Eagle and Orcas Painting

Guardians of the Salish Sea: An Eagle and Orcas Painting

I paint in series. More often than not, a single painting is only the beginning of a story. Much like storyboarding for a film, I typically create four or five paintings around a particular theme or narrative. When a new idea takes hold, it often requires more than one canvas to fully express where the work is leading me.

This new painting comes on the heels of a distinctly West Coast commission I recently completed for a client. That work featured sea lions and a raven along the shoreline, capturing the spirit of the Pacific coast through a palette of blues, greens, greys, and touches of yellow. It was a painting driven by intuition and feeling, and when it was finished, I found myself reflecting on how much my West Coast home has been influencing my work.

Sealions Song, c. 2026 Acrylic On Canvas 30 x 60 x 1.5 in – Brandy Saturley

Following a recent move to Parksville, and fresh from a series of beach shell paintings, I have been spending more time immersed in the rhythms of coastal life. Typically, I spend much of the year travelling across Canada gathering inspiration, but this year has been different. The move encouraged me to slow down, settle in, and absorb my surroundings. The ocean, the shoreline, and the abundance of local wildlife have gradually seeped into my consciousness and found their way onto the canvas.

This brings me to Guardians of the Salish Sea, a painting that celebrates life on Canada’s Pacific coast. Every year, orcas and eagles make their presence known here. They are apex predators, powerful symbols of the wild, and in many ways feel like guardians of the coastline. To visitors arriving on Vancouver Island, they can seem like a welcoming committee, embodying the strength, beauty, and mystery of the region.

Chair on Contemplation in the studio – a final look before finishing – Brandy Saturley Studio

Surprisingly, despite years of painting Canadian subjects, I had never painted either eagles or orcas. It felt like the right moment to add them to my growing body of work exploring the Canadian experience. Living in Parksville has brought me closer to the natural world than ever before. Here, I am only steps away from the ocean and the constant activity of wildlife, where every walk offers the possibility of an unexpected encounter. This painting expresses those experiences and celebrates them. It carries a strong Pacific Northwest spirit, rooted in the landscape and wildlife that define Canada’s West Coast. The eagle and orcas feel less like separate subjects and more like guardians sharing the same territory, connected by the waters and skies they inhabit.

In many Indigenous cultures of the Pacific Northwest, both the eagle and the orca hold profound significance. The eagle is often associated with vision, wisdom, strength, and a connection between the earthly and spiritual worlds. The orca symbolizes family, protection, intelligence, and community. Together, they represent a balance of power and stewardship, qualities that resonate deeply within the coastal environment they call home. For me, Guardians of the Salish Sea is both a celebration of place and a reflection of a personal shift. It marks a period of slowing down, paying closer attention to my surroundings, and embracing the landscape just outside my door. As I continue to explore this new chapter of coastal living, I suspect the ocean and its inhabitants will continue to appear in my work, carrying their stories onto future canvases. The Canadian story is not only found in our cities, highways, and cultural icons. It is also written in the tides, the forests, and the creatures that have shaped this land for generations. Guardians is my tribute to that enduring connection.

Guardians of The Coast, c. 2026 Acrylic On Canvas 30 x 60 x 1.5 in – Brandy Saturley

An Eagle and Orcas Painting – Add it to your collection

Guardians of the Salish Sea captures a moment of connection between land, sea, and sky, embodying the enduring spirit of Canada’s Pacific coastline. Rich in symbolism and atmosphere, this original painting is designed to be lived with and enjoyed for years to come. If the imagery, story, and energy of the West Coast resonate with you, I invite you to view the painting and explore its details. Original works such as this become part of a collector’s own story, serving as a lasting reminder of the beauty, power, and wonder of the Canadian coast.

Guardians of The Salish Sea, c. 2026 Acrylic On Canvas 30 x 60 x 1.5 in – Brandy Saturley

June 4, 2026

Paintings of 2026

New Paintings

Rituals of Winter, Roads to Spring: Paintings of 2026

A third of the way through the year feels like the right moment to pause and take stock of what has been unfolding in the studio, these are the first paintings of 2026.

