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Painting the Hudson’s Bay Brand

The Stripes That Tell a Canadian Story: Painting the Hudson’s Bay Brand

For more than two decades, I have been painting the stories, symbols, and shared memories that shape our understanding of Canada. Throughout my practice, I have returned again and again to the familiar icons woven into our everyday lives: hockey masks, Mackintosh’s Toffee, Tim Hortons cups, Hawkins Cheezies, canoes, plaid, wildlife, and the roadside landmarks that quietly define our landscapes.

These are more than objects. They are visual markers of place, memory, and belonging. They are the things we recognize instantly, the symbols that carry stories long before we put words to them. Among all of these Canadian references, one symbol has appeared in my work more than any other: the unmistakable stripes of the Hudson’s Bay blanket.

Long before those stripes became a recognizable Canadian design motif, the Hudson’s Bay point blanket was part of the country’s history. Its bold green, red, yellow, and indigo bands became a visual signature known around the world, connected to exploration, trade, wilderness, home, and nostalgia. For many Canadians, those colours hold personal memories. They recall a blanket folded at the end of a bed, wrapped around shoulders at a cabin, warming a family gathering, or appearing as a toque, scarf, or jacket on a winter day. The stripes became part of our collective visual language.

Throughout my career, I have incorporated this enduring symbol into approximately twenty paintings. Sometimes the reference is quiet and unexpected: appearing on a piece of clothing, a toque, a hockey stick, or a small detail that rewards closer looking. In other works, the blanket itself becomes the central subject, transforming from a familiar object into a powerful symbol of Canadian identity. The Hudson’s Bay stripes have also influenced my own colour palette, finding their way into contemporary stories while remaining connected to a much older tradition.

My paintings are not advertisements for a brand. Instead, they explore the emotional power of cultural symbols and the memories they awaken. Like many of the Canadian icons that appear throughout my work, the Hudson’s Bay motif acts as a bridge between personal experience and collective history. It invites viewers to bring their own stories to the canvas. The recent closing of Hudson’s Bay Company as a department store marked the end of a significant chapter in Canadian retail history, while the continued life of the beloved stripes under new Canadian stewardship demonstrates something important: companies may evolve, but the symbols they create can become part of a nation’s cultural fabric.

Painting the Hudson’s Bay Brand

When I gathered these paintings together as a collection, I was struck by how often those famous stripes had appeared throughout my artistic journey. What began as a visual reference became a recurring conversation about memory, heritage, and the objects that help define who we are. Together, these Hudson’s Bay-inspired paintings represent nearly twenty years of exploring Canadian identity through colour, symbolism, and storytelling. They are another chapter in my ongoing journey of painting Canada, one familiar icon at a time.

Here is a collection of works inspired by one of Canada’s most recognizable designs: the Hudson’s Bay stripes.

July 27, 2026

Painting West Coast Beaches

New Paintings

A Place to Pause: Painting West Coast Beaches

There are places that invite us to slow down. Places where time stretches with the tide and the only sound is the rhythm of the waves meeting the shore.

If you have walked the beaches of the Pacific Coast you have most certainly encountered driftwood logs scattered on the beach. These logs are like momentous sculptures carved by nature and weather. They offer places to pause along your walk, a perch over the tide.

Rooting for You captures one of those quiet moments along the coast of Vancouver Island. Weathered driftwood, sculpted by decades of wind and sea, becomes both a natural monument and a place of reflection. Perched upon its sun-bleached form, a solitary figure gazes across the water toward the distant shoreline, suspended between memory and possibility.

The painting celebrates the beauty of the Pacific coast through bold colour and simplified forms. Rich cobalt blues, soft violet skies, deep evergreen forests, and warm ochres transform an everyday beach into an iconic portrait of place. The oversized driftwood tree with sculptural roots commands the foreground, its twisting shapes telling stories of journeys across the Salish Sea before finding rest upon the beach.

Rooting for You, c. 2026 Acrylic On Canvas 30 x 30 x 1.5 in – Brandy Saturley

Like many of my landscapes, this work is less about documenting a location than capturing a feeling. It is about the restorative power of nature, the comfort of solitude, and the moments when the landscape quietly reminds us to simply be present.

For anyone who has wandered the shores of Vancouver Island, climbed upon a driftwood log, or watched the changing colours of the evening sky over the water, this painting will feel both familiar and deeply personal.

