2022 in Review

Artist Flourishing: 2022 in Review

As the end of 2022 approaches and many are writing their year in review lists, I too am looking back at a prolific, venturesome and prosperous year making art in Canada. In any good year I find myself making between 25 and 30 new paintings, this year with all that was on my schedule I would have been happy with 15 new paintings, and as I look back at the year I realize I made 34 new paintings ) 37 if you count the studies that never ended up becoming final works. The year included travel and art making in Maui, Hawaii and Banff, Alberta. Two contrasting climates offering fertile beauty and impressions that will feed hundreds of paintings to come. At the end of each year I prepare for the next with a solid outline of what I plan to accomplish as well as big audacious hopes and dreams. This annual review and plan for the coming year offers balance as I focus on production of new work, art shows, and art sales. It can be challenging to balance artist brain with financial brain, but it is essential in moving to each next level with my art career. Being a successful Canadian artist carries responsibility as success is earned and the rent is due every every single day. Here are some highlights from a year I will call ‘Flourishing’. Cheers to 2023!

January – began with new paintings that were off-the-cuff as I challenged myself to make art in the moment and without the usual photo reference. These paintings offered very abstract backgrounds using shape and intense colour to communicate the landscapes that the central characters would inhabit.

Modern Canadian Elk: painting of an Elk on a Northern Lights inspired background

February – continuing on my path of exploring Canadian culture I found myself entranced with Nanaimo Bars on Valentines Day

On Top of Nanaimo Bars: a figure skater perched a top a tower of delicious desserts made in Canada

March – a few more paintings including two showstoppers featuring red canoes

Brandy Saturley in her Victoria BC studio with two canoe paintings, March 2022

March also included a trip to Vancouver to deliver art and see Yoko Ono: Growing Freedom at Vancouver Art Gallery

Growing Freedom: the instructions of Yoko Ono, the Art of John and Yoko

April – new self-portrait for my ‘Pop Canadianisms’ series – solidarity with our Ukrainian friends

Portrait Painting of a Ukrainian Canadian Artist

May – mindful of our Alberta cousins and Indigenous relations

Painting of Blackfoot tribal chief next to red canoe at Lake Louise, Alberta

June – all about Maui, Hawaii – a beauteous place to fill my eyes, nose, ears and brain

Canadian Artist Brandy Saturley at HUI NO’EAU VISUAL ARTS CENTER

Painting inspired by Maui Hawaii residency.

July – Sooke Fine Arts show, Sooke BC Canada

Ukraine Strong, acrylic painting on canvas, 2022 – Brandy Saturley

August – Society of Canadian Artists 54th Annual Exhibition in Toronto, Canada

Society of Canadian Artists 54th International Open Exhibition Features Portrait by Brandy Saturley

September – photography and preparations for the annual art magazine/catalogue

Canadian Artist Brandy Saturley in studio with some of the paintings created in 2022

October – with the passing of Queen Elizabeth II – two paintings honoring Britain and the monarch

Painting of Queen Elizabeth II by Brandy Saturley, 2022

End of An Era – painting of Union Jack and Canadian Flag at half mast, 2022, Brandy Saturley

Annual art catalogue is completed and printed.

Modern Canadian Pop Mythos – 2022 art catalogue Brandy Saturley

November – bound for Banff, Alberta two week painting residency at Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity

In Banff, Alberta at Lake Minnewanka

Thom Studio at Banff Centre – Brandy Saturley Canadian Artist

Brandy Saturley in Thom Studio at Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, November 2022

Brandy Saturley with final paintings created at Banff Centre residency 2022

December – Art of Winter at Adele Campbell Fine Art

Brandy Saturley northern portrait – part of Art of Winter group show at Adele Campbell Fine Art

December – the Art of Brandy Saturley now represented by Willock & Sax in Banff, Alberta

The Art of Brandy Saturley – now on view at Willock and Sax Gallery in Banff, Alberta

December – Brandy Saturley awarded residency in Pouch Cove, Newfoundland at Pouch Cove Foundation artist work/live studios

Pouch Cove Foundation artist residency in Newfoundland, Canada.

See more paintings created by Brandy Saturley in 2022.