January opened in a distinctly Canadian key. Winter settled in not just outside, but inside the work itself. My focus turned to the Rocky Mountains, to the rhythm of cold days, long shadows, and the rituals that shape life in this season. I began with skiing. Not just the act, but the full experience surrounding it. The landscape, the light, the quiet exhilaration, and the social rituals that follow. Snow drapes the mountains in soft planes of pastel colour, interrupted by sharp blue shadows and crisp skies. It becomes both stage and atmosphere.

It’s An Apres Life, 2026 Acrylic On Canvas 30 x 30 x 1.5 in – Brandy Saturley

The first painting of 2026 captures a simple moment. Two hands raise glasses of Aperol Spritz in a quiet toast at the end of a day on the slopes. The vivid orange glows against a sweeping alpine backdrop. In the distance, a lone skier cuts across the white expanse, the last movement before stillness takes over. It is a painting about balance. Effort and rest. Cold air and warmth. Solitude and shared experience. A small human gesture set against something vast.

This thread carried forward into works like Double the Swish and Bottoms Up, which continue to explore the culture of the mountain. These are not just images of skiing, but of the stories that unfold around it.

Double The Swish, acrylic on canvas, 30 x 30 x 1.5 inches – Brandy Saturley

Another painting shifts the focus slightly. A couple stands before a snow-covered peak beneath an electric blue sky. Their toques are pulled low, obscuring their eyes, just as they lean in to kiss. It is playful, intimate, and slightly anonymous. A universal moment held within a distinctly Canadian setting.

Blind Love, c. 2026 Acrylic On Canvas 30 x 30 x 1.5 in – Brandy Saturley

Paintings of 2026: Hockey Stories

From there, the work moved naturally into hockey.

Outdoor hockey, specifically. The kind played on frozen ponds rather than inside arenas. The kind that belongs as much to memory as it does to sport.

In Pushing the Puck, three players surge across the ice in a tightly wound moment of play. At the centre, a skater in a red plaid jacket leans forward with intent, flanked by opponents in blue and white jerseys. The mix of outdoor clothing and traditional uniforms blurs the line between formal sport and improvised game.

The painting is about movement and rhythm, but also about familiarity. Hockey here is not spectacle. It is lived experience. A shared language shaped by winter, community, and repetition.

Pushing the Puck, c. 2026 Acrylic On Canvas 30 x 30 x 1.5 in – Brandy Saturley

That idea expands in Toronto Winter. A lone figure stands on a frozen expanse, poised before taking a shot. The CN Tower rises quietly in the distance, its presence unmistakable but subdued. The skater’s back is turned, drawing the viewer into a private, almost meditative moment.

This is not the roar of a crowd. It is the quiet focus of being alone on the ice. The city feels both near and distant, suggesting a tension between urban life and personal escape. The bold red jacket grounds the composition, a human pulse against the stillness of blue and white.

Toronto Winter, c. 2026 Acrylic On Canvas 30 x 30 x 1.5 in – Brandy Saturley

As winter gave way to spring, the work began to shift.

A commissioned painting introduced new elements. A beach, puffins, herons, a cottage, and distant islands. The imagery opened outward, moving from enclosed winter scenes into broader coastal spaces.

This transition led into Gateway to The World. Three figures stand at the edge of a vast ocean, looking outward toward a line of snow-capped mountains. The water stretches into a deep, contemplative blue, broken by fragments of ice. The scene feels both expansive and introspective, as if the figures are standing at the threshold of something unknown yet familiar.

Gateway to The World, c. 2026 Acrylic On Canvas 18 x 48 x 1.5 in – Brandy Saturley

At the same time, I returned to my ongoing series of interventions into Canadian art history. These works engage directly with painters such as Lawren Harris and Emily Carr, not simply as homage, but as a way of entering the conversation they began.

In The Red We Carry, I step into a landscape inspired by Emily Carr’s Indian Church. This is not a reproduction, but a re-entry. A contemporary body placed within a historic visual language. The work becomes layered, holding past and present in the same frame.

The Red We Carry, c. 2026 Acrylic On Canvas 30 x 30 x 1.5 in – Brandy Saturley

It asks how identity is shaped over time, how histories remain embedded in place, and how the landscape continues to carry these narratives forward.

