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A Spirit Bear Painting

Tales of the Wild West Coast – A Spirit Bear Painting

In late 2019, I began painting stories of a polar bear searching for a new home – a journey that took this wandering bear from coast to coast, discovering the beauty and vastness of Canada. Along the way, the bear has been joined by a cast of familiar Canadian characters, from Canada Geese to moose, each adding to this evolving visual narrative.

A Spirit Bear Painting

Float Away With Me, 12×9 inches, acrylic on canvas, 2025 – Brandy Saturley

Most recently, I found myself drawn to another iconic creature, the spirit bear, adding a new chapter to this ongoing story of travels across Canada.

The elusive Kermode – Spirit Bear

The spirit bear, also known as the Kermode bear, is a subspecies of the American black bear found along the Central and North Coast regions of British Columbia. With its distinctive white coat, the spirit bear is the official provincial mammal of British Columbia. These white bears are not albinos, they have pigmented skin and eyes, and while not exceedingly rare, their populations are carefully protected because of their deep ecological and cultural importance.

View of Mount Arrowsmith from Parksville, BC beach.

Over the past month, I’ve been painting the landscapes and still life of Parksville, British Columbia, my new home and studio by the sea. For this latest work, I wanted to capture the spirit of the West Coast in autumn: the soft tones of the beach, the distant rise of Mount Arrowsmith, and the abundant bird life that fills the scene with energy. It felt like the perfect landscape for a spirit bear to roam, quietly powerful, reflective, and free.

A Spirit Bear Painting

A Spirited Walk, 30×30 inches, acrylic on canvas, 2025 – Brandy Saturley

Here is A Spirited Walk, my newest painting and the latest tale in this series of Canadian wanderers, a story of connection to place, myth, and the wild heart of the West Coast.

Painting Canada’s East and West

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Comparing Coasts – Painting Canada’s East and West

When I set out to paint stories of Canada, I knew I couldn’t do it without eventually comparing my west coast home with the east coast of this country. Over the years, I have painted the prairies, the Rocky Mountains, and the North, but it wasn’t until 2023 that I found myself standing on the easternmost point of Canada, looking out toward the Atlantic from the rugged cliffs of Newfoundland, and painting Canada’s East and West coasts.

Maui in Newfoundland

Pouch Cove, Newfoundland, Canada

An artist residency at the Pouch Cove Foundation allowed me to immerse myself for a month in rural Newfoundland, exploring the Avalon Peninsula and painting where the sun first rises in the country. It was exactly what I needed to complete a vision nearly two decades in the making – to fill the missing piece in my ongoing portrait of Canada.

Painting Canada's East and West

High Tide, 36×48 inches, acrylic on canvas, 2024 – Brandy Saturley

What I discovered on the east coast is that, despite our vast distance, both coasts share a deep affinity for the ocean. We live surrounded by it, shaped by it, and inspired by it. Yet, the Atlantic feels more fierce, more exposed, an endless expanse that pulls you outward. Here on Vancouver Island, the ocean is often framed by islands or the distant outline of the United States. It’s tamer at first glance, but venture north and you’ll find wild, uninhabited shores every bit as raw and powerful as Newfoundland’s cliffs. The cliffs there are their Rocky Mountains – ancient, resilient, and endlessly humbling.

Painting Canada’s East and West

With Wind and Without, 48×30 inches, acrylic on canvas, 2024, Brandy Saturley

Both coasts share a rugged individualism that sets them apart from the rest of Canada. We are, in many ways, outsiders – shaped by isolation and by a closeness to the elements. For years, I’ve been trying to reconcile my ideas of Canada and what it truly means to be Canadian. In that process, I often felt like an observer on my own coast, always looking for a way in. Newfoundland changed that. Painting there deepened my understanding of my home on Vancouver Island, and in turn, made me love it even more.

Painting Canada’s East and West

When I Go To SEE. 30×60 inches, acrylic on canvas, 2025 – Brandy Saturley

Now, as I paint from my new studio further up the Island, shifting from a southern to a mid-Island perspective, I find myself turning inward. My daily walks by the ocean have become quiet meditations. The beaches, the light, and the rhythms of the tides are slowly revealing themselves as new subjects in my work. It’s an introspective time, one that feels like a natural continuation of everything I’ve been exploring across the country.