December 27, 2022

Interview – Banff Centre

Art Career, Artist Process

Interview: Talking with Banff Centre for Arts & Creativity

In November 2022, Victoria, BC artist Brandy Saturley spent 12 days making art in a Leighton Studios residency (recipient of the Paul D. Fleck Fellowships in the Arts Endowment) at Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity. In an interview with the Banff Centre Social Media Marketing Officer she spoke about about her project and artist process.

Thom Studio, Banff Centre Leighton Studios

Why did you join us for this residency? In my practice I find that it is important to leave your usual routine and studio behind and seek out new locations to create work in new environments and in new ways. This type of residency keeps the work fresh and challenges my ability to be flexible as an artist. I also had the Banff Centre on my list of places I hoped to do a residency and I am thrilled it finally came together.

What do you love about your art form? I love painting because it is such a fluid and immediate medium. My goal for this residency was to paint a very large piece and make full use of the ceiling height, light and expanse of the wall in my studio. My way of making art begins with capturing the experience of a place through the mediums of photography, video, and writing. I then take all these things and lay out the blueprint for the painting. Aided by music, I find the mood of the piece and being laying down paint on the canvas. All influenced by my time in a place and my journey of getting to the place. My paintings are about the journey and the things I see, hear, feel, taste and touch along the way and in the place where I am making the art. In this case I arrived on a very snowy day, walking through a white out sky and forest to my studio. I could hear squirrels, birds and captured stag and deer resting outside my door. On the second day of my residency the light broke through and the skylights began to clear of snow. The light began to filter through the trees and my windows. This all informed the work that was created while on campus.

Brandy Saturley, with paintings in progress at Banff Centre – Photo by Kyla Jacobs

What should people know about your artistic medium that may not be common knowledge? My medium of paint and specifically acrylic paint is that it is the most versatile painting medium on the planet. Acrylic paint of today can be applied and reapplied, it can be layered and blended like oils and can be fluid, feathered and stain the canvas like watercolours. It can be laid out to dry on my glass palette and left to dry, and then peeled off like plastic wrap and then adhered to the canvas. I mix my acrylics with retarder if I am looking for it to dry more slowly like an oil, but I like that the medium dries more quickly than oil which allows me to move on at a pace that suits my personality.

Brandy Saturley painting in her studio at Banff Centre – Photo by Kyla Jacobs

What has your time with your Banff Centre residency been like, and/or, what specifically did you focus on during your time? In short, invigorating, uplifting and prolific. It was a regenerative experience that was welcomed after the past two years under COVID. I focused on creating in place, letting the experience direct the work. I like to challenge myself with every new painting, sometimes that means going in without a concrete plan, which is what I did in this case. It can be scary to arrive in a new place, and create purely on site, but thankfully I am experienced and prepared and brought everything I would need to rely on my daily schedule and practice, so that I could put all my faith in the experience of the place. I focused on creating a very large diptych on canvas. I also focused on gathering imagery and information to fuel an entire series of paintings based on my time at the Banff Centre. I will also produce a timelapse video of the creation of the painting, as well as a video of the entire experience of my journey. Another goal of my time in Banff was to access local art community and have signed on with Willock and Sax gallery because of my time at Banff Centre. Perhaps a future showing of the entire body of work and films with the Walter Phillips Gallery or Whyte Museum, that is the next goal.

Paintings by Brandy Saturley – Photo by Kyla Jacobs for Banff Centre

What’s next for you on your artistic journey after this program? Continued development and work on this series I have begun at Banff Centre. I have work in a group show at Adele Campbell Fine Art in Whistler in December, I have four paintings on view with Willock and Sax in Banff, I have a large portrait commission I have been working on for a client from Calgary, and I am looking for the next location to do a residency. Perhaps the east coast of Canada this time, time will tell.

Brandy Saturley in front of Thom Studio at Banff Centre – photo Kyla Jacobs

Since doing this interview Brandy Saturley has been awarded a residency on the East Coast of Canada, in Newfoundland, through the Pouch Cove Foundation. The Canadian artist will be dedicating the month of October 2023 to this east coast residency.

