Marina paints using acrylics. Her favorite subjects to paint involve places she has visited, particularly those to which she has consistently returned throughout her life – the local beaches and forests of Vancouver Island. Marina holds a degree in biological sciences and is always keen to expand her knowledge of local ecology. She has a deep appreciation for the species and natural landscapes of her home and enjoys showcasing them in her paintings. Painting is a quiet passion for Marina and the potential to improve and explore more subject matter is a huge motivator.

As an artistic "jack of all trades" it is difficult to nail down a specific genre or direction that would encompass all of my practice. The best I could do would be to describe the thread of continuity that pervades all of the chaos. And that would be a genuine pursuit of depicting the joyful and beautiful in nature and humanity including oftentimes the angst and humour of our common struggle to get there.

I am a West Coast Artist who creates the majestic beauty of our oceans, my work is rooted in the language of the ocean. Living so close to the ocean, I paint the shifting moods of water, light and air through layered textures and saturated colour. Using acrylic mediums, oils and tactile surfaces, I build each piece slowly, allowing depthand movement to emerge like tides. These paintings are less about places and more about feeling. Calm, power, solitude, renewal. They are invitations to pause, breathe, and step into something vast.

Artist Statement – Carla Flegel | My Sketchy Friends My work explores the art of visual storytelling through watercolor, ink, and sketching on location. I am drawn to everyday moments—coastal landscapes, travel scenes, and quiet observations—and interpret them through the excitement of watercolour’s playfulness and washes of color. My paintings are described as ‘painterly’. I allow the medium to guide the final result while preserving a sense of immediacy and place. Travel plays a significant role in my practice. Time spent sketching in Mexico and along the West Coast has shaped my approach, encouraging me to work quickly, intuitively, and with a focus on capturing atmosphere rather than perfection. These field studies often evolve into more developed studio paintings, while retaining the energy of the original experience. Alongside my studio practice, I am deeply engaged in arts education. Through my “My Sketchy Friends” platform, I offer workshops, travel sketching experiences, and instructional resources including watercolor skill-building books, online courses, and a growing collection of illustrated greeting cards. My teaching emphasizes accessibility and creative confidence, encouraging artists of all levels to document their own stories through paint and line. As my work continues to evolve, I am expanding into gouache, soluble inks, and expressive lettering, further exploring the intersection of fine art and visual journaling. Ultimately, my work is about connection—capturing not only what a place looks like, but what it feels like to be there.

I am drawn to bright, bold colour because it feels like joy made visible. My work often captures small, joyful (sometimes unexpected) moments that brighten the day: a blooming flower, a quirky chicken, a hummingbird at your window, or a peaceful ocean view. Look closely, and you’ll see that my artworks are created with layers of acrylic paint and hand-painted paper collage. Collage—and the act of painting the papers themselves—is central to my process. I use a variety of techniques and materials to create patterns and textures on the papers I paint, often repurposing old books or sheet music to weave printed text and musical notes into my artwork. Each collage paper is hand-painted, individually torn, and thoughtfully layered onto the canvas, adding details, pattern, and subtle meaning. I am a mixed media artist from the Comox Valley. My work reflects a love of colour and my intention to notice and choose moments of joy.

When we look at a piece of art work it has to form some kind of connection to us. It must evoke a memory or stir our imagination or it will fail to cause us to return to it and examine it further. By painting some of nature’s hidden treasures I hope to bring us back to places or times that are stored in our memories Rich Williams’ work is primarily in acrylics and watercolor, and covers a cross section of subjects such as landscapes, old barns and structures, boats, florals and abstracts. The need to portray the subtle feeling of nature has led to the painting of nature’s hidden treasures. This is reflected in his paintings of some of nature’s small and usually unnoticed hidden scenes.

I am a Multi-media local artist located in Qualicum Beach BC. My work clearly represents my devotion to nature, to my tribe, and to the unseen shades and shadows of light that brings life into my paintings. I will, despite the looming uncertainties like AI, support those actively making positive changes to maintain the visual world that sustains our creativity, and stand by my tribe and our connections. We are a unique bunch, often misunderstood and prejudged for our extraordinary differences and individuality. I, as a Canadian artist, surround myself in the beauty that motivates me, that drives me to continue to see beyond those threatening entities that are trying to reshape our dedication. It is through my art that I find solace and comfort knowing that those who support our creativity have a part in our existence.