Now, moving into the next phase of the year, I am beginning a new commissioned work focused on the West Coast. Looking back at the past few months, there is a clear sense of movement. From mountains to ice, from cities to shorelines.

Each painting feels like a waypoint. Together, they form a larger journey that continues to unfold. Enjoy more paintings here.

April 30, 2026

Homage to Emily Carr

New Paintings

An Intervention into Canadian Art History: An Homage to Emily Carr

Around 2016, I began placing myself within landscapes inspired by Lawren Harris. This was not simply an aesthetic decision. It was a deliberate act, a way of inserting myself into the canon of Canadian art. As a contemporary Canadian female artist, I wanted to open a conversation about where my work belongs and how that canon might expand.

I have long been drawn to Harris’s stylized landscapes, their dreamlike palettes, their quiet blues, and their sense of stillness. By borrowing from his visual language and positioning myself at the centre of the composition, I was, in some ways, calling out to be seen. Not quietly, but with intention.

Over time, my presence in these works shifted. Often, I appear with my back to the viewer, inviting them to stand with me rather than look at me. Together, we enter the landscape. Together, we consider it.

I have come to call this body of work Interventions. In these paintings, I exist as both observer and participant, stepping into the historical narrative while extending it. These works move beyond homage. They engage in dialogue with the past and carry it forward into the present. The landscape remains constant, but the voice within it evolves.

The Red We Carry, c. 2026 Acrylic On Canvas 30 x 30 x 1.5 in – Brandy Saturley

Homage to Emily Carr: The Red We Carry

In this most recent painting, I turn to the work of Emily Carr. Where Harris evokes the clarity of northern light and mountainous form, Carr’s work is deeply rooted in the west coast, with dense forests, saturated greens, and a sense of immersion within the land itself. The palette shifts from restraint to richness, from atmosphere to intensity.

Inspired by Carr’s Indian Church (Church at Yuquot Village) the familiar white chapel reappears, but no longer in isolation. It is partially obscured, interrupted by a contemporary figure caught mid-gesture, pulling a vivid red garment over their head. The action feels intimate, almost ritualistic, as though the figure is stepping into an identity or shedding one.

Red moves through the canvas like a pulse, insistent, alive, impossible to ignore. It cuts against the dense, Carr-like forest, where deep greens press inward, holding both shelter and tension. The church, once a singular presence, becomes fragmented and repeated, its crosses emerging through the foliage like quiet witnesses.

A tension settles into the work, between past and present, visibility and concealment, identity and imposed narrative. The figure’s face is hidden, resisting easy recognition. What remains is gesture and colour, a language that asks more than it explains.

This is not only a homage. It is a re-entry, a return to a landscape once painted by Carr, now inhabited by a contemporary body and voice. What emerges is a layered reflection on Canada itself, how histories persist, how identities are constructed and reconstructed, and how the land continues to hold these stories, quietly and without end.

The Red We Carry, c. 2026 Acrylic On Canvas 30 x 30 x 1.5 in – Brandy Saturley

April 28, 2026

Canadian Landscape Art Reimagined

New Paintings

Figurative Landscape and the Language of Colour: Canadian Art Reimagined

I have often said that I do not paint landscapes. I paint stories of the landscape through figures, icons, and myth. My work reimagines Canadian landscape art through a contemporary lens, where the human presence becomes central to how we experience place.

Rocky Mountains Higher, c. 2023 Acrylic 36 x 48 x 1.5 in – Brandy Saturley

There are two Canadian painters whose work I return to often, Prudence Heward and Alex Colville. Both placed the figure prominently within the landscape. This approach creates intrigue and draws the viewer in, inviting them to step into the scene and construct their own narrative.

Modern in its execution, this painting asks for your story.

Detail, Looking for the Icebergs, 2022 Acrylic on Canvas 30 x 48 x 1.5 in – Brandy Saturley

Canadian Landscape Art Reimagined – New Painting

Three figures stand at the edge of something vast and quiet, their backs turned, their attention fixed on a horizon that feels both distant and familiar. The ocean stretches out in a deep, contemplative blue, flecked with ripples of light, like thoughts not yet settled. Beyond it, a procession of snow-capped mountains rises, steady, ancient, unmoved.