December 9, 2022

Canadian Art Catalogues

Art Career

Canadian Art Catalogues – The Annuals of Brandy Saturley

What Is an Art Catalogue? An art catalogue or annual magazine is simply a book of images and details about a specific series of paintings, body of work or collection of art. Canadian Art Catalogues by The Art of Brandy Saturley have become an annual celebration and reminder of artworks produced in a given year. These catalogues have been gifted to collectors that have purchased original artwork from the artist, attended an art opening or have worked to collaborate with Saturley during the year. Every year these annuals are designed and created by the artist and mailed throughout North America and the UK.

If you are fortunate enough to own one of these art collectibles, signed by the artist, you are a lucky art lover. These magazines are limited editions and lovingly created, including photography, writings about the artwork and a personal letter from the artist. These magazines offer a peak behind the scenes and into the world of this Canadian painter, based in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.

These annuals include collections from exhibitions and sometimes annotations and photography from associates of the artist.

These catalogues include paintings and photography from the artist covering a time period starting in 2010, to present day.

For the first time Saturley is now making these unique art publications available for you to purchase. These are not signed copies, but they are beautiful conversation pieces and keepsakes for fans of the Artist.

A coveted edition, this magazine features works from Saturley’s solo exhibitions in 2017.

As the first annual created, this magazine became a Staff Pick at Blurb.

The only cover that shows the artist in her studio, the other covers show favourite paintings.

Browse all available publications from The Art of Brandy Saturley now.

October 13, 2022

Top Vancouver Island Artist

Art Career, Top Artist

What it means to be a top Vancouver Island Artist

For the long-limbed trees and watery landscape of Vancouver Island, read Hundreds and Thousands. Setting aside, who can resist a woman who lived in a caravan in Goldstream Park with a pack of dogs and a monkey and shunned the human race except to attend her own art openings? Only a genius could both paint and write my/her home. This text speaks of Emily Carr, not only a top Vancouver Island Artist, but a famous Canadian artist who made the Island home. There have been and are a few of us artist’s here on Vancouver Island, it is the perfect place to retreat to after showing your work and travelling for your art business across Canada. The island offers scenic solitude and the mild winters offer this artist the opportunity to spend time in nature year-round.

Being a top Canadian artist from Vancouver Island is a special thing, having found my art education mostly elsewhere in Canada and Europe. Vancouver Island is not the centre of Canada’s art world, but it does offer a place for it’s top artists to disappear and create. When I am showing my work in Edmonton, Calgary or even Toronto, I put on a different hat and wear different clothes and embody my artist persona, the one that show’s up for art world events. This persona takes great energy, but also allows the fun of living in a different body for an evening. Being the intermittent extrovert I am, this ‘Iconic Canuck’ shows up with paintings that tell stories of my travels. It is not often I find myself painting stories of Vancouver Island these days, as my body of work has grown to express my pan-Canadian identity.

It is true I became famous for painting themes of hockey, landscapes, and Canadian pop culture icons, but what I am working on painting these days in our post pandemic times are feelings about my country as a whole and how I view it from a distance as I travel other countries. You may have seen me talk about my work on CHEK or SHAW TV, or through articles in local Canadian newspapers in towns I have shown my work. Or you may have watched the short documentary, ‘The Iconic Canuck’, shot right here in my studio on Vancouver Island.

I was born in Victoria BC, on Vancouver Island and I am a second generation Vancouver Islander and Artist. In my early years I spent time in the same places Emily Carr painted and John Muir hiked. I spent my days beachcombing, hiking the Sooke potholes and drawing my collections of rocks, leaves and skulls. I swam in the ocean and the rivers and learned about the land from Native elders or local tribes. I ate seaweed soup, sauerkraut soup and roast beef dinners with Yorkshire pudding on Sunday nights. I dreamt of travelling and exploring the entirety of my country and my grandparents roots in England and the Ukraine.

It was an eclectic, multicultural and colourful upbringing, just like every other Canadian across the country. As I continue to paint and exhibit my work I am headed to an artist residency at Banff Centre in the Canadian Rockies and look forward to where this journey will next take my work. You can follow this Vancouver Island artist online here. Cheers to the Artists of Vancouver Island, Canada.