In situ: Rooting for You, c. 2026 Acrylic On Canvas 30 x 30 x 1.5 in – Brandy Saturley

This painting has a wonderful sense of quiet contemplation. The driftwood dominates the foreground, acting almost like a sculptural bridge that leads the viewer toward the solitary figure and the expansive horizon beyond. The vibrant red jacket becomes an emotional anchor, drawing the eye immediately before allowing it to wander through the cool blues, greens, and violets of the landscape. It feels distinctly West Coast while also speaking to the universal experience of seeking solitude by the sea.

July 27, 2026

Iconic Artwork

Art Career, Art For Sale

When a Painting Becomes More Than a Painting: Iconic Artwork

As artists, we never really know which paintings will take on a life of their own becoming an iconic artwork.

Some works are created quickly and find a collector almost immediately. Others travel quietly through exhibitions and collections before disappearing into private homes. Then there are the rare paintings that continue to follow us throughout our careers, appearing in conversations, publications, exhibitions, and unexpected opportunities long after the paint has dried.

For me, one of those paintings is Goalie’s Mask: Red, White & Dryden.

Goalie’s Mask: red, white & Dryden (The Goalies Mask Painting), c. 2011 Acrylic 48 x 36 x 1.5 in – Brandy Saturley

Painted in 2011, the work emerged from my ongoing fascination with Canadian identity and the symbols that shape our collective story. Hockey has long occupied a unique place within Canada’s cultural landscape. More than a sport, it is a source of memory, mythology, and national conversation. The goalie mask, in particular, has become one of the most recognizable icons in Canadian culture.

When I painted Goalie’s Mask: Red, White & Dryden, I wasn’t thinking about awards, exhibitions, or where the painting might eventually travel. I was simply responding to a subject that felt deeply Canadian. Like much of my work, it was an exploration of the stories we tell ourselves about who we are.

What happened next was something I could never have predicted.

Over the years, the painting found its way into exhibitions, publications, and conversations about contemporary Canadian art. It was exhibited at Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame and, in 2014, was shortlisted for the International Olympic Committee’s Sport and Art Trophy. The recognition placed the work on an international stage and connected it to a broader conversation about the relationship between sport, culture, and artistic expression.

Goalie’s Mask: red, white & Dryden (The Goalies Mask Painting), c. 2011 Acrylic 48 x 36 x 1.5 in – Brandy Saturley – Olympic Trophy shortlist

For any artist, there are a handful of works that become milestones. They mark a moment in the evolution of a career. Looking back more than a decade later, I can see that Goalie’s Mask: Red, White & Dryden became one of those paintings.

It represents an important chapter in my exploration of Canadian iconography, a journey that has now spanned more than fifteen years and resulted in hundreds of paintings inspired by the people, places, symbols, and stories of this country. Long before the publication of my book Painting Canada, before international exhibitions and residencies, before many of the opportunities that followed, this painting helped define the direction of my practice.

Artists often speak about “signature works.” These are the pieces that audiences remember, the works that appear repeatedly in interviews and publications, and the paintings that seem to gather stories wherever they go. While every painting is important to me, Goalie’s Mask: Red, White & Dryden has become one of those rare works.

For that reason, I have held onto it for many years.

Goalie’s Mask: red, white & Dryden at Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame, Calgary, AB

Iconic Artwork: An Acquisition Opportunity

The painting has remained part of my personal collection while other works found homes across Canada and around the world. It has accompanied me through different studios, exhibitions, and chapters of my career. In many ways, it has become a witness to the evolution of my practice.

There comes a moment, however, when an artist must decide whether an important work should continue its journey.

After much consideration, I have made the decision to offer Goalie’s Mask: Red, White & Dryden for acquisition.

This is not simply the sale of a painting. It is an opportunity for a collector, institution, or organization to become the next steward of a work that has played a significant role in my artistic journey and has earned recognition both nationally and internationally.

Some paintings remain memorable because of their subject matter. Others because of where they have travelled. A select few become part of a larger story.

For me, Goalie’s Mask: Red, White & Dryden is one of those paintings.

Its story is still being written.

If you would like to learn more about the painting, its history, provenance, and acquisition details, I invite you to visit the dedicated acquisition page.

View the Acquisition Opportunity for Goalie’s Mask: Red, White & Dryden →

July 22, 2026

Art That Moves People

Art Benefits, Buying Art

“It Brought Tears of Joy” – Art That Moves People

There are moments in my studio that stay with me long after the visitor has gone. When the Art moves people it is a wonderful gift to the artist.