Each figure carries their own presence into the scene. Red hats act as anchors, small but powerful signals of warmth against the cool expanse, while their coats suggest individuality without distraction. They are together, but not entangled. Companions in stillness.

Gateway to The World, c. 2026 Acrylic On Canvas 18 x 48 x 1.5 in – Brandy Saturley

There is no fixed narrative here, only the suggestion of one. Are they witnessing, remembering, or waiting?

The composition holds a quiet tension between intimacy and immensity. The human scale is small against the landscape, yet emotionally central. The viewer is positioned just behind them, invited into that shared gaze and into that pause.

Gateway to The World, c. 2026 Acrylic On Canvas 18 x 48 x 1.5 in – Brandy Saturley

Colour carries the emotional weight of the painting. Red pulses with energy and immediacy, pulling the eye forward, while blue and white recede into a meditative calm. It becomes a conversation between warmth and distance, presence and reflection.

This is not just a landscape. It is a moment of collective looking, a pause long enough for place, memory, and identity to rise to the surface.

For collectors, this work offers more than an image. It offers an experience that evolves over time. The narrative is never fixed, shifting with light, mood, and memory. As with much of my work, it invites a personal connection, one that deepens the longer you live with it. In this way, the painting becomes not only a reflection of Canada, but a quiet mirror for the viewer themselves.

Gateway to The World, c. 2026 Acrylic On Canvas 18 x 48 x 1.5 in – Brandy Saturley

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April 15, 2026

Snowy Paintings Celebrating Winter

New Paintings

From Skiing to Ice Hockey – Snowy Paintings Celebrating Winter

The 2026 Winter Olympics are in full swing, and it has me finding ways to celebrate through snowy paintings that embrace the joy, movement, and stillness of Winter. From downhill skiing to après ski moments, from icy outdoor rinks to playful gestures, the first five paintings of 2026 are infused with curiosity, energy, and quiet reflection.

Double the Swish, c. 2026 Acrylic On Canvas 30 x 30 x 1.5 in – Brandy Saturley

In the first painting, two downhill skiers in red sweaters crest a snowy rise, moving in instinctive unison as their skis carve soft arcs through powder. Their synchronized descent balances speed and stillness, light and shadow, companionship and solitude. Behind them, a mountain slips into cool purples, while a sunlit yellow hill glows in the foreground, warming the composition. It is a fleeting moment of harmony with the mountain, where movement becomes poetry.

It’s An Apres Life, 2026 Acrylic On Canvas 30 x 30 x 1.5 in – Brandy Saturley

Next, we shift to après ski: two hands raise glasses of Aperol Spritz in a quiet toast at the end of a day on the slopes. The vivid orange drinks glow against a sweeping alpine landscape of snow-covered peaks and cool blue shadows. A lone skier glides across the distance, the final trace of motion before rest. This painting captures the pleasure of pause, reward, and connection – the simple joy of marking a day well spent.

Blind Love, c. 2026 Acrylic On Canvas 30 x 30 x 1.5 in – Brandy Saturley

Another work captures a tender, playful moment: two figures stealing a kiss on a snowy peak beneath a vivid blue sky, their toques pulled down low over their eyes. A gesture of intimacy amid the grandeur of winter, it reminds us that small moments of warmth can be as impactful as the vast landscapes around us.

Ice Hockey – Snowy Paintings Celebrating Winter

Pushing the Puck, c. 2026 Acrylic On Canvas 30 x 30 x 1.5 in – Brandy Saturley

From skiing to ice hockey, the energy shifts. Three hockey players surge across the ice in a tightly charged moment of play. At the center, a skater in a red plaid jacket leans forward with intent, cutting through the blue with purposeful strides, flanked by two opposing players in classic blue-and-white jerseys. The contrast between outdoor attire and traditional uniforms blurs the line between organized sport and informal pond hockey. This scene celebrates hockey as lived experience: a fast, familiar ritual rooted in camaraderie, competition, and the shared language of winter.