October 12, 2022

Banff Centre Painting Residency

Art Career

Leighton Studios – Banff Centre For Arts & Creativity Painting Residency

In November 2022, I will be spending two weeks at the Banff Centre For Arts & Creativity. An independent self-guided painting residency (on scholarship) in the Leighton Artists Studios, home to ten distinct studios, appealing to a variety of disciplines: writing for stage and screen, composing and songwriting, visual arts including painting, photography, curating, and art theory. I am looking forward to immersing myself in the pristine natural surroundings and mountain fresh air, letting all my senses soak it up and then push it out onto the canvas. I will be capturing my time in Banff through photography, video and paint. Banff is a place I have visited, but never had the time to pause and soak it up for two full weeks.

Thom Studio at Banff Centre, Leighton Studios Residency

The studios have played host to many important Canadian artist collaborations over the years including K.D Lang, Joni Mitchell, and Jean Grand-Maître of Alberta Ballet. Séan McCann of Great Big Sea and Canadian Visual Artist Brian Jungen. Banff Centre exists for the advancement of creative potential that enriches our world, and I am ready for this new opportunity to go deep into my painting practice. To experience the power of the mountains, particularly our home on Sacred Buffalo Guardian Mountain and let it flow through me and out to the world.

My last experience painting in a faraway place was in 2019 when I spent the summer at the Royal College of Art in London, England, painting in the Sackler studios. It will be quite the contrast making work in the mountains as opposed to the big city. I will be painting in the Thom Studio, named after the studio’s designer, Ron Thom, the configuration for this visual art studio is simple and open to allow the greatest degree of flexibility in the arrangement of working components.

They say that In Banff, the mountains are really close to your head, and you will be seeing my head near these mountains soon.

October 3, 2022

Celebrating Art in Canada

Art Career, Canadian Pop Art

Celebrating 15 years, 400 paintings – Making Art in Canada

Fifteen years ago I committed to my Art career full-time, and I have made over 400 paintings informed by my travels and obsession with my country, Canada. Reflecting the collective Canadian consciousness, filtered through my eyes and ears, and brush to canvas. July 1st marks a very important day in my life and the collective consciousness of Canadians. Celebrating 15 years, making Art in Canada.

In 2019, I spent the summer studying contemporary art practices at the Royal College of Art in London, UK. This year I joined the artist roster at Adele Campbell Fine Art in Whistler, Canada.

Recently I spoke with YAM Magazine Victoria about about my distinctive style of Canadian Pop Art and what original art adds to a home.

The Peninsula News Review Sidney and North Saanich, popped into my studio and I shared some of the paintings I made during 2020, and the initial COVID-19 shutdown.

In support of the annual Art Gallery of Greater Victoria fundraiser, the TD Canada Trust Paint-In, you will find my work in this year’s virtual guide.

For the 35th Anniversary of the Sooke Fine Arts – my hometown, I will be showing two paintings as part of this years’ virtual programming. This show has become a world-class annual exhibition of Vancouver Island and coastal artists of British Columbia.

More to come!

Sincerely Yours,

Brandy Saturley (a.k.a #iconiccanuck)

July 2, 2021

Art in Whistler Canada

Art Career

The Art of Brandy Saturley, now in Whistler.

Brandy Saturley is an internationally exhibited and collected contemporary painter, based in Victoria, Canada. Showing in public and private galleries, and in combination with unique corporate events; the Artist has carved out a niche with her distinctive brand of ‘Canadian Pop Art’. Now, you can also see The Art of Brandy Saturley at Adele Campbell Fine Art, in Whistler, BC, Canada. You can even view, virtually install, and purchase Saturley’s paintings through the gallery website.

Art in the world-renowned resort town of Whistler Blackcomb, one of the largest ski resorts in North America, and a hub town for the Vancouver 2010 Olympics. I believe in ‘gut’ feelings, and serendipitous moments. I am excited to join the vibrant Artist roster at Adele Campbell Fine Art, and see where this new opportunity will take my work.”

The gallery is located in the beautiful Westin Resort & Spa, in Whistler village. Established in 1993, Adele Campbell Fine Art is dedicated to showcasing the best of contemporary Canadian art. Owner and Director Elizabeth Harris, and her team of experienced advisors, curates and manages a diverse collection of established and emerging Canadian artists; a comprehensive collection showcasing uniquely Canadian art.

