Raised on the edge of the wilderness and the memories that animate my landscape paintings.

Sometimes, things happen that reshape the way we look at the world around us. I have lived my entire life on Canada’s west coast, bathed in the light and water of the Pacific landscape. But in recent years, both of my parents were diagnosed with dementia. In November, my mother passed away. It has been a period of devastating loss, a time in which my parents’ inability to remember the past has called up my own memories of my childhood with a vivid brightness.

My parents raised me on the edge of the wilderness. Our Vancouver Island home sat on a farm by a lake near the ocean. In this quiet habitat, we explored forest trails, climbed mountains, paddled in canoes, and collected sand dollars. My brother and I would intentionally lose ourselves in the island terrain, joyfully finding out way back to our parents. They gave us a pure childhood, interlaced in every way by a love for the natural world around us. 

These memories are now sharpened by loss, and my love for my parents permeates my view of the scenery. The paintings in my latest series offer homage to a landscape that they created for me through loving experience. Using acrylic paint in black, burnt umber, and pthalo blue, I allow the water on the canvas to mix the colour for me, using my spatula and palette knife to spread and shape the paint. Working these colours onto the canvas, I reflect on the past—the memories that continue to animate this rainforest landscape years after my parents brought it to life for me. These paintings are reflections—of the west coast world, of my memories, of the losses and love that bring these spaces together. They are coloured with longing, grief, and—finally—gratitude.

The Artist on the beach where she grew up.Lantzville, BC