Someone will quietly walk through the space, taking in the paintings one by one. They may pause in front of a particular piece for a little longer than the others. Their expression changes. Sometimes they smile. Sometimes they become very quiet. Every once in a while, they begin to cry. Not tears of sadness. Tears of recognition.

As artists, we spend countless hours thinking about colour, composition, symbolism, light, and storytelling. We work to create paintings that are technically strong and visually engaging. But every now and then, a painting reaches beyond all of that. It finds its way into someone’s memories, their experiences, or even a part of themselves they had forgotten.

Those are the moments that remind me why art matters.

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

A Painting Meets the Right Person

I often say that collectors don’t simply choose a painting. Often the painting chooses them.

I’ve watched visitors walk into my studio convinced they were “just looking.” Then they encounter a painting that reminds them of growing up in rural Canada, of a childhood road trip, of a beloved family member, or of a place they once called home. Others see something entirely different. A polar bear becomes a symbol of resilience. A lone canoe represents a life journey. A familiar landscape becomes a reminder of where they belong.

The painting hasn’t changed, but its meaning becomes deeply personal. Every viewer brings their own story to the artwork. Their memories complete the painting in ways I could never predict.

Let Your Backbone Rise, c. 2016 Acrylic 36 x 36 x 1.5 in – Brandy Saturley – Private Collection Montreal, Canada

Art Speaks a Language Beyond Words

People sometimes ask what inspired a particular painting. I’m always happy to share the story behind it, but I’ve learned that once a painting leaves my studio, it begins telling new stories.

Art has an extraordinary ability to communicate without explanation. It doesn’t need subtitles and it doesn’t need an instruction manual. It simply asks the viewer to pause long enough to listen.

Perhaps that is why we are moved. A painting allows us to feel something before we’ve had time to analyze it. It slips past our busy minds and speaks directly to memory, emotion, and imagination.

Raised In The Sky, c. 2018 Acrylic 48 x 36 x 1.5 in – Brandy Saturley – Private Collection Mississauga, Canada

More Than Decoration: Art That Moves People

In today’s world, we’re surrounded by images. Thousands of photographs flash across our screens every day. We scroll quickly, consume instantly, and move on just as fast. Standing in front of an original painting is different. It asks for your attention.

You notice the texture of the paint, the movement of the brushstrokes, the subtle colours that never appear quite the same in a photograph. You begin to discover details that reveal themselves slowly, almost like a conversation unfolding over time.

An original painting isn’t simply something to match the furniture. It becomes part of the rhythm of a home. Collectors often tell me that months, or even years after purchasing a painting, they continue to notice new details. The artwork grows with them because they have changed.

Great art doesn’t stop speaking once it hangs on the wall.

Brandy Saturley in her Vancouver Island studio

The Greatest Compliment

People often assume the highest compliment an artist can receive is hearing that a painting is beautiful.

It isn’t.

The greatest compliment is when someone says, “I can’t stop thinking about it.”

Or,

“It reminds me of my father.” or “This painting feels like home.”

Or when words disappear altogether, replaced by tears and a smile.

Those moments are impossible to manufacture. They can’t be planned, marketed, or measured. They simply happen when a painting finds the person it was meant for.

Brandy Saturley in exhibition – Gallery @501 Edmonton, Canada – 2017

Why I Continue to Paint

After twenty years as a full-time artist, I still believe that every painting begins as a conversation. Sometimes it is a conversation with Canada itself, with its landscapes, wildlife, history, and symbols. Sometimes it is a conversation with my own experiences.

But the conversation isn’t complete until someone else steps into it. If a painting can pause someone in their tracks…If it can bring back a forgotten memory… If it can offer comfort, joy, hope, or even a few unexpected tears… Then it has accomplished something far greater than simply decorating a wall.

It has connected one human being to another. And perhaps that is the quiet, enduring power of art. The paintings that move us are rarely the ones we planned to fall in love with. They are the ones that quietly find us when we need them most.

Brandy Saturley studio – Vancouver Island, BC – 2026

July 21, 2026

From Studio to Collector

Art Business, Artist Process

The Journey of a Painting: From Studio to Collector

When people visit my studio or see one of my paintings hanging in a gallery, they are usually looking at either the very beginning or the very end of a painting’s journey. What they don’t see is everything that happens in between, from studio to collector.

