Montreal Area Tattoo Artist Designs Remembrance Day Coin for Royal Canadian Mint – Montreal | The Canadian News

Caitlin Lindstrom-Milne never imagined that she would become a tattoo artist. Seven years ago, the Dawson College graduate didn’t feel like there was any career in which she could properly apply her artistic skills, until she was approached by a tattoo artist.

“It was like a lightbulb went out and I thought, ‘Oh, this is actually a really good opportunity to share my passion for art,’” Lindstrom-Milne said.

Now the 27-year-old from Saint-Lazare is sharing that passion using another medium. She was chosen from a pool of applicants to design the Royal Canadian Mint Remembrance Day coin this year.

“I was honored to be asked to make such a special coin as it is such an important day,” she told Global News. “I had a grandfather who fought in the war and I think he would be proud of me. I wish I could have seen how far I’ve come and that I could see the coin in person. “

The $ 20 silver coin is called A Wreath of Remembrance: Lest We Forget. It took Lindstrom-Milne a week to draw the design, which includes a wreath of six different sized and colored poppies with a maple leaf in the middle.

The artist said she used the golden ratio to focus on poppies in their 100th year as the Flower of Remembrance.

“So that’s where I was inspired to make the poppy wreath go from a little small to big and … make your eye follow the circular shape of a coin,” he said.

This is not the first time he has designed a commemorative coin. The Royal Canadian Mint first asked him to apply in 2019. Since then, he has designed three coins: the Remembrance Day coin, a grizzly bear coin, and a black-footed ferret for endangered animals.

He also has a fourth coin in the works that he is “not allowed to talk about yet” but hints that it will arrive in 2022.

She said that every time she wins she is “surprised.”

“There is always a small part of me that expects me to win, but I put it in the back of my head, because I don’t want to be too confident.”

Lindstrom-Milne says she continues to find ways to grow as an artist and is honored that coin collectors and clients continue to support her work.

“It’s great that someone has a part of me with them when it comes to tattoos and coins.”

If you’re hoping to pick one up, it’s too late. All 7,500 coins have been used up.