The arts of enamelling and jewellery making have engaged Peggy for over 40 years. She has explored many themes, processes, and materials that have allowed her imagination to grow. An example of this is her fascination with seeds. She casts seed forms in silver incorporating them with precious pearls or semiprecious stones to create original pieces of jewellery. Enamelling glass to metal is much like painting in the choices of color and the layering process. The difference is that multiple kiln firings are used to create a piece of art. Cloisonne and Champleve are the forms of enameling that are her specialty. She finds joy in the process of seeing an idea come to completion, opening the door to another idea. In 2018 Peggy graduated from Emily Carr University with many new acquired skills. She now enjoys oil painting and creating large installations with found materials. While attending the University her instructors encouraged her to continue enameling.

Sarah Boileau is a full time artist living in Nanaimo BC. She has been painting in oils for over 20 years and is mostly self taught. After moving to the Island she fell in love with the coastal scenery and has been painting it ever since. The way that light interacts with the landscape and turns a normal moment into something extraordinary is her muse. Sarah's goal with her artwork is to capture that magical feeling so that you can be transported back into that moment every time you look at one of her paintings.

Sharon Lennox SSA SFCA Sharon is an established scratchboard artist, specializing in birds, wildlife and pet commissions. The detail that can be achieved with this medium is what drives her to create the most photo-realistic painting possible. All Sharon's paintings are based on her own photos, with the exception of some commissions.

I’m an artist and photographer drawn to the beauty and rhythm of nature — birds, trees, sky, and water — and to the quiet sense of zen that lives inside the chaos. Through photography, I tell stories and capture fleeting moments that can never be repeated. Through painting, I express what isn’t always visible — emotion, energy, and memory. My photography often takes on a painterly quality through a process known as texture layering, while my paintings, created in oil and acrylic, are intuitive explorations in semi-abstract and semi-impressionistic form.

Cindy Mawle is a Vancouver Island artist who works out of her studio surrounded by forest on the central island. Her acrylic paintings on canvas mostly depict the surrounding areas on the Canadian west coast. Her main objective in these collections of work is to express how rooted she feels in her home surroundings, while walking a beach or forest trail. “I want my work to present itself as a touchstone to the planet we all live on. I believe the more we connect to nature, whether in real time or through art, the better off we are as human beings.”

As a self-taught acrylic artist based on Vancouver Island, my work is a lifelong dialogue with the rugged, industrial heartbeat of the coast. Growing up in Sooke, BC, the salt air and the silhouette of working vessels became part of my visual DNA. My practice is dedicated to documenting the 'soul' of our waters, the tugboats, weathered wooden hulls, and work boats that define our regional identity. Through The West Coast Tug Project, I have embarked on my most ambitious mission: to archive the over 575 working tugboats that navigate our coastline. This is more than a technical exercise in maritime portraiture, it is a collaborative effort with mariners and photographers to create a living history. With over 115 vessels already captured, my goal is to ensure these vessels are recognized as vital to our maritime heritage. I spend most of my time painting from my studio in Langford, with visits to Marine Company's a couple times a year to learn more about the operations and the vessels. I strive to create a bridge between the viewer and the sea. My paintings are about the stories and memories of the vessels and people I honor.

As a realist painter my motivation is to share my visual experiences. To create paintings that speak both to me and to others about the beauty that exists in British Columbia. My style invites the viewer to recall their own past adventures and relive the sights and scents of BC’s natural environment. Through my artwork I try to bring the outside in, to pay tribute the natural world and remind us how rewarding it can be to take the time to reconnect with nature.