Toronto Winter, c. 2026 Acrylic On Canvas 30 x 30 x 1.5 in – Brandy Saturley

Finally, a lone figure stands poised on a frozen expanse, hockey stick near the puck, caught in a moment of concentration before the shot. Dressed in a bright red jacket and blue toque, their back is turned to the viewer, inviting us into a private ritual. Toronto’s skyline rises softly in the distance, the CN Tower cutting a familiar silhouette against a moody winter sky. Broad planes of blue and white echo the stillness of winter, while the red jacket anchors warmth and presence. This painting celebrates pond hockey as both cultural symbol and act of belonging – a quiet meditation on season, place, and identity.

Together, these paintings honor the many faces of winter – from exhilarating movement and shared celebration to intimate gestures and reflective solitude. They remind us that the season is not just a backdrop, but a space for play, ritual, connection, and joy, captured in fleeting moments that stay with us long after the snow has melted.

February 10, 2026

New Skiing Paintings

New Paintings

A Life of Swish – New Skiing Paintings

With the 2026 Olympic Games on the horizon, I have found myself both watching and painting the sport of skiing. It is a world of snow and swish, of movement and stillness, exhilaration and quiet. And, of course, there is the Après. That essential ritual where the body rests and the stories begin.

Saint Kanata, c. 2011 Acrylic 48 x 36 x 1.5 in – Brandy Saturley

Living on Vancouver Island, not far from my studio, we are fortunate to have our own ski hill. Mount Washington, perched on the eastern edge of the Vancouver Island Ranges, is home to the Mount Washington Alpine Resort and a vibrant local ski culture. Beyond the island, British Columbia offers world-class skiing on the mainland, most notably in Whistler. Moving east across the Rocky Mountains of Alberta, places like Lake Louise and countless other alpine destinations continue the story. Together, these landscapes form a vast and distinctly Canadian backdrop for life on skis.

The Kiss, c. 2023 Acrylic On Canvas 36 x 48 x 1.5 in – Private Collection, Edmonton Canada – Brandy Saturley

Over the years, skiing has entered my visual world as a recurring narrative on canvas. From the rush of speed and gravity to the social rituals that follow a day on the mountain, I have returned to skiing as both subject and metaphor. It is a sport that holds joy, effort, solitude, and togetherness in the same breath.

New Skiing Paintings

In these latest paintings, my focus narrows to the swish of skis and the spirit of Après.

In one painting, two downhill skiers in red sweaters crest a snowy rise, moving in quiet unison as their skis carve soft arcs through the powder. Their descent feels instinctive rather than competitive, a shared rhythm shaped by gravity and terrain. Behind them, a mountain slips into shadow, its cool purples anchoring the scene, while a sunlit yellow hill glows in the foreground, warming the composition. The painting captures a fleeting balance between speed and stillness, light and shadow, companionship and solitude on the mountain.

Double the Swish, c. 2026 Acrylic On Canvas 30 x 30 x 1.5 in – Brandy Saturley

In another painting, two hands raise glasses of Aperol Spritz in a quiet toast at the end of a day on the slopes. The vivid orange drinks glow against a sweeping alpine landscape of snow-covered peaks and cool blue shadows. In the distance, a lone skier glides across the white expanse, a final trace of movement before rest fully sets in.

It’s An Apres Life, 2026 Acrylic On Canvas 30 x 30 x 1.5 in – Brandy Saturley

This painting balances exhilaration and stillness. It is a pause after effort, where cold air meets warmth, and shared ritual follows physical exertion. Set within a grand mountain landscape, the scene celebrates connection, reward, and the simple pleasure of marking the end of a day well spent.

See more paintings by Brandy Saturley.

January 28, 2026

New Pond Hockey Paintings

New Paintings

Where It Was Born: New Pond Hockey Paintings

I never grew up skating on ponds. Yes, I am Canadian, but I live on the West Coast, where winter rarely settles in long enough for ice to thicken and hold. Pond hockey belongs to another geography. But if you grew up anywhere east of British Columbia, chances are you did. A frozen pond. A backyard rink. A farmer’s flooded field.