An original painting has a life of its own. It begins as an idea, grows through weeks, months and even years of creative work, travels through galleries and exhibitions, and eventually finds its place in someone’s home. Every painting follows a different path, and that journey is one of the things I love most about being an artist.

Brandy Saturley working in the studio at RCA London, UK

Every Painting Begins with an Idea

Long before I pick up a brush, I am collecting ideas.

They come from road trips across Canada, walks along the beaches of Vancouver Island, conversations with people I meet, memories, photographs, and pages of sketchbooks. Sometimes an idea appears unexpectedly. Other times it quietly follows me for years before I finally understand what it wants to become.

Many of my paintings are inspired by places that have left a lasting impression, from the rugged coastlines of Newfoundland to the Rocky Mountains and the familiar landscapes of my home on Vancouver Island. I have always been fascinated by the symbols that tell Canada’s story. Wildlife, iconic landmarks, hockey, the Hudson’s Bay stripes, vintage signs, and everyday objects all become part of a visual language that continues to evolve in my work.

By the time I stretch a canvas, the painting has often been taking shape in my mind for much longer than anyone realizes.

Drawing and laying down the blueprint on canvas – Brandy Saturley

Bringing the Painting to Life

Once the canvas is prepared, the real conversation begins.

Painting is rarely a straight line from idea to finished artwork. Compositions change. Colours shift. Elements are added, removed, or painted over. Sometimes the painting leads me in a completely different direction than I originally intended.

One of the questions I am asked most often is, “How do you know when a painting is finished?”

The answer is difficult to explain. At some point the painting simply stops asking for more. The composition feels balanced, the story feels complete, and I know there is nothing left to add. Learning to recognize that moment has taken years of experience.

Underpainting and colour blocking the canvas – Brandy Saturley

Giving the Painting Its Identity

When the painting is complete, another creative decision remains.

Every painting receives a title.

Sometimes the title identifies a place. Sometimes it hints at a story or emotion. Occasionally it adds another layer of meaning that viewers discover only after spending time with the work. A title becomes part of a painting’s identity and travels with it for the rest of its life.

finishing and photographing a painting – Brandy Saturley

From Studio to Collector: Preparing for the World

Before a painting is ever exhibited or offered for sale, there is a surprising amount of work happening behind the scenes.

The painting is professionally photographed so its colours and details are accurately represented. I record its dimensions, medium, and completion date, update my inventory, prepare a Certificate of Authenticity, and write about the inspiration behind the work. It is then added to my website or delivered to one of the galleries that represents my work.

These details may seem administrative, but they become part of the painting’s provenance and help document its place within my career.

The Chair of Contemplation – finishing a painting – Brandy Saturley

Finding Its Audience

This is where every painting’s journey becomes unique.

Some paintings find a collector almost immediately. Others spend months, or even years, travelling between galleries and exhibitions before meeting the right person.

Over the past twenty years, my paintings have travelled far beyond my Parksville studio. They have been exhibited across Canada, shown in the United Kingdom, included in corporate and public collections, and discovered by collectors from around the world.

I’ve learned that every painting has its own timeline. There is no such thing as a painting that is “waiting too long.” Sometimes it is simply waiting for the person who connects with its story.

Art in exhibition – Brandy Saturley

Finding a Home

One of the greatest rewards of being an artist is hearing why someone chose a particular painting.

Sometimes it reminds them of a place they once lived or a memorable journey they took across Canada. Sometimes it reflects their love of wildlife or their connection to the Canadian landscape. Occasionally the reason is wonderfully simple.

“It just makes me happy.”

Art has a remarkable ability to become personal. Once a painting leaves my studio, it becomes part of another family’s story. It hangs in living rooms where conversations unfold, in offices where ideas are born, and in homes where children grow up seeing the same artwork every day.

That thought never gets old.

Art in homes – Brandy Saturley

The Final Journey

Before a painting begins its next chapter, it makes one final trip from my studio.

It is carefully wrapped, protected in a wooden crate, insured, and shipped, whether it is travelling across British Columbia or crossing an ocean to a collector in another country. Every package carries weeks or months of creative work, but also years of experience, research, and the quiet hope that the painting will arrive safely.

Sending a painting off is always bittersweet. There is excitement knowing it has found its new home, but there is also a small moment of letting go. After spending so much time together, the painting is no longer mine.

Brandy Saturley with her art shipping crate

Where the Story Really Begins

People often think the story of a painting ends when it is sold. I think that’s when the most meaningful chapter begins.

