Posts

Reader’s Digest Our Canada

PAINTING CANADA: Featured in Reader’s Digest OUR CANADA Magazine June/July 2016

Originally published May 17, 2016
Reader's Digest Our Canada

Art Inspired by Canada – Brandy Saturley featured in Our Canada Magazine July 2016

It has been quite the journey these past five years, exploring Canada. From the most rural to the grandest; cultivating a visual language that is distinctly Canadian. I have toured local museums in the most rural of villages, to our greatest architectural wonders housing our Canadian histories of art, sport and culture. I have hiked back-roads, neighborhoods, mountains, wilderness and through city streets. I have been a passenger on buses, cars, ferries, planes, boats, skytrains, streetcars and subways. You see, I don’t drive, never really wanted to, and am truly happy I do not. I am sure that most everyone else out there is thankful I don’t! I figure I am saving a few lives everyday. Curious is something I have always been, and not driving has served this curiosity in ways I never could have imagined as a teen growing up in a rural community of Canada. I recall reading something about Paul McCartney still taking the subway in New York when he has the chance, and I totally get why. The only true way to understand the beat on the ground and in the people, from all walks and all cultures, is to walk among them, every chance you get. From the finest dram of Scotch to cheap beer and the finest tenderloin to the squeakiest cheese curds on poutine; I am fortunate for all of these experiences. I think it was Queen Victoria, the namesake of my hometown, that said; “Beware of artists. They mix with all classes of society and are therefore most dangerous.” I don’t know about dangerous, but certainly curious enough to warrant no boundaries. This brings me to a little feature that was recently published in Reader’s Digest Our Canada Magazine. This year’s Canada Day issue, now on shelves in Chapters and in subscribers mailboxes across the country, features four lovely pages filled with my words and paintings. I talk about this journey of the past five years and the resulting art inspired by these adventures. The June/July 2016 issue is available on newsstands and here. Keep on exploring and creating; vive le Canada! ~ Brandy Saturley
Reader's Digest Our Canada

People of Canada Portrait Project – Our Canada Magazine 2016

More Our Canada Magazine

‘The Getaway’ – More Our Canada Magazine Cover Feature

Originally published on June 29, 2017

Last year for Canada Day I was exploring beautiful Yellowknife and soaking up all this Northern City has to offer. This year I am paying it forward with an article I wrote for More Our Canada Magazine, ‘To Yellowknife, With Love’. I found out a few weeks ago that one of my paintings inspired by this trip would be featured on the cover of the July issue, ‘The Getaway’ features a sled dog, the houseboats on back bay and a canoe adventure I enjoyed while exploring. The painting encompasses all that I experienced and feel about the trip, it speaks to freedom and living an authentic life. read the article now

More Our Canada Cover

Painting by Brandy Saturley on the cover of More Our Canada Magazine

 

 

In 2016, I spent the year travelling across Canada and into the Northern Territories. The purpose of my exploration was to absorb and interact with Canadians and cultures across the country as I built reference material for a body of work inspired by authentic ‘Canadian’ experiences, which would become known as my ‘Pop Canadianisms’. These ‘Pop Canadianisms’ were presented in touring solo shows of my work in 2017. While travelling to and exploring these communities I was welcomed by artists in each area. I spent many days touring and learning about their communities. Time spent hiking, sketching, photographing and writing.
The Getaway – This piece was inspired by my time in Yellowknife, NWT in 2016. My journey through the Canadian landscape has taken me to many large cities and rural communities over the past couple of years in preparation for touring exhibitions of my paintings inspired by Canada this year, coinciding with the Canada 150 celebrations. One year ago, on Canada Day 2016, I had the opportunity to celebrate in Canada’s North, on the edge of the Arctic Circle. I spent Canada Day week in Yellowknife on an epic journey in the land where the sun and the people never sleep. The husky dog was part of a team I met during my visit, the piece speaks to the wild and independent spirit of Canada’s North. My six days on the edge of the Arctic Circle, where helping your neighbour really is the first order of business, and the only way to survive in this land of extreme weather and extreme living. This experience inspired many a painting when I returned home to my studio on Vancouver Island. These people have heart and grit and talent beyond whatever expectations I had going in.