Pond Hockey Days, c. 2021 Acrylic On Canvas 36 x 48 x 1.5 in – Private Collection, Victoria Canada – Brandy Saturley

I have heard those stories countless times, gathered around backyard fire pits where Canadians trade memories of cold fingers, cracked ice, and last light games. I am also quietly obsessed with the Outdoor Hockey Club videos on YouTube. They capture something essential about skating outdoors, not just the game, but the feeling. The openness. The camaraderie. The way winter becomes a shared experience rather than something to endure.

The Prodigy, 2021 Acrylic On Canvas 36 x 48 x 1.5 in – Private Collection, Montreal Canada – Brandy Saturley

Over the years, I have painted more than a few hockey paintings under my #iconiccanuck lens. Early on, my work focused on the NHL and its larger mythology. Eventually, I stepped back to where the passion for hockey is truly born: the outdoor rink. These paintings struck a different chord with Canadians, one rooted less in spectacle and more in memory, emotion, and lived experience.

Glide Away, c. 2023 Acrylic On Canvas 36 x 48 x 1.5 in – Brandy Saturley

In recent years, that exploration has widened to include skating without the stick. A quieter ritual. A pastime that keeps people moving, social, and connected through the long winters of the true north.

Last One Out, c. 2024 Acrylic On Canvas 24 x 30 x 1.5 in – Brandy Saturley

New Pond Hockey Paintings

Fast-forward to two new paintings I have just completed. Both are set on outdoor ponds in Ontario, where winter hockey feels expansive and uncontained. One painting features a solitary figure kicking a puck across unmanicured ice, with downtown Toronto and the CN Tower standing in the distance, a meeting of wilderness and city.

Toronto Winter, c. 2026 Acrylic On Canvas 30 x 30 x 1.5 in – Brandy Saturley

The second painting shows a group of men on an ODR, dressed in plaid shirts and jogging pants, skate laces tied around pant legs. It is unpolished, unscripted, and full of joy, the kind of winter afternoon that exists outside of time.

Pushing the Puck, c. 2026 Acrylic On Canvas 30 x 30 x 1.5 in – Brandy Saturley

These new works extend my ongoing visual stories about pond hockey, a tradition woven deeply into the fabric of Canada, where the game was never just played, but lived.

See more ice hockey paintings here.

January 28, 2026

Canada Goose Painting

New Paintings

A Messenger From The North – A Painting About a Canada Goose

When I look back at the paintings I’ve made over the past two decades, a few things rise to the surface like landmarks on a familiar map. I return again and again to the stories of my Canadian experience as seen through the eyes of a woman travelling, observing, and painting her way across the country. I’m drawn to figurative landscapes where people anchor the land and the land shapes them in return. And woven through this long journey is one recurring companion: the Canada Goose.

The goose has appeared in many of my narratives about Canada. Sometimes it stands at the centre, a full-bodied protagonist. Other times it moves along the edges, framing the story with its quiet authority. No matter its position, it carries its own weight of meaning.

To many, the Canada Goose is more than a bird. Its steadfast flight speaks of loyalty, cooperation, communication, and endurance. Its V-formation is a testament to shared leadership. Its lifelong bonds echo the resilience of relationships built through weather and time. Across Indigenous cultures, the goose is a sacred seasonal marker, a signal of change and continuity. In folklore, it can move between worlds, a guide or a wandering soul. It is a creature stitched deeply into the cycles of nature and into our collective sense of the North.

In this new painting, a woman stands in the open hush of a snow-covered landscape, her gaze steady beneath the warm shelter of a fur hat. Behind her, the sky burns in a late-day flare of orange, as if the sun has cracked the horizon and spilled its final breath of light across a ridge of deep blue mountains.

Northern Messenger – 18×36 inches, acrylic on canvas, 2025 – Brandy Saturley

A Canada Goose cuts across her face in full flight, its wing sweeping through the scene like a living brushstroke. It becomes an envoy, sliding the wild world directly into her line of sight, binding her to the land and to the long migratory stories carried on beating wings. Her embroidered coat glows with reds and blues, a pulse of northern life against the winter quiet.