West Coast Still Life

The World is Your Oyster, 30×30 inches, acrylic on canvas, 2025 – Brandy Saturley

This fall, I’ll be showing many of these new works, alongside paintings from across Canada, in my upcoming solo exhibition “The Wild Life” at the Miller Art Gallery in Edmonton, opening November 13, 2025. The show reflects a journey that has taken me from coast to coast, from one edge of the continent to the other. It’s a wild life indeed, and the journey continues.

Art with a Narrative

Rocky Mountains Higher, 36×49 inches, acrylic on canvas, 2023 – Brandy Saturley

Read more about Brandy Saturley’s time painting in Newfoundland here.

West Coast Still Life

Painting on the Left Coast – West Coast Still Life

We recently moved our home and my studio to the seaside city of Parksville, British Columbia – leaving my hometown of Victoria behind for a serene and immersive locale. After just one month, the studio is finally feeling like my own, and the paintings are flowing again. Five new works are already complete. It feels somewhat like being on an artist residency, and I’ve been treating these first few weeks as such.

The beach at low tide in Parksville BC – Canada

Though I’ve lived on Vancouver Island my entire life and traveled across Canada to make and show my art, I’ve rarely turned my focus to painting the West Coast itself. Since moving here, I’ve learned that many locals affectionately refer to it as the “Left Coast.” The phrase plays on geography, our coast lies on the left of the map, but also carries a certain spirit of independence and creative energy that defines this region.

The desire that once drove me to travel and connect with the rest of Canada came largely from feeling isolated from the national identity and the stereotypes of “Canadiana.” British Columbia has always stood apart. When British poet Rupert Brooke arrived in Vancouver after a cross-Canada journey in 1913, he wrote home: “It’s a queer place, rather different from the rest of Canada.” While others may have viewed BC as a rain-sodden outpost, those who live here understand that “Super, Natural British Columbia” is far closer to the truth. As humorist Eric Nicol once quipped, “British Columbians like to think of their province as a large body of land entirely surrounded by envy.”

The Beach in Parksville, BC – Canada

I’ve often said that we live in our own biosphere here on the coast. BC is undeniably part of Canada, yet it feels like its own realm, a place of unique rhythms and light. If, as historian Jean Barman suggested, “British Columbia is not so much a place as a state of mind,” then I find myself now immersed in exploring what that state of mind truly means.

Here in Parksville, I’ve been walking the endless sandy beaches, observing wildlife, flora, and the play of tide and wind. I find myself looking more closely than ever before, perhaps it’s that residency mindset taking hold. Beyond the beaches, I’ve explored the wetlands and railway tracks, visited the local MacMillan Arts Centre, and joined the Oceanside Arts Council, connecting with the vibrant creative community of Oceanside, Qualicum Beach, Nanoose Bay, and Nanaimo.

West Coast Still Life

New Paintings – West Coast Still Life

This exploration has already inspired two new paintings, visual stories of life by the ocean. The palette of these works draws directly from the coast: green-golds, blues, Payne’s grey, and raw sienna. They are part still life, part landscape, inviting the viewer to look closely at the natural details that define this place. Rocks and shells float serenely within these compositions, much as I feel when walking along the shore, listening to the rhythm of the waves.

West Coast Still Life

Unusual Oyster shell in Parksville, BC

The World Is Your Oyster reveals a uniquely shaped oyster shell shimmering above a beach landscape at low tide, while a Great Blue Heron stands silhouetted in the distance. The sundown sky glows with yellows and greys, a quiet tribute to the poetic solitude of the coast.

West Coast Still Life

The World is Your Oyster, 30×30 inches, acrylic on canvas, 2025, Brandy Saturley

Sumo tells another West Coast story. A stack of stones, balanced like an inukshuk, takes on the presence of a Sumo wrestler, strong, grounded, and immovable, set against a moody sky of blues and greys with a lush outcropping of green trees in the distance.

