“A gifted feather is given or received as a sign of courage, respect, and honour. Told to bring luck, a gifted feather is earned and carries profound spiritual significance.”

Mike Bellis: I have found a passion for carving that’s in my DNA, and the legacy of my ancestors is a fire within that fuels my creativity. Summers spent in Haida Gwaii as a child exposed me to the carving tradition within my family, but I did not pick up a chisel until well into adulthood.

Dimensions : 30” x 40”  ( original watercolour with further digital oil paint using Procreate app on iPad and then digitally-printed on canvas). 

“IRIS IN THE TRIP” was part of an all-immersive, digital art exhibition at the McMillan Arts Centre in Parksville, September 2025. This is the only Artist Proof printed at these dimensions from the show “Trip The Light Fantastic”. 

The Trip was co-created and produced by artists Brian Middleton and Robert Held over an 18 month period. Over a 3 week period close to 1000 people experienced art through this innovative format. 

Dimensions : 30” x 40”  ( original watercolour with further digital oil paint using Procreate app on iPad and then digitally-printed on canvas). 

Brian is currently producing a new solo/immersive show with Shawn Labrecque who worked with Brian and Bob to successfully “launch“ The Trip last year. 

size: 18″ x 20″
After painting this watercolour on paper, I decided to try to imitate the effect of an insect (like a dragonfly) looking at this view through his compound eyes. Compound eyes produce a mosaic image, where each visual unit, up to 1000’s of them, contributes a single “pixel” to the overall perception.

To mimic this effect, I cut the middle section of my original painting into horizontal strips. Then I made a second painting, with varying colours, and cut it into vertical strips. Weaving these together produced this artwork, and gave me the effect I wanted!
About Nancy: While growing up in Ontario and Quebec, I had a childhood love of drawing, but it was years later in Alberta that I discovered painting through watercolour classes.

Size: 22″ x 26″

My journey as a watercolour artist is deeply rooted in the nature that surrounds me.  Over the years, I have returned to painting sunflowers because they lift my spirits and fill me with joy.  To me, these flowers are a vibrant celebration of HOPE and RESILIENCE.  By always turning towards the sun, they remind us to seek the light and find strength during difficult times.

I hope this painting, “Resilient Light” , brings the same warmth into your life that it brought me while creating it.

Janet: I grew up in North Vancouver and went to Handsworth Secondary School in the 1970’s. I married Randy Trerise and we moved in 1978 to Midway, BC.  I took a pottery course at Selkirk College and explored my artistic side by doing pottery and making bent-willow furniture. In the Fall of 2009, I took a watercolour painting course from Patricia McNish.  Since then, my garden, my travels around the world have been my inspiration for my paintings.

“I paint, therefore I am. My work is my statement.”

Norma McCachen cannot recall a time she wasn’t drawing or painting. Raised in a family steeped in art — a painter-photographer father, a mother who made through sewing, weaving, and rug-making — she was taught early to see. Her father would stop the car to point out how shadows defined the shape of a hill, or press a beetle into her hand to marvel at the metallic blue of its back. That training became a way of moving through the world: an attention to colour, contour, and light in the everyday.

30″ x 40″

“I paint, therefore I am. My work is my statement.”

Norma McCachen cannot recall a time she wasn’t drawing or painting. Raised in a family steeped in art — a painter-photographer father, a mother who made through sewing, weaving, and rug-making — she was taught early to see. Her father would stop the car to point out how shadows defined the shape of a hill, or press a beetle into her hand to marvel at the metallic blue of its back. That training became a way of moving through the world: an attention to colour, contour, and light in the everyday.

Reversed decoupage on glass

8″ diameter
This bowl reflects that process of reconstruction: taking what exists, breaking it apart, and reassembling it into something whole again. It’s a quiet reflection on transformation, there is always space in our life to gather the pieces and begin anew.
Josée I came to creating art later in life, discovering my medium through reversed decoupage on glass.

Until then, my connection to art lived more on the periphery—through a deep appreciation for galleries, museums, and the quiet power of visual storytelling.