Every original painting continues its life long after it leaves the studio. It becomes part of someone’s everyday world. It witnesses family celebrations, quiet mornings, changing seasons, and countless ordinary moments that slowly become memories.

As artists, we create the work. But collectors give it a life beyond the easel. Every painting begins with an idea. Its true journey begins when it finds its forever home.

July 20, 2026

Portraits of Canada

Art For Sale

Figurative Paintings: Portraits of Canada

I am best known for painting stories of Canada. While many people recognize my work for its landscapes and iconic Canadian imagery, my paintings have always been deeply narrative and figurative. My landscapes are populated with symbols, wildlife, and people, each contributing to a larger story about this country and our connection to it.

Over the years I have painted many self-portraits, but I have also been drawn to the unique characters who have crossed my path. Faces fascinate me. They carry history, resilience, vulnerability, and hope. I enjoy looking beyond a likeness, searching for the humanity that exists beneath the surface and bringing that emotional depth into paint.

One of my favourite Canadian artists is Prudence Heward. Heward was one of Canada’s most significant modernist painters, celebrated for her powerful portrayals of women at a time when Canadian art was largely defined by landscapes and idealized female subjects. While the Group of Seven were shaping the visual identity of Canada’s wilderness, Heward was exploring the emotional and psychological landscape of modern women. I have always admired the way she placed her subjects within the landscape, allowing the environment to become an extension of their inner lives.

Like Heward, I often paint people within the Canadian landscape. Over the years, however, I have realized that I am drawn far more often to the female experience than the male. My women are contemplative, curious, resilient, and hopeful. They are not simply portraits. They are storytellers, standing within the places that have shaped them.

I am interested in what it means to belong to the landscape, to be immersed in it rather than simply observing it. The figures in my paintings are connected to the land, the weather, the wildlife, and the symbols of Canada. Together they tell stories about identity, place, and our shared relationship with this remarkable country.

Portraits of Canada

Here are ten portrait paintings that explore the relationship between the figure and the Canadian landscape. Each portrait represents a different chapter in my ongoing exploration of Canada. Some are inspired by real people, others by memory or imagination, but all are rooted in a sense of place.

Hearts On Our Sleeves, 2017 Acrylic On Canvas 40 x 30 x 1.5 in – Brandy Saturley

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

Welcome All Souls 2014, 36×36, acrylic on canvas – Brandy Saturley

Dreaming Under Northern Lights, c. 2024 Acrylic 36 x 36 x 1.5 in – Brandy Saturley

Spirit of Ukraine, c. 2023 Acrylic On Canvas 36 x 36 x 1.5 in – Brandy Saturley

Ahead by Centuries, c. 2023 acrylic and gouache 60 x 48 x 1.5 in – Brandy Saturley

Dochka Rising, c. 2023 acrylic and gouache 36 x 30 x 1.5 in – Brandy Saturley

Love on The Rock, c. 2024 Acrylic On Canvas 18 x 36 x 1.5 in – Brandy Saturley

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

The Prodigy, 2021 Acrylic On Canvas 36 x 48 x 1.5 in – Brandy Saturley

July 13, 2026

Painting Mid-Vancouver Island

Artist Process

An Artist Comes Home: Painting Mid-Vancouver Island

This morning I woke as I usually do, with a Nespresso in hand and a little time spent checking messages. After a leisurely hour, I pull on my neon pink sneakers and head out the door. Crossing the Island Highway, I make my way to the beach and boardwalk in Parksville. If the tide is out, I wander across the rippled sand, dodging tiny white crabs as they scurry between the shallow pools.

Parksville BC Canada

Every morning offers something different.

I might pause to film the stacks of carefully balanced rocks beside the weathered tree near the labyrinth, quiet evidence that someone else has already passed this way. Another day, I crouch low to photograph the morning light dancing across the ridges of wet sand. Sometimes it is the silhouette of Mount Arrowsmith, its summer snowfields slowly shrinking beneath the sun. Other mornings it is the mesmerizing murmmuration of sandpipers that stops me in my tracks.

These walks have quietly become part of my studio practice.

Parksville BC Canada

For the past twenty years, I have crisscrossed Canada, spending weeks and often months immersed in places that would eventually become paintings. From Newfoundland to Yellowknife, Banff to Vancouver, I have learned that every landscape has its own rhythm and every community has its own story. My work has always been rooted in spending time, observing, listening, and allowing a place to reveal itself.