The painting settles into something part portrait and part vision: a moment where human presence and the instinctive rhythm of nature align in brief, luminous agreement. The goose becomes the messenger, the woman the witness, and the landscape a silent accomplice to their shared moment of connection.

Inside Brandy Saturley Studio – Parksville, Canada

December 12, 2025

The Cutting Room Floor

New Paintings

The Business of Editing Art – When It Ends Up on the Cutting Room Floor

You’ve likely heard the phrase “the cutting room floor.” It comes from the early days of filmmaking, when footage was physically shot on film and editors would literally cut unwanted frames from the reel. Those discarded snippets, sometimes entire scenes, would fall to the floor beneath the editing table, later swept into a bin at the end of the day. While rooted in film history, the phrase has grown to describe anything removed from a final product, and the thoughtful, sometimes difficult, process of deciding what stays and what goes.

In painting, editing takes on its own form. After creating a series of works, or even within the development of a single commissioned piece, there comes a moment of selection. It’s the quiet but essential task of choosing the strongest pieces, the ones that create a cohesive story, a sense of flow, or a clear direction for an exhibition. With commissions, it becomes the process of exploring and refining ideas, then presenting the options that best align with a client’s vision.

Inside Brandy Saturley studio

Recently, I was commissioned by The Tragically Hip to create a winter-themed image for their Strictly Limited poster series. The brief was to produce an original painting that would later be photographed and reproduced as prints. With a few concepts swirling in my mind, I decided to paint two different versions and let the band choose the one they felt resonated most with the project.

Inside Brandy Saturley studio

Now that the prints are complete and the commission wrapped, I’m left with the painting that wasn’t selected. And as often happens in the creative process, what doesn’t make the final cut still has its own story, and sometimes its own moment to shine. With its warm, festive mood, I chose to give this painting a new purpose as the image for my holiday cards this year.

So while painters don’t have a literal cutting room floor, we do have pieces that don’t end up where originally intended. The beauty is that these works – often strong, meaningful pieces in their own right – can still find their place in the world. And in this case, while the image is spreading holiday cheer through cards, the original painting itself is available for purchase.

You’re Too Sweet For Me, 48×36 inches, acrylic on canvas, 2025 – Brandy Saturley

December 8, 2025

Inukshuk Painting

New Paintings

A Totem to The Stars – An Inukshuk Painting

It is no secret by now that I have been painting stories of west coast beaches this Autumn. The treasures that line the sand and the structures built from beach things by human hands. I have been making paintings about shells, beach huts, Inukshuk and being in these landscapes.

Shell Still Life Paintings – Brandy Saturley – 2025

With this most recent painting I wanted to capture the aura of the rock stacks seen on the beaches. Here on Vancouver Island you will see these totems of balanced rocks at the corners of the beaches. Sometimes balanced on rock and other times balanced on logs. Know as Inukshuk, these towers come with rocks of various sizes and shapes and are skillfully built into delicately balanced towers to the sky. Inukshuk is a figure made of piled stones or boulders constructed to communicate with humans throughout the Arctic. Traditionally constructed by the Inuit, inuksuit are integral to Inuit culture and are often intertwined with representations of Canada and the North.

Inukshuk in Parksville, BC – 2025

This vibrant acrylic painting features an inuksuk rendered in bold, sculptural layers of stone, each shape carefully balanced to form a vertical figure rising from a rugged landscape. The stones are painted in warm earth tones – soft creams, deep charcoals, russet reds, and weathered greys – giving the structure a grounded, tactile presence. Behind it, the sky glows with a rich blend of ultramarine, violet, and magenta, creating a luminous twilight atmosphere. Flecks of white stars scatter across the sky, lending a sense of vastness and quiet northern magic.

Totem Song, 36×18, acrylic on canvas, 2025 – Brandy Saturley

The foreground suggests rocky terrain, its textures and contours echoing the layered forms of the inuksuk itself. The contrast between the solid, ancient stones and the dreamlike celestial backdrop creates a powerful tension between earth and sky, permanence and wonder. The painting captures the symbolism of the inuksuk as both a guide and a marker of presence – a beacon of human connection within the expansive Canadian landscape.

Inukshuk painting on an entry wall.

December 5, 2025