Creativity, however, has always been close at hand. Both of my parents were artists in their own right, and their influence has shaped how I see and interpret the world.

26″ x 52″
Acrylic painting
Paint Brush Boys (acrylic, 26″ × 52″) is vintage Leier — a diptych-style composition that pairs two grinning mid-century boys’ faces against a wash of teal and electric green with a flat scarlet panel holding two oversized house-painting brushes. One face is rendered in cool white, the other in a warm cadmium gold, their bold black outlines and cartoon-poster styling nodding to the optimism of old advertising art. The brushes wink at his own medium: the painter folding the tools of his trade into the picture.

Worked in his signature bright, festive acrylics, the piece runs on the contrasts he loves — hot red against cool green, white against gold, nostalgia against pop. It’s playful, graphic, and unmistakably his, framed here in weathered gold. Signed lower right.
Grant Leier was born in Lloydminster, Saskatchewan in 1956 and trained at the Alberta College of Art in Calgary before continuing at the Illustrator’s Workshop in New York. A painter, illustrator, and textile artist, he has shown extensively in solo and group exhibitions across Canada and California, with work held in collections including the Alberta Foundation for the Arts, Public Archives Canada, and Chevron Canada. He lives and paints in Ladysmith, British Columbia.

Ugly Dog #34 (Joël A. Prévost, glazed ceramic) is exactly the kind of affectionate misfit the title promises — a stylized hound rendered in deep cobalt and midnight blue, its glossy glaze pooling and streaking so that light catches every ridge of the hand-built surface. The form is pared down to gesture: a long snout with bared teeth, perked ears, a stout planted stance, and a bold cut-out arching over the back that turns negative space into part of the design. Up close you can read the maker’s hand in the worked clay and the dark, unglazed edges grounding each foot.

It’s playful and a little defiant, with the figurative wit and confident handling of form that mark Prévost’s sculpture. A characterful one-of-a-kind piece — and a great auction find for anyone who likes their art with personality.
Joël A. Prévost is a sculptor and educator with more than 25 years devoted to the human form. Born in 1963 in Lac-Saint-Jean, Quebec, he moved with his family to Nanaimo in 1977, and after studying Community Development in Nova Scotia he returned to the Island to work in cultural programming — facilitating, fundraising, and producing concerts and music series, including a stint running the World Beat Cafe in Nanaimo’s Old City Quarter, where his own sculpting practice took root.

Acrylic on canvas
24”x 30” (gallery stretched)
© Tamar Swartz
With the painting, I’ve included an envelope with a Certificate of Authenticity, a business card, and the little poem that accompanies the piece (copied below).

Together we journey into the wild unknown to simultaneously lose and find ourselves

Life dances among the leaves of this enchanted forest, allowing us to get carried away in wonderment of adventure. 

For now the darkness slinks at a distance. We both know it’s there, though you more profoundly than I.

Time feels short and I’ve come to realize that I’m truly grateful for every moment that you’re here. 

Your presence is a gift, and one that I don’t take for granted. 
Tamar Swartz is a visual artist, currently working in acrylic paint. She creates visual narratives that invite the viewer to step in and explore the boundaries of real and imaginary, finding the magic in the mundane. 

Her paintings are intended as a portal to a place where heart-centred connections can occur, and heroes journeys unfold.

Media: Acrylic black and white, textured mixed media on a ‘gallery wrapped’ style canvas

Size: 24” x 30”
Roberto likes to create pieces that blend a variety of techniques and textural elements to highlight the richness that can come from contrasting elements.  This piece highlights the effects of paints applied to  flat as well as highly textured surfaces.

Watercolour Painting on Ampersand’s Aquaboard

16″ x 20″
“Big Sky” is #3 in a series of paintings inspired by a road trip from BC’s West Coast to Calgary, Alberta.

After first passing through dense forests, followed by the majestic mountains of the Rockies, I was awestruck by the big, open sky and the flat land stretching on as far as the eye could see.  I found a new appreciation for the prairie landscape with its palette of blues and many muted neutral colours.

This unique watercolour is painted on a clay board making it possible to be framed without being under glass; hence, there will be no glare no matter where it is hung.