This year, that place happens to be home.

Parksville BC Canada

A Shift – Painting Mid-Vancouver Island

Since moving my studio to Parksville, I have found myself exploring the mid and northern reaches of Vancouver Island with the same curiosity that has guided me across the rest of Canada. Familiar places have become new again. I am discovering shorelines, forests, harbours, mountains, and communities that I once drove past, but never truly knew.

Every place has a story. Right now, I am telling the story of the island I call home.

Brandy Saturley Studio Parksville BC Canada

This is not the end of my travels across Canada. Rather, it is the beginning of a new chapter. The years spent exploring the country have given me fresh eyes for this remarkable island, and in turn, this place is changing the way I paint.

Even my palette has begun to shift. Red has long been a defining colour in my work, yet the last four paintings contain almost none of it. Instead, soft coastal blues, sea greens, driftwood greys, and the ever-changing light of the Salish Sea have quietly taken its place. The work feels calmer, more contemplative, shaped by tides rather than highways.

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

There is still so much of Canada waiting to be explored, but for now I am content to slow down, return to the beach each morning, and discover what this island has been waiting to tell me all along.

The island is revealing itself one morning at a time, one walk, one conversation, one painting at a time. I look forward to sharing these discoveries with you as this new body of work unfolds. Whether you’ve called Vancouver Island home for decades or have never set foot on its shores, I hope these paintings offer a glimpse into the beauty, character, and quiet moments that continue to inspire me every day. Follow along here on the blog, or drop by the website, and explore the latest paintings as this new chapter takes shape.

July 6, 2026

Canada Day Art

Art Career

Paintings That Celebrate Canada | Canada Day Art

It’s no secret that I am obsessed with Canada.

For the past twenty years I have crisscrossed this country exploring, painting, exhibiting, photographing, filming, writing, and collecting stories. Every journey has become part of my work. Every province has left its mark. This Canada Day I find myself reflecting on the art that has grown from those travels and the incredible privilege of experiencing this country through the eyes of an artist.

Under A Borealis Sky, c. 2011 Acrylic 30 x 40 x 1.5 in – Brandy Saturley – private collection Edmonton AB

Yesterday I listened to the audiobook Canada by Mike Myers. It is part memoir, part love letter to Canada, and a fascinating look at how the country shaped him and continues to influence his life. It is funny, nostalgic, and deeply Canadian.

As I listened, I found myself comparing my own experiences with his. While Myers grew up on the east coast of the Canadian experience and I was raised on the west coast, there was plenty of common ground. At the same time, there were clear differences in language, accent, traditions, landmarks, and the cultural touchstones that shaped us.

Those differences became one of the reasons I set out to explore Canada for myself. I never quite saw the west coast reflected in the familiar pop culture caricature of what it meant to be Canadian. I wanted to discover the many versions of Canada that exist from coast to coast and find my own visual language for telling those stories.

Come On Just Let’s Go, 2024 Acrylic on Canvas 48 x 30 in – Brandy Saturley

One of the few television shows that truly captured the spirit of the west coast was The Beachcombers. For that, I will always thank the CBC. I grew up combing beaches for treasures washed ashore, building forts from driftwood logs, and spending long summer days until the inevitable sunburn arrived. I’m still not entirely sure what our west coast accent sounds like, but I certainly know what it means when someone says it’s “socked in.”

Canada Day Art – Wide Open Spaces

Canada is a vast country filled with dramatic landscapes, wide open spaces, remarkable people, and unforgettable towns and cities. Over the years I have painted hockey, iconic Canadian symbols, pop culture, roadside attractions, prairie skies, urban landmarks, and rugged coastlines. A polar bear king has wandered through my canvases, the Canadian flag has made its appearance, and so has the CN Tower. Newfoundland inspired an entire body of work celebrating the resilience, humour, and character of life on Canada’s eastern edge.

Ride My Wake, c. 2014 Acrylic 36 x 48 x 1.5 in – Brandy Saturley – Private Collection Edmonton, AB

Lately my focus has turned back toward home. This year I have been spending much of my time exploring Vancouver Island, rediscovering the forests, shorelines, fishing villages, and coastal communities that first shaped my imagination. After years of travelling across Canada, it feels right to return to the west coast and celebrate the unique voice and identity it brings to the Canadian story.