West Coast Still Life

Sumo, 16×16 inches, acrylic on canvas, 2025 – Brandy Saturley

These paintings are undeniably Left Coast – rooted in place and mood. As I continue this residency-like chapter of my practice, I look forward to seeing how this new home will shape the stories I tell through paint.

See more paintings of Canada here.

What is Canada?

Painting Canada Asks Me to Question, What is Canada?

When I began down a path fueled by an Olympic Games to answer the question, What is Canada to me? I never thought I would find myself nearly two decades later still working to express my thoughts of this country on canvas.

What is Canada?

The 2010 Olympics in Vancouver were loud and rife with stereotype: giant igloos and Inukshuk, beer and moose. I became curious about what the West Coast was trying to say about itself and how it was representing all of us on the world stage. Canadians are known for our quirky, self-deprecating sense of humour, and for gleefully making fun of ourselves at our own expense. When I began thinking about my impressions of Canada, I too began with stereotype and popular culture. It felt like the most natural place to start.

What is Canada?

I began painting hockey masks floating above the landscape, stories of hockey on canvas, and cultural icons reimagined through paint. I placed the Stanley Cup in the serene lounge of Château Lake Louise and set a giant cup of Tim Hortons coffee and donut holes on a frozen rink surrounded by skaters. I painted a Mountie with a thumbs up like The Fonz, riding a horse with a maple leaf tattoo on its flank that read “Eh.” I painted Pamela Anderson, clad in a bikini, reclining on top of a Macintosh’s Toffee Bar at Peggy’s Cove, and a portrait of everyday Canadians posed in front of the original Forum building, hockey stick in hand, wearing the same stoic expressions as American Gothic.

What is Canada?

In 2016 I set out on a series of journeys that would take me across Canada and into the Northern Territories. Through residencies, exhibitions, and planned excursions, I began to ask a deeper question: Who are Canadians? What began as a playful exploration of symbols and stereotypes evolved into a profound investigation of identity, geography, and collective consciousness.

The question “What is Canada?” became not a single answer but a lifelong dialogue.

available paintings montreal canadiens

It became about experience and connection, about gathering impressions and stories, then filtering them through paint, memory, and emotion.

Nearly twenty years later, my visual stories of Canada now encompass people, landscapes, myth, and Mother Nature herself. My work has become a conversation between the land and the people, between history and the present moment. From coast to coast to coast, each painting tells part of the story of how this vast and complex country shapes those who live within it.

Tariffs and Canadian Art

Writers such as Margaret Atwood, Louise Penny, Mike Myers, and Will Ferguson have wrestled with similar questions in their work. In Ferguson’s Why I Hate Canadians, he writes with both affection and frustration about our national character – our politeness, our contradictions, and our quiet pride. Like these authors, I too am searching for Canada, not as a fixed image, but as an evolving reflection of its people and places.

Art with a Narrative

Through painting, I have learned that Canada is not one story but many. It is the laughter echoing from a rink in small-town Saskatchewan, the vast silence of the Arctic, the salt air of the Atlantic, and the rain-soaked forests of the Pacific. It is our symbols, our humour, and our shared moments of awe in nature’s company.

What is Canada?

To paint Canada is to keep asking the question. And in doing so, I continue to discover a country that reveals itself one brushstroke at a time. For collectors, each painting in this ongoing series offers a piece of that discovery – a visual story of Canada seen through the eyes of an artist who has spent decades exploring its symbols, spirit, and soul.

See more Canadian paintings by Brandy Saturley.

Bowler Hat Painting

She Was Knocking On The Sky – A New Painting with a Bowler Hat

My painting process has always been rooted in storytelling. It begins with collecting, taking numerous photo references from my travels across Canada and collaging them together into a single narrative or scene. These photos might come from moments in nature or from the controlled light of my studio. Often, they sit in my archive for years before revealing their purpose. This is the story of a painting with a bowler hat.

bowler hat painting

Canadian Artist Brandy Saturley wearing Lilliput Hats Bowler Hat

The latest painting began with two familiar objects: a bowler hat custom-made for me by Karen Ruiz of Lilliput Hats, and a flannel shirt from Dixxon Flannels Canada – a combination that has become part of my #ICONICCANUCK persona. Over the past two decades, this persona has found its way into several of my self-portraits – a recurring figure set against landscapes that echo the abstracted forms of Lawren Harris. These works merge the real and the surreal, blending lived experience with imagined topographies.