View paintings by Brandy Saturley at Adele Campbell Fine Art Gallery.

The Whistler Art Gallery is a supporter of the Audain Art Museum and the upcoming Illuminate Gala & Auction fundraiser. Established in 2016, the Audain Art Museum is a leading arts organization founded upon the major philanthropic gift of Michael Audain and Yoshiko Karasawa. Located in Whistler, British Columbia and designed by the internationally-renowned firm Patkau Architects, the AAM boasts a comprehensive Permanent Collection of the province’s most celebrated artists.

April 8, 2021

Family of Artists

Art Career

Family of Artists: from grandmother, to mother, to daughter.

My grandmother had a hard life. Like many of her time, she immigrated to the Canadian prairies in the early 1900’s from the Ukraine and built a life in a one room home on the open prairie of Edmonton, Alberta. Winters were cold and harsh, and so was her job as wife, mother and business owner with her husband. My grandparents were the owners of a popular BBQ restaurant in South Edmonton, which quickly became popular for it’s crispy fried chicken and tender ribs. The business grew to include a nightclub and the family grew to three children, through two marriages. I did not know my grandmother, as she died while my mother was carrying me in her womb. From what I have been told, and the photos I have seen, she was a kind woman who loved to cook, laugh and take care of people. She was a true Ukrainian Baba and was creative in every area of daily living. She would spend the day cooking, sewing, weaving, and eventually found a way to add art into her life. She was always seeking new creative outlets, an escape from everyday life with an alcoholic husband, and demanding business and household on the cold barren prairie.

Mom and Baba pre 1970.

When I was a child, my mother would tell me stories about my grandmother, how they shared a very close relationship and how they both enjoyed cooking and finding ways to escape through creative pursuits. I grew up painting, drawing, cooking and reading with my mother, though drawing quickly became my favourite thing. Watching my mom cook became a comforting spectator sport with great benefits of licking the spoon, and sampling the freshly baked loaves of French bread. My mother was endlessly making things with me and drawing everyday, I suppose it is how I came to love it. Early on I learned that my mother spent her school days perched on a corner stool drawing portraits, something I also did in school and it was often a way to make friends and meet new people. I remember finding a book of poetry tucked into a sock drawer and then questioning my mom about it, I grew to learn that she also enjoyed writing, and keeping a diary. My mom always talked about having her own business or going to art school but her father, as he did to my grandmother before her, never saw the point in such pursuits. Cooking remained the daily creative escape for my mother, much like her mother before. Feeding people always gave my grandmother and mother such joy, they wanted to take care of people, that was their job and culturally Ukrainian women are known for their great feasts and long welcoming tables. This was the world I grew up in; long tables, big feasts, gregarious people, and the odd lost soul wandering the street, invited in for dinner with the family.

Mom and I on the front page of the Sooke News Mirror

My mother never groomed me to take over from her as homemaker, but she did instill in me the love of making art, and I took to it naturally. I wanted nothing to do with cooking, entertaining, or mothering, I wanted to nurture my own career aspirations, which ultimately led to a full-time career as a visual artist. Somehow these women passed down the ‘artist gene’ without any of the pressure to lead a traditional life. There have been societal pressures along the way, from women and men, and it did take me some time to find my way through the gauntlet of expectations, reflected on myself by the faces of society.

Fast-forward to present day. My mother has been working on downsizing and donating things and clearing the clutter of the family home. Earlier this year she gifted me two landscape paintings made by my grandmother. I had seen them floating around various family homes over the years and never really knew the story of the paintings, or how my grandmother managed to get away with painting without my grandfather noticing.

While clearing the clutter she also found an old handwritten recipe book of my grandmother, and that in the back there were humorous writings about Hollywood stars beauty regimes. I said that I would love to have it and try to preserve it. Upon reading through the notebook I flipped to some random pages in the back of the book, one page in particular caught my eye. On this page there was a list with a title, “Painting” and underneath a list including painting supplies, frames and even lessons, with approximate costs. It is a budget of sorts and a list of expenditures for painting. What a find, I am so happy that I did not pass on this opportunity to own this piece of my grandmothers creative past. A treasure, bringing me a little closer to the woman who started the family artist ball rolling! With this gift also came some of my grandmothers weaving in traditional Russian/Ukrainian cultural patterns.