My paintings have never been about documenting Canada exactly as it is. They are about capturing how Canada feels. They are visual stories built from memory, experience, symbolism, and a deep affection for this extraordinary country.

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

Happy Birthday, Canada.

Thank you for twenty years of inspiration, endless roads to travel, and stories still waiting to be painted. I can’t wait to see where the next adventure leads.

On Guard (hockey Canada flag), c. 2013 Acrylic 24 x 36 x 1.5 in – Brandy Saturley – Colart Collection, Quebec Canada

June 30, 2026

Painting The Salish Sea

New Paintings

A New Series Evolves – Painting The Salish Sea

If there is one constant in my work, it is this: every fourth or fifth painting seems to open a door. One image leads to another and suddenly a series is born, fuelled by fascination, repetition, and the need to stay with a subject long enough to really understand it. Painting The Salish Sea.

A new series is now unfolding in my studio. Its point of origin was a commission, a painting about sea lions on the Salish Sea. I live on the west coast, on Vancouver Island, yet I had not fully immersed my painting practice in this coastline until recently. A move from Victoria to Parksville, mid-island on the eastern shore, shifted my daily rhythm toward the tide line. Now my days are shaped by beach walks, shifting light, and close encounters with marine life.

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

Not long ago, we watched a school of dolphins moving through shallow water near Qualicum Beach, briefly caught in the choreography of a low tide. Moments like this stay with me. They accumulate.

What began with sea lions and a raven has now expanded into a growing cast of coastal presences: orcas moving through deep channels, bald eagles tracking the shoreline, and dolphins racing the tide’s edge with effortless play.

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

Each painting in this series carries a palette drawn from the West Coast itself, deep blues, softened greys, and sudden bursts of neon yellow sky. The compositions are held from a low vantage point, where coastal mountains and dense forest hover in the distance like quiet witnesses.

In this most recent work, Ultramarine Jazz, I have simplified and distilled form even further. Shapes become almost symbolic, pared back to their essential energy. There is a sense of flow and rhythm here, echoing the pulse of the ocean itself, unpredictable, musical, alive.

Ultramarine Jazz, c. 2026 Acrylic On Canvas 24 x 60 x 1.5 in – Brandy Saturley

The Salish Sea, Place and Myth

The Salish Sea is the inland network of coastal waters that stretches between Vancouver Island, the mainland of British Columbia, and the state of Washington. It is not a single oceanic expanse, but a living system of straits, inlets, and channels, including the Strait of Georgia, the Strait of Juan de Fuca, and Puget Sound. It is a place of constant movement where tides, wind, and freshwater rivers meet and reshape one another daily.

Long before it was named on contemporary maps, these waters were home to Indigenous nations whose relationships with the sea are foundational and ongoing. The name “Salish Sea” itself is a modern designation that honours the Coast Salish peoples whose cultures, languages, and lifeways are deeply tied to these waters.

Within these coastal traditions, the sea is not only geography but presence. It is understood as a sentient space where land, water, and spirit are interwoven. Stories of transformation, animal kinship, and ecological balance are carried through generations, often expressed through oral histories, carving, weaving, and song. Orcas, eagles, salmon, and dolphins are not simply wildlife, but beings with agency, memory, and meaning within the fabric of the world.

This layered mythology continues to echo through the region today. Even in contemporary life, there is a sense that the Salish Sea holds more than surface reality. It carries story as much as saltwater, a depth of narrative that is both ancient and immediate. For me, painting within this environment means engaging not only with its visible forms but with this deeper field of presence and meaning.

Painting in progress.

Working in Series, Painting The Salish Sea

Working in series allows the work to breathe and evolve rather than resolve too quickly. Each painting becomes a chapter rather than a conclusion, and each encounter on the shoreline offers another thread to follow. Over time, these threads weave together into something larger, a visual narrative shaped by place, memory, and repetition.

My practice has always been rooted in storytelling. I am not only painting animals, coastlines, or atmospheric moments, I am building a language of experience drawn from living within these environments. The Salish Sea becomes both subject and storyteller, holding movement, mood, and myth within its shifting surface.

In this way, each series functions like a journal of attention. It records what lingers, what returns, and what insists on being seen again. The story is never fixed. It moves like tidewater, carrying fragments of observation into new forms and new paintings.