“I love capturing scenes of nature all around me as well as memories of the places I’ve travelled to. Representational watercolour was my first love, but my journey is now including acrylic painting and experimentation with abstract.”
Bio: Like all artists, is a work in progress.

She was born and raised in Burnaby, BC, raised her family in New Westminster and taught elementary school for her working career.

When she and her husband retired and moved to Parksville on Vancouver Island in 2000, she now had the gift of time to immerse herself in the joy of all things artistic.

John was born in Powell River, BC in 1937. He is a graduate of UBC School of Architecture and became a registered Member of the Architectural Institute of British Columbia and Canada in 1964.

In 1972, John became a member of the British Columbia Society of Landscape Architects and later was made a partner in the Landscape Architectural firm of Justice, Webb & Vincent in Kerrisdale, Vancouver.

For many years John was a member of the Canadian Federation of Artists and participated in numerous exhibitions in Vancouver. Most of John’s work depict scenes of BC coastlines. His work has been represented in galleries throughout British Columbia and Alberta since the early 1980’s.

John now resides and paints in Craig Bay, Parksville, BC

Watercolour . Framed.
16″ x 20″
This watercolour painting of pink Calla Lillies is an exploration of simplicity and beauty. I am drawn to the natural elegance, clean lines, and gentle curves symbolizing both strength and grace.
Helen: I’m a member of the DeCosmos Fine Arts Society and the McMillan Arts Centre. I’ve exhibited at various art galleries in the beautiful Oceanside area.

 18” X 36”

Acrylic on canvas
Deborah Philipp was born and raised in Chicago. Her parents loved art and were regular visitors to the Chicago Art Institute when she was a child. Her love of art never left her. She studied painting at Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia and Rome. 

After college she moved to San Francisco and spent many years showing her work in galleries there. After spending many summers visiting her husband’s mother on Vancouver Island 

the couple made the move to the island in 2007 to live at Sproat Lake.  In 2019 they relocated to Parksville. 

Deborah has exhibited her works in galleries throughout California for over 30 yrs.  Her work is part of many corporate and private collections.

Since coming to Canada, she has had several shows on the Island.

Acrylics on 14″x18″ stretched canvas

14″x18″ (16.5″x20.5″ framed)
This painting captures the charm of a sunlit Turkish courtyard, centered around a striking weathered blue door. A vibrant explosion of magenta bougainvillea climbs the golden walls, casting its shadows across the courtyard. The scene evokes a timeless romantic feeling, inviting the viewer to imagine exploring a hidden corner of Turkey on a peaceful summer afternoon.

Painted by Deb Reidlinger
BIO: I have always loved color! Growing up, art was my first love and I was constantly drawing, coloring or painting something. It was my aptitude in math, though, that led me to a career in IT. During my working years, I loved the vibrant colors of wool, cotton and silk used in fibre arts, a medium that took little room and was easily transported to weekly “weaving nights”.

Since retiring, painting has become my indulgence. I paint mostly landscapes, travel scenes and my fascinating grandsons. Now living in Parksville, I am awed by the incredible scenery: a never-ending source of inspiration!

Title: Tempest
Size: 10” x 20”
Medium: Acrylic
In this acrylic painting, I explore the tension between serenity and the element faces of nature. A white horse stands quietly in the background, a symbol of resilience, and unyielding spirit. Looming overhead is an approaching stormy sky.The visual contrast reminds us to remain grounded and clam while facing life’s unpredictable storms.

Working under the name Carolina, Carol Ann Owers creates expressive paintings inspired by the forest, wildlife, and human spirit that surround her on the West Coast. Her work reflects a deep connection to nature, using colour, movement, and design to convey energy, emotion, and a sense of place.

13″ X25″
Two gulls on the Salish Sea shoreline bask in the first light, soaking up the sun’s warmth as it climbs over a crisp winter morning.

Carol Chilton, who lives in Parksville’s Craig Bay, specializes in capturing Western Canada’s incredible wildlife and landscapes. She is a member of the Federation of Canadian Artists.