Arja Speelman is an artist and outdoor enthusiast. Originally from the Netherlands, she moved to Canada as a toddler and has been camping and exploring all her life. Over the past decade, Speelman has planned and participated in backcountry trips for groups of seven to fourteen people in various parks in northern Ontario. Backcountry Brushes is her first book. Arja Speelman lives in Toronto, Ontario, with her husband and is mother to her three children and their spouses and grandmother to her eight grandchildren.