12 years Painting Canada

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

In this new painting, I return to those themes – idealized forms, undulating skies, filtered light, and softly rounded island shapes. The figure wears a purple bowler hat and a plaid shirt, her long brown hair moving with the wind. She is a wanderer, never home long, drawn to the road and to the horizon beyond.

bowler hat painting

Inside Brandy Saturley Studio

The title and spirit of the piece come from a Buddhist proverb: “Knock on the sky and listen to the sound.” It speaks to the act of seeking- of listening deeply to nature, to intuition, to the world’s quiet messages. In this painting, “knocking on the sky” becomes both a poetic and spiritual gesture, a moment of connection between self and landscape.

bowler hat painting

Knocking On The Sky, 30×30 acrylic on canvas, 2025 – Brandy Saturley

The girl with the bowler hat is, in many ways, me, and all who search for meaning in the beauty of the unknown.

bowler hat painting

The Bowler Hat in Art History

The bowler hat has a rich and layered symbolism in art history, a small object that has come to represent much larger ideas about identity, class, conformity, and individuality.

Originating in 19th-century England as practical headwear for working-class men, the bowler quickly crossed class boundaries. By the mid-20th century, it became synonymous with the British middle class, the uniform of bankers and city workers, a symbol of respectability and social order.

In art, however, the bowler hat took on more surreal and philosophical meanings. Most notably, René Magritte used the bowler repeatedly in his paintings as a stand-in for the “everyman” – a faceless, anonymous figure navigating dreamlike realities (The Son of Man, Golconda, The Man in the Bowler Hat). Magritte’s use of the hat stripped it of social hierarchy and turned it into a symbol of mystery, anonymity, and the tension between appearance and reality.

Later artists and filmmakers have drawn on the bowler’s visual and cultural weight to explore ideas of duality, between individuality and conformity, reality and illusion, the seen and unseen self.

In your own work, the purple bowler hat subverts this history. It becomes personal rather than anonymous – a symbol of self-definition instead of conformity. By placing it within a natural, Canadian landscape rather than an urban or surrealist setting, you transform the hat from a marker of class or mystery into a poetic emblem of identity, curiosity, and connection to place. Having the woman wearing a plaid shirt, the uniform of the working class everyman, further echoes the sentiments of Magritte.

A West Coast Painting

Inspired by The Beach – A West Coast Painting

Just a few weeks ago, we packed up our lives and moved to a charming seaside city called Parksville. With that came the task of dismantling my Victoria studio and setting up anew. While moving is rarely easy, my experiences with artist residencies over the years have prepared me well for transitions like this. When you spend a month creating in an unfamiliar place, you quickly learn how to adapt – how to set up your tools, find your rhythm, and create as though you’ve always been there.

The beach in Parksville, BC

This time, my new environment has brought me closer to the sea, and it didn’t take long before that influence found its way onto the canvas. My first painting created here feels distinctly West Coast and rooted in the rhythms, textures, and moods of the shoreline.

A West Coast Painting

The beach in Parksville, BC

Studio moves can be disruptive, but I’ve come to see disruption as a gift. Shifting environments keeps me alert, curious, and responsive. Routine can make an artist complacent, while change stirs creativity. It’s why travel and residencies have been such an essential part of my practice, from coast to coast to coast across Canada, and even further afield, like my month spent painting at the Royal College of Art in London, England. Each new place challenges my eye and my adaptability.

Art of 2025

Brandy Saturley in studio residency at Pouch Cove Foundation, Newfoundland Canada

One of my favourite artists, Georgia O’Keeffe, was deeply influenced by her travels. She painted across more than forty-nine countries in her lifetime. I share her belief that travel not only shapes an artist’s work but also helps reveal one’s fullest potential as a human being.