I am an oil and acrylic painter based on Saturna Island, originally from the East Coast of Canada. After relocating to the West Coast, I developed a more focused studio practice shaped by both observation and emotional interpretation. With a background in biology, my work balances analytical attention to form with emotional and symbolic exploration. As an Iranian immigrant in Canada, I examine political and social realities through personal experience, exploring themes of identity, belonging, coexistence, vulnerability, and emotional tension. Working primarily through painting, I use both photorealistic and expressive approaches to depict familiar and imagined subjects within ambiguous environments that allow space for interpretation. My current body of work is inspired by the geological landscapes of Hormuz Island in Iran. Drawing from tafoni formations, erosion patterns, and shifting surface textures, the paintings use landscape as an emotional and symbolic framework for reflecting on human relationships and lived experience. Emerging from memories of Iran revisited within today’s political climate, the work considers the complexity of intimacy, conflict, longing, and the emotional weight carried within and between people. Website: dardarvish.com

I create ceramic animal sculptures inspired by the wild landscapes of the West Coast. My work reflects a deep connection to nature, focusing on the movement, presence, and personality of the animals I sculpt. I use raku firing to bring an element of unpredictability to each piece. The fire and smoke leave unique marks that echo the raw and changing beauty of the natural world. Through my work, I hope to share a sense of wonder and respect for the creatures and places that inspire me.

All works painted from life along the Vancouver Island shoreline. I have worked in pastel for over 50 years, still enjoying the process.

Jess's paintings bring with them the inspiration and influence of her own dynamic life, and celebrate the relationship with ethereal and mystical moments. Her relationship with beauty as a conduit to spiritual connection is innate, and also reflects a life seeking to access this connection through silent retreats, Kundalini yoga, and meditation. Jess leads social and organizational change projects, informed by her BA in Asian Religions, her MA in Human Systems Intervention, and her passion for social justice to meet the historical moment we are in. Her work in human change is reflected in her painting that transmits an evolutionary or transformative moment. Jess’s paintings, above all else, provide a portal to hope when the noise of the world around us can suggest there is none. An LGBTQ+ settler who's lived across Canada (Northern Ontario, Toronto, Montreal, Halifax, Nelson, Vancouver) Jess now calls the traditional territories of the Kosapsum (Esquimalt) and Songhees First Nations on Vancouver Island her home. She lives in reverence for the land she lives on and the restorative force it provides.

Flowers and landscapes in bright happy colours, reflecting the world around me, and in my imagination! Celebrating colour and happiness and making people smile is my mission. I use old books, paper, bits of fabric and textured bits and bobs as a collage base then add various media- acrylic paint, ink, pencil, and photo overlays for extra interest and depth. I sometimes leave words from the text on the collaged pages peeking through to add hidden and happy messages to the viewer.

Bev Robertson AFCA, "I am fascinated by the transformative power of light. Since 2012, my creative journey has been a dedicated pursuit of capturing that fleeting moment when sunlight hits a subject and makes it glow from within. Whether I am painting the intricate, vibrant petals of a large-scale floral or the deep, misty textures of a Vancouver Island rainforest, my goal is to drench the scene in a sense of warmth.Light is what gives life to the subjects I paint, particularly in my work with glass, where luminosity defines the form. Through a careful balance of high-contrast shadows and saturated color, I strive to freeze a moment in time—evoking a resonant, visceral feeling of 'basking in the sun' for the viewer. For me, painting is not just about representing nature, but about painting the light itself into every piece."

Lori Schiersmann is a multi-media artist known for her diverse artistic skills, ranging from watercolor painting to creating intricate designs using a Metallic Ceramic Paste on glass. Over the past 30 years, Lori has established a notable presence in the art world, showcasing her work in various high-end craft shows that highlight her unique blend of techniques and materials. Her dedication and talent has resulted in a solo exhibition at the Macmillan Arts Centre, where her innovative approach to art was prominently displayed. Lori's work continues to captivate audiences, reflecting her passion for exploring different mediums and pushing the boundaries of traditional art forms. Her Work with the ceramic paste is a baked on paste that's dishwasher and microwave safe and is highly collected and used in many households. From Everyday, to Extraordinary.

Sharon Lalonde has been creating since a very early age, using all forms of artistic expression. The inspiration, for her work, is the dynamic colour, energy and light around her. The creation of art is a journey, for Sharon, with the challenge being to convey what she feels about the dynamic colour, energy and light, through her work. She can be found, most days, at her studio in ARTWRX Studio/Gallery Society, 362C 10th Street, Courtenay.