies we need and we have to check where we're going throughout the day. An average day goes until 9 or 10 at night, although two days ago, we worked from a quarter to eight until 3 in the morning. We had several pieces in Winnipeg to finish and we finished it just before the snow, so that was great.

Do you have a favourite design?

My one favourite design is (partner) Chris Chrupalo's snowflakes, which are wonderful and I can never do snowflakes again. Other than that, I think if you go into Winnipeg, everything is very cartoony, but my favourite is scenery. It's more like landscape painting rather than a compact window design.

Do you do most of your windows in Winnipeg, or most in Brandon?

Oh, no. Brandon. We belong to Brandon. We're property of Brandon. We go other places when it's requested. We used to go to Rivers every year. We have gone to Virden, Glenboro. It goes in cycles. If we have to go to a place, it's not enough to go for just one window design, so if somebody requests us, they're going to have to group up with more than one window to make us go to different towns. Brandon is the only place where we push, or really encourage pictures on the windows.

How lucrative is the Christmas window design business?

That depends on how cold the season is. This year, I would say, quite good, considering I'm not going to need $1,000 for physio or chiropractor or anything like that. Some years, if I incur an injury . . . the colder it gets, the less lucrative, because it wears a lot on the body.

So mild Novembers are good for business?

Yes, yes. This was a good year. But there are always changes in the types of businesses that want the work. We'll see trends in what businesses stop and start. In the 1990s, we would do nativity scenes on car dealerships, banks and the Double Decker, whereas now, it's to the point where Maple Leaf wants Merry Christmas done in every language you can imagine, but last year we had to get it changed to Season's Greetings, because people have gotten very Christmas-neutral.

What kind of feedback have you received from the public?

We're property of Brandon, so most of the feedback is really great. Some years I have received Christmas cards from people I have never met. When my house burned down seven years ago, it was kind of like everybody was my friend, because it was a link through the paintings. People really feel we're a part of Brandon, I guess.

What does Anne Boychuk do when she's not painting Christmas designs on

storefront windows?

She hopes that every year brings her great mural projects for the outside in the warmer season and other than that, I'm finishing my four years degree in fine arts at Brandon University. Workwise, it's indoor and outdoor residential and commercial murals that keep me busy the rest of the year. Windows is 95 per cent November. I don't encourage windows the rest of the year.

How were you inspired to first pick up a paint brush?

I hated painting. I loved drawing from two years old. I was drawing every day, using markers and crayons and I always wanted to become a book illustrator. It was a random job in Brandon when somebody knew I was fairly clever at drawing inquired about a paint job, which I reluctantly took. It's gone from there.

You mentioned your house fire seven years ago and how devastating it was. How did you cope in

the aftermath?

Paintwise, I was paralyzed for five months. I barely did any work. If you have a waitressing job or a teaching job, you can brighten your cheeks and get through the day. But I can't give people a product when there is no inspiration to take from. I didn't do a whole lot of work in the following five months that was linked to painting. But I also had to rebuild a house and I got pregnant. I was busy with a lot of other things. The thing that affected me the most was I lost my two pets in the fire. You just have to move on. Now I have a good life. I have new pets. I remember the old ones and I remember the old house, but other than that, you can't dwell on the past.

Besides paint and a brush, what's one thing you can't do without?

Coffee.

What's the best method

of removing paint

from your face?

Time. I can scrub or I can just . . . one shower and the next.