Though the transition to Parksville took a few weeks, I continued painting while setting up the new studio. My daily walks along the beach have become a source of constant inspiration, where the air smells of salt and seaweed, where herons, crows, and gulls punctuate the quiet, and where driftwood sculptures rise like monuments to impermanence. The landscape of sand and tide shifts daily, and with it, so does my perception.

Great Blue Heron

This brings me to my first painting completed here, in this still-settling space. When I Go To SEE is a visual story of my daily walks to the shore. It captures that moment when the senses awaken when observation turns into immersion, and I become not just a viewer of nature, but a part of it.

A West Coast Painting

Detail View, When I Go To See, acrylic painting on canvas by Brandy Saturley, 2025

When I Go To SEE marks the beginning of a new chapter in my West Coast story, painted by the sea, inspired by daily encounters with light, tide, and transformation. Rendered in my signature pop modernism style and with a vivid palette. This new work is now available to view and collect through my website. For those who have followed my visual journey across Canada, this painting represents a fresh horizon and a deepening connection to place, one that invites you to see, feel, and breathe the Pacific.

A West Coast Painting

When I Got to SEE, acrylic on canvas painting, 30×60 inches, 2025, Brandy Saturley

Studio Move to Parksville

A New Place to Paint – Studio Move to Parksville, BC on Beautiful Vancouver Island

When an opportunity presents itself, and it feels meant to be, I go with my gut and jump. No hesitation, I go and don’t look back. It is a characteristic that has helped me a great deal in my art practice, and I don’t spend a lot of time questioning, nor do I wait for perfect timing, as there is no such thing. That said, this feels pretty ideal at this stage in my career. A home and studio move to beautiful Parksville a place known for it’s expansive sandy beaches, low tides, sand dollars and it’s annual sand sculpture competition that attracts teams from all over the world.

Studio Move to Parksville

low tide in Parksville, BC Canada

We are a couple weeks in and as I continue setting up the new studio, and organizing my inventory, I have been busy exploring the new neighborhood and all it offers. Every day I walk the beach for an hour, I go in the morning and get to experience a shifting landscape as the beach changes with the monthly tide charts. Some days I can walk out for a mile and other days I am hugging the shoreline. The receding waves reveal oysters, clams, crabs and undulating sand ripples sculpted by the tides. Beautiful abstract sculptures and paintings made by the ocean and changing daily.

Studio Move to Parksville

low tide in front of The Beach Club resort, Parksville, Canada.

With these first few weeks walking and exploring I just want to be outside as much as possible as summer turns to warm fall. Beach days are still here and the land is plentiful. I can see myself doing some plein air painting here. It is peaceful and the ocean breeze carries a crisp reminder that the seasons are changing. The colours are muted with warm greys, cerulean blues and the shimmering oyster shells. There are hints of lime green with seaweed and vivid red oranges with abandoned crab shells abounds. The discarded clam shells offer creamy yellows and deep hues of purple on the inside.

beach shells in Parksville, BC

You will also find structures built from logs on the beach. Places to escape on hot days, forts of the sea built from play and for privacy. These huts look like ancient remnants of villages which once dotted the land. Your imagination and building skills can take you anywhere on a west coast beach.

Studio Move to Parksville

beach structure in Parksville, BC Canada

You will also find dozens of structures that look like people set on logs near the beach. The art of rock stacking is alive in Parksville. I have found similar structures everywhere from remote Newfoundland to Yellowknife on the Bay. Little human like stacks make you realize humans have been here and they have left their signature through their rock structures.

Rock Stacking on the beach in Parksville, Canada

Beyond the beautiful beaches you will find an unassuming town that offers every amenity of a city. There are murals to been seen on many buildings and amazing eateries hidden within simple structures.

One of many murals in Parksville, BC

Beyond the streets is a wonderful Canadian art gallery, The McMillan Arts Centre. One of the oldest buildings in the area, the current McMillan Arts Centre started life as Parksville School in 1913. At that time, Memorial was one of the main streets in Parksville, and the building was a centrepiece. The Oceanside Community Arts Council (OCAC) purchased the building in the 1990s and the upper part of the building became the McMillan Arts Centre (the MAC). The MAC showcases the works of 2D, 3D and performance art. The MAC is also a place where various concerts, workshops, and rehearsals are held. The art scene in Parksville is strong.