Inside Brandy Saturley studio in Parksville, Canada – 2026

June 17, 2026

Spirit of David Hockney

Art Career

The Momentous Spirit of David Hockney: A Painter’s Painter

When I was a young artist making drawings in my bedroom, I dreamed of big things for my art. I imagined large canvases, distant galleries, and the possibility that painting could become a way of seeing the world more clearly. As I grew older and found my way to art college, I discovered the spirit of British artist David Hockney and something shifted in me.

Hockney was born in Bradford, England, in 1937 and became one of the defining artists of the 20th century. Associated with the Pop Art movement of the 1960s, he quickly stood apart from many of his contemporaries. While others leaned into irony and commercial imagery, Hockney brought warmth, observation, and deep affection for everyday life into his work. His portraits, California swimming pool paintings, stage designs, and later monumental landscapes all carried the same unmistakable energy: a vivid curiosity about how we see and experience the world.

One of the most famous paintings of David Hockney is this double portrait from the swimming pool series. (Image: Christie’s)

What struck me first was the sense of wonder in his paintings. Hockney’s work feels open-hearted and alive. His portraits are intimate without becoming sentimental, and his landscapes transform familiar scenes into something almost dreamlike. Over time I became especially drawn to those immense, near-abstract landscapes where colour and rhythm seem to pulse across the canvas. The spirit in the work kept expanding, radiating outward from the paintings themselves.

The first time I saw Hockney’s work in person was at the Vancouver Art Gallery, during an exhibition of his portraits and later digital works. Even though he was already regarded as a master painter, he never stopped evolving. Hockney embraced new technology with the same curiosity he brought to oil paint and drawing. He understood that the tool is secondary to the artist using it. Standing in front of those digital portraits, I could still feel his painterly touch, his vibrant palette, and his sharp observational eye.

Self-Portrait on iPad, 2012 – David Hockney

A few years later, I visited the Seattle Art Fair and was invited to view part of Paul Allen’s private collection. There, filling an entire wall like a towering window into another world, was Hockney’s monumental multi-panel landscape Winter Timber (2009). The scale was overwhelming in the best possible way. It wasn’t just a landscape painting; it was an environment, a rhythm of colour and structure that seemed to pull the viewer inside.

In Winter Timber, Hockney captured the Yorkshire countryside. (Image: Christie’s)

By the end of 2018, I was searching for a way to disrupt my own studio practice. I felt caught in a creative rut and wanted to challenge the habits I had built around my work. At the time, I was known primarily for a pop realism aesthetic and had been described as “The Voice of Canadian Pop Art.” I began researching short programs and art schools, eventually discovering a summer contemporary art program in London, UK, at the Royal College of Art — the same institution where Hockney had once studied.

Spirit of David Hockney: In 2019, I went to London.

The experience was transformative. At the RCA, I was pushed to make work in ways that felt unfamiliar and risky. I was encouraged to move beyond polished narrative painting and toward experimentation, gesture, and abstraction. My vivid colour palette remained, but the structure of the work began to loosen and expand.

Spirit Mirror paintings by Brandy Saturley, Royal College of Art, 2019

When I returned to Canada, I felt creatively unsettled — in a productive way. I was surrounded again by the pop-art narratives and Canadian iconography that had defined my practice, but I no longer wanted to approach them in the same manner. I kept thinking about that enormous Hockney landscape in Seattle and the freedom it embodied.

I chose Princess Louisa Inlet in British Columbia as the subject for a new painting. On a huge expanse of unstretched duck canvas stapled directly to the wall, I began sketching the landscape in paint. I had worked this way in London, and I wanted to preserve that sense of immediacy and physical engagement. As I painted, the work opened up. Marks became bolder, layers of colour accumulated, forms dissolved and re-emerged. The painting grew into the largest work I had made at that point, and with it came a flood of new ideas. It felt less like illustrating a place and more like building an atmosphere, a memory, a rhythm of looking.

Sound of a Landscape, 42 x 80 x 2 in, 2019, Brandy Saturley

Today, I woke to social media feeds filled with tributes to David Hockney. At 88 years old, this icon of contemporary art has passed away.

Hockney was more than a celebrated painter; he was a reminder that artistic curiosity never has to harden into certainty. He kept experimenting, kept looking closely, kept finding joy in colour, technology, landscape, and human connection. For many artists of my generation, he was a painter’s painter — someone whose influence extended beyond style into the very attitude of making art.

Godspeed, Mr. Hockney. Your spirit continues to live on through your paintings, and through the countless artists you encouraged simply by showing us how fearlessly alive art can be.

June 12, 2026