I’m sure there is a lot out there written about the ‘creative gene’ all I know is those early days are important, and burn undeniable impressions onto our being. Those early days define us, and we carry them through life. Often spending our lives running away from them, only to return home, once we understand them more fully. Most recently I talked more about this special connection between my grandmother, mother and me in the short documentary film; The Iconic Canuck, by Randy Frykas.

Thank you Mom.

Sincerely Yours,

Brandy Saturley

February 10, 2021

Final Thoughts for 2020

Art Career, The Year in Art

Five Words and Final Thoughts For 2020 – From Fear to Release

As images of the year that was, fly across screens I am reminded that my screen time is down 42% over the previous week, this makes me smile. This year has been unlike any I have experienced in my time on Earth, but isn’t this true for any year we are alive? My biggest realization this year is that FEAR, is at an all time high and FEAR produces two reactions in most humans. It always makes me think of the novel Dune by Frank Herbert, though I never read the book, I did watch the film by David Lynch which has been re-made this year by Canadian filmmaker Denis Villeneuve.

“I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.”

Fear is not a bad thing, it is a motivator, until it is not, and we freeze, then fear is a very bad thing. Fear keeps us from getting killed in dangerous situations. Cowards (like me) have a knack for survival. But, like the hero from “Dune,’ sometimes we have to overcome our fear when there is something more important to worry about, like your health. Part of health for me is making Art, and talking with people that have positive outlooks on life. I suppose this is why I enjoy the perspective of those that have spent more time on Earth than I, the stoic ones.

So how about a year in review post, here’s what I did, etc.? How about a poem that marks the year? a funny anecdote, a comedic commentary, not for this year, for this year I am focusing on how I made it through, using five words.

PAINT: it is both a privilege and an honour to make Art, every day. It is my work, but also my therapy. Painting gives me the ability to focus my thoughts and process them in a beautiful and lasting way, not unlike writing. My therapy is also my gift back to the world, that I hope touches another human, in some way.

PHOTOGRAPHY: before and after creating a new work of art on canvas or wood, I take photographs. This year there were fewer opportunities for trips afar, so focused on my backyard and community that surrounds. This year I was moved by my hometown in ways I have not been in a very long time.

WALK: long walks in nature, down rocky beaches, through rainforest trails, and up mountainsides give me more than I could ever return. It’s free therapy and a reminder that whatever it is the weighs on us, can be lifted greatly in a short conversation with that which does not speak words, only sounds and smells.

BIKE: this year like many I invested in a good bicycle, allowing for longer excursions exploring nature, investigating areas which feet and automobiles cannot take us.

RELEASE: survivor guilt occurs when people who lose families, friends, or neighbors in disasters themselves remain untouched or, at least, alive. My survivor guilt is figurative. First-generation college students, for example, often feel torn by conflicting emotions about their success in school. They want to do well (and their families want them to also), but the students themselves feel guilty that they are getting opportunities that their parents or siblings did not. To “protect” their family members, they may engage in self-destructive behaviors that ensure they won’t make it in school. Logic would dictate that the family truly wants the student to succeed (and thus bring honor to the family), but this logic is lost on the student. The power comes in releasing yourself from the guilt, and I work hard to remind myself every single day that I deserve this career and all the things I have worked so hard on achieving, personally and professionally.

For most of the year I have remained silent in light of all the struggling that surrounds me, and I have experienced a range of emotions this year, just like everyone else. This year has been hard for ALL, but it really wasn’t that hard, in fact it ‘is what it is’ only the change came so rapidly that it upset us from our comfortable rhythms. What’s that quote, ‘Man plans and good laughs’ or in my mind, it is nature that is laughing at us.

Ultimately, when I look back at 2020 I feel immense gratitude. On the Art side I bobbed, weaved, and hustled and came out having a good productive, year. I painted the shit out of this year, loved hard, peeling back my vulnerability to it’s core. I laughed, cried, danced and fell off my bike (true story). I drank too much, ate too much, and gave more than I had in me to those that needed it more than me. And then the monoliths began appearing.

