Chilliwack (Tselxweyeqw) Cascade Mountains

Watercolour paintings from 2015-2021

Most of the watercolours in this section are of the Chilliwack area Cascade Mountains of British Columbia where I grew up. I find most of my inspiration in this awe inspiring area. My soul lives in those mountains.

I am a self taught watercolour painter. I have never taken any lessons however I have been greatly influenced by the famous Canadian painter Toni Onley. He taught at the Fine Art faculty of UBC in the 1970’s and was a friend of my mentor Canadian Artist Gordon Smith. Toni would come over to our painting class and critique our work. I always quizzed him on his watercolour techniques and gleaned as much from him as I could on those occasions. I scrutinized his paintings and “borrowed” some of his style, however I have tried to make my own unique style and specialize in skies as well as the mountain peaks.

When I arrived in the Cariboo in 1983 to teach high school art and photography I was mesmerized by the beauty of the area. For the next twenty years I stopped painting in oils and concentrated on painting watercolours of the snow, creeks, mountains and spruce forests of the Barkerville/Bowron Lake area.I would strap on my snowshoes and immerse myself in the landscape. I painted from the heart and over two decades created and sold over 100 watercolour paintings. They seemed to strike a chord with the people in the North. All I have left from that period are three paintings. They hang on my walls and if you want to see them you have to come to my house.