Studio Move to Parksville

The MAC – McMillan Arts Centre in Parksville, BC Canada

Parksville is a place to make art and escape the big city while remaining close to the city centre of Nanaimo and not far from Victoria, BC. Parksville is considered part of the Oceanside community which includes nearby Qualicum Beach. Happy to be in this community and I look forward to learning more about what makes this town tick, beyond the beach. As I continue to get my new studio set up I am mindful of where these new vistas might take my visual stories of Canada.

As new paintings become available, you can find them here. 

Arts Fundraiser in Edmonton

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ARTattack at The Miller Art Gallery: Arts Fundraiser in Edmonton

On September 19th, 2025 another edition of the ARTattack fundraiser opens at the Miller Art Gallery. This annual Arts fundraiser in Edmonton helps support the Peck Visual Art Program and the Miller Art Gallery inside the Roxy Theatre.

Arts Fundraiser in Edmonton

The Miller Art Gallery and the Peck Visual Arts program are proud partners of Theatre Network, located within the Roxy Theatre in Edmonton. Established in 2022 by Theatre Network, the Miller Art Gallery was created to diversity the programming and take advantage of the expanded space within the new Roxy under the curatorial direction of Jared Tabler.

The Miller Art Gallery is the proud home of the Peck Visual Arts program, which focuses on championing the best in Canadian contemporary art and elevating the work of Canadian artists. We are creating an artist’s home, with a sense of community, where people feel valued, are elevated and have a safe space to develop and grow. We invite audiences to engage and connect through visual art and transform their understanding of the world around them.

Arts Fundraiser in Edmonton

This year’s ARTattack fundraiser titled; Iconic Brands offers 20 Canadian Artists’ takes on the theme. This years artists are: Jai Tanninen, Curtis Trent, Josh Harnack, Sean Allan, Charlene Johnson, Nick Ross, Brandy Saturley, Marcie Rohr, DUNCE, Lydon Hurst, Sarah Jackson, Beto Vigo, Riki Kuropatwa, E.R. Gott, Patrick Marino, Michael McLean, Denise Lefebvre, Justina Smith, Maverick McGinn, and Dean Pickup. Each artist has created work based on their own interpretation of the theme in their unique and definitive style. The works will be auctioned off during ARTattack on September 19th with all of the proceeds supporting the Peck Visual Art Program at the Miller Art Gallery.

When I was invited to donate a work to this important event I immediately began thinking of iconic Canadian brands. With a limited canvas size of 14×14 inches I was looking to create a bold message with the brand logo as the focal point. There are so many iconic Canadian brands to choose from like the Hudson’s Bay stripes and the purple and gold of Crown Royal Whisky, but for this event I chose Hawkins Cheezies with it’s bold red and white stripes and vividly orange Cheezies set against a complimentary teal background. The piece feels like childhood and fun memories of eating the favourite snack after school or late night in front of the TV. They could be spilled out during a card game or a late night chat session with a friend. As an adult I prefer my Cheezies with a nice glass of wine, making the perfect pairing for a lazy evening. Get your tickets and score some ‘Iconic Art’. See all the paintings here.

Arts Fundraiser in Edmonton

Say Cheezies! 14×14 acrylic on canvas, Brandy Saturley, 2025

Secret Ingredient Condiment Company
presents
ARTattack 2025 featuring Ethan Palazzo
Friday September 19th, 2025 at 8pm

CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE TICKETS

7PM – VIP Reception
8PM – Doors Open / Party Starts
Tickets: General $25, VIP $75*
*includes $50 tax receipt

 

Let Your Backbone Rise

Exploring the Depths of Brandy Saturley’s Let Your Backbone Rise

Brandy Saturley’s Let Your Backbone Rise (2016) is a captivating self-portrait that blends surrealism with profound cultural and personal symbolism. Viewed from behind, the artist stands against a striking mountainous backdrop, arms raised as if adjusting a hat, set against a dreamlike landscape. This piece, rich with influences and meaning, invites viewers to delve into its layers, drawing from the mountain paintings of Lawren Harris and the symbolic backbone adorning her red coat.