You have seen that film, ‘A Beautiful Life’ ? It’s pretty fucking grand, isn’t it? Imagine if everything was perfect, pretty, and fair all the time? Boring.

I love you all! Thanks for reading. Shine on.

Cheers to 2021 – another year playing the game of LIFE.

Sincerely Yours,

Brandy Saturley

December 31, 2020

12 Years Painting Canada

Art Career

Celebrating 12 Years Painting Canada.

July 1, 2019 marked my 12^th year as a full-time professional visual artist, painting Canada. This past week I received an email from an art dealer in the Silicon Valley, their first question to me, “how long have you been an artist?” This is always a very strange question to an artist, as artists’ we have all been making art since we were children, and as such we have always considered ourselves artists.

This means, I have been an artist for over 40 years. My professional career, where I began showing and selling my work, began about 30 years ago, while still in high school. Over the past two decades, I have spent a considerable amount of time setting myself up as an independent self-representing artist. For many years I worked a side job, while producing artwork, mostly drawing. I began painting, seriously, about 18 years ago.

The past 12 years have been all about painting, exhibiting, traveling, and selling my art. Over the past 8 years I have worked hard at immersing myself deeply into the Canadian art communities of Edmonton, Calgary, Vancouver, Montreal, Winnipeg, and Toronto. I have created two collaborative projects, written for numerous Canadian publications and artist websites and have contributed to the Canadian Arts community through advocacy groups and on public art committees. I’ve visited a few art fairs, won a few awards and been paid to show my work. I have been commissioned to make work for corporations and private clients, and have licensed my work to many unique brands in Canada and the USA. As I head into my 13^th year, I am reflecting on some works of the past.

Twelve paintings for 12 years. It was hard for me to pick twelve, as I have painted near 400 now. It was also more challenging to pick favourites as the years increased. I am finding I now have more favourites than I did in the beginning. Maybe it highlights consistency as an artist as my years of experience grow, or as my passion for painting deepens. You would think after 12 years of painting daily my interest would wain, but it is quite the opposite, the intensity and passion grow. Rather than focus on my accomplishments of the past twelve years, I want to focus on the personal side of my journey as an Artist, and how life and art are intertwined and have become one in the same.

Here are 12 paintings for 12 years;

2007

The TREES Period: in 2007 I was fresh out of the gate with full days to concentrate on painting, naturally I began with nature. My live/work studio at the time was a 6^th floor view of Beacon Hill Park in Victoria, BC – nothing but trees for miles. I guess I had trees on the brain, and still love finding the character in each tree I meet.

Arbutus Hug – 40×30, acrylic on canvas, 2007, Brandy Saturley

2008

The VEGAS Period: in 2006 I was married in Las Vegas, by Elvis of course! The sheer ‘overload’ and ‘overstimulation’ provided by this loud landscape was putting electric images in my head. The otherworldly shows of Montreal born, Cirque Du Soleil, helped push these ideas as my mind spun like a top.

Cirque Reflections – 48×24, acrylic on canvas, 2008, Brandy Saturley

2009

The BEATLES Period: this marks the year that I FULLY connected with the Beatles and their entire catalogue of music. I was born years after they broke-up, but once I fully embraced their music, they have played consistently in the background of my studio. The Beatles channel on Sirius satellite radio is a revelation, and the narratives of their music, as well as their album covers continue to inspire my brush. The Beatles Period has never really ended and continues to creep into my work.

Passion Gnu Solo (Glass Onion Soup) – 48×48, acrylic on canvas, 2009, Brandy Saturley

2010

The TRANSITIONAL Period: as I continued to move forward with mastering figurative techniques in my paintings, my romance with the landscapes of Canada remained. This year I moved my home and studio into a space more than double my previous. My view turns to lagoon, ocean and estuary, with birdsong and nature at the helm. The greenness of BC and the trees brought inspiration for my largest painting to date, at 48” wide by 60” wide, this piece is a showstopper of soothing green and abstract forms.

Aerial Landscape: Crossroads – 48×60, acrylic on canvas, Brandy Saturley, 2010

2011

The #ICONICCANUCK Period

2010 brought the Olympic games to Vancouver BC – Canadian stereotype and pride was at an all-time high on the west coast of Canada, a place where we usually escape the stereotypical mounties, beer, moose and hockey. It made me think. What does it mean to be a Canadian? I began with hockey; the rest is history.

Goalie’s Mask: red, white & Dryden – 36×48, acrylic on canvas, Brandy Saturley, 2010

2012

As I continue with my ‘Canadian’ comment I incorporate the Canadian flag for composition purposes, on the landscape. Travels through the Rocky Mountains imprint on my mind. Emboldening my comment on Canada.

Poppies For Louise – 48×36, acrylic on canvas, 2012, Brandy Saturley

2013

With a Goalie Mask on the Canadian flag, my initial representation of Canada, my focus turns to nature and a black bear skull on the iconic Hudson’s Bay Company stripes. A good representation of Canadian symbolism in art.

HBC Skull – 36×48, acrylic on canvas, Brandy Saturley, 2013

2014

The CANCER Period: the end of 2014 marked a bit of exhaustion and a diagnosis of cervical cancer, with a radical hysterectomy and lymph node removal, the remedy. In December, I had major surgery. It was another transitional time, and reminder that art does not happen without health. This year changed my outlook on life, and as an artist.

Dreaming in the Colours of Eh – 48×36, acrylic on canvas, Brandy Saturley, 2014

2015

The CANADIANISMS Period: the beginning of 2015 marked my comeback from surgery and aftereffects. It took me a while to get my core muscles back, as I began the year with some very small works. By the Summer I was back at it with this large format piece, at 48×48 inches. I was thinking beyond the stereotypes of Canada and turning back to the landscapes, nature and our connection to the land.

Canadian Subconscious – 48×48, acrylic on canvas, Brandy Saturley, 2015

2016

The REBIRTH Period: a new body, a new mindset and a renewed interest in the landscape, this time interjecting myself into the famous landscapes of Lawren Harris and the Group of Seven. My commentary as a female Canadian painter was deepening, as my fearlessness in art and life had grown to new heights. I felt fully prepared to take on the greats and claim my spot in Canadian art history.

Let Your Backbone Rise – 36×36, acrylic on canvas, Brandy Saturley, 2016

2017

The CANADA150 Period: with the past 5 years painting themes of Canadiana, the public galleries came calling for content. With a traveling solo retrospective, numbering more than 30 paintings, my year was filled with celebration, art talks, conversations, and stories that would fill my next bodies of work. As the past paintings connected with audiences in other parts of Canada, I continued to paint myself into the landscape. Marveling at it’s grandeur, examining it’s importance in Canadian art, honouring the land and holding it safely for future generations.

A Landscape to Go – acrylic on wood panel, 36×36, Brandy Saturley, 2017

2018

The LANDSCAPE AS PORTRAIT Period: with 2018 came another change in life, a move into a new home and studio, my largest studio to date. With this change a need to move my comment on Canada forward. I began looking more to my feelings, expressing these feelings through use of colour and form, while continuing to keep a figure in the landscape. My new, visionary paintings collage different, unexpected elements of Canadiana rendered in my characteristic pop aesthetic. These landscapes oscillate between a graphic realism used for Canada’s famous mountain peaks or views of forest lakes, and the abstractness of the colorful, even psychedelic backgrounds. These new paintings are otherworldly, transportive and playful.

Raised in The Sky – acrylic on canvas, 36×48, Brandy Saturley, 2018

Onto lucky number 13.

2019

The LONDON Year: taking my art, International.

As I head into year thirteen, I am preparing for a new adventure and opportunity to push the boundaries of my painting. For one month I will be making new work at the Royal College of Art in London as part of their Contemporary Art Summer program. It will be an intense three weeks of art making in the largest city in the European Union, and one of the world’s major art centres. As I work on preparing materials for my trip, I am looking forward to connecting with my Cornish heritage. Bringing my ‘Canadianisms’ to London – I am excited about this new opportunity to examine my work, through a British lens.

You can watch my progress in London on Instagram, my Facebook fan page or here on this blog.

July 4, 2019