Let Your Backbone Rise

Influence of Lawren Harris’s Mountain Paintings

The painting’s backdrop is a direct nod to Lawren Harris, a cornerstone of the Group of Seven, known for his abstracted depictions of Canada’s rugged landscapes. Harris’s works, like Baffin Island (1931), infuse nature with spiritual depth through clean lines and bold colors. Saturley incorporates a segment of this painting into her own, transforming Harris’s soft peaks and icy waters into a surreal setting that echoes the Canadian wilderness. This homage reflects her five-year retrospective focus on Canadian themes in Alberta exhibitions, where she “paints with Lawren Harris” through a pop-art lens. The geometric mountain forms and vibrant hues mirror Harris’s style, while hints of Rockwell Kent’s introspective landscapes add further depth, portraying human solitude against nature’s grandeur.

Let Your Backbone Rise

Baffin Island Mountains, Lawren Harris 1931

Symbolism of the Backbone on the Coat

The figure’s red coat, a central element, is steeped in meaning. It recalls the Royal Canadian Mounted Police’s red serge uniform, symbolizing national stature and authority, while also nodding to The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band jacket, infusing a pop culture twist. The coat’s vivid red contrasts with the cool landscape, radiating vitality.

Most striking is the white backbone design running down the coat, exposed like vertebrae. This motif embodies resilience and the “backbone of a nation,” reflecting Canada’s enduring spirit. For Saturley, it also marks her personal ascent as a female artist during her 2016 career peak. Paired with white gloves and a formal French twist hairstyle, the figure exudes confidence, suggesting vulnerability turned into strength. Saturley describes this self-inclusion as “looking for herself in the world,” weaving personal growth into a broader Canadian narrative.

important Canadian Painting

Let Your Backbone Rise, 2016, Brandy Saturley

Let Your Backbone Rise: A Bridge Between Past and Present

Let Your Backbone Rise exemplifies Saturley’s “Pop Canadianisms” style, merging historical influences with modern resilience. By honoring Harris’s legacy while adding contemporary symbols, she creates a bridge between past and present in Canadian art. This painting is more than a visual feast—it’s a celebration of identity, heritage, and the artist’s journey, inviting viewers to see themselves within its vast, symbolic landscape.

No Dress Rehearsal

With Hearts on Our Sleeves, 2017, Brandy Saturley

Studio Moving Sale

Marking a Milestone – Studio Moving Sale

Big changes are happening in my world—I’m moving into a new, larger studio. This new creative space will give me more room to experiment, tackle larger canvases, and keep exploring the Canadian stories that have been at the heart of my work for the past twenty years.

Studio Moving Sale

Since the early 2000s, my paintings have been shaped by journeys across this country—capturing everything from the powerful presence of the Rockies to the windswept shores of the Atlantic, from quiet prairie skies to the colours of our northern lights. Along the way, I’ve painted symbols and scenes that speak to our collective identity: plaid patterns and poppies, canoes and hockey sticks, wildlife and wild landscapes. Each canvas is a reflection of time spent listening to the rhythms of Canada.

Studio Moving Sale

This move would not be possible without the people who believed in my work and chose to make it part of their lives. To thank my collectors—and to welcome new ones—I’m offering 20% off all original paintings priced over $5,000 for a limited time. This is both a celebration and an invitation: a moment to add another story to your collection or to begin one. This is a rare opportunity to collect significant works at special pricing, as I make room for the next evolution of my practice.

Banff Paintings

Studio Moving Sale

For longtime collectors, this is an opportunity to add another chapter to your collection. For new collectors, it’s a chance to begin your journey with a piece of art rooted in Canadian culture, history, and landscape—at a moment when my work continues to gain recognition and evolve.

The sale runs until September 15th. After that, I’ll be unpacking in the new studio and preparing for what’s next: a fresh chapter of Canadian-inspired paintings, larger in scale and scope.

Celebrate this milestone with me and bring home a piece of the journey.

See available Brandy Saturley  works here.

Studio Moving Sale