Reflection Lake Painting

“The creative act cannot be corralled into submission. It is forever free - the grand adventure in which we open our hearts and intellects to the possibilities of the moment.” - H. Beaton Heather Beaton has painted the Canadian landscape in oil and acrylic for over thirty years. A passion for nature’s light effects and colour harmonies inspire her paintings of Western Canada and Nova Scotia. In 1976, Beaton completed a Bachelor of Arts (Honors) in philosophy at the University of Saskatchewan, moved to Nova Scotia and began her artistic career. After eight years of painting the landscape plein air, a deep feeling for land and sky developed. This understanding is visible in her later studio work. Fine art galleries in Atlantic Canada exhibited her work for over twenty-five years including the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia's Art Sales and Rental Society Gallery and the Ewing Gallery in Newfoundland. Beaton was also an instructor in perspective drawing for artists at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design University and taught semi-annual painting workshops over this twenty-five year period, including summer plein air workshops with Marine painter Graham Baker. In 2008, Beaton moved to Golden, British Columbia to fulfill her dream of painting the Rocky Mountains. In her own words, "It's a real thrill to live close to nature, even with bears and cougars close by. The scenery is inspirational as the clouds and light are ever-changing over the mountains." Beaton's landscape paintings can be found in the book From Land and Sea edited by Dee Appleby, the Nova Scotia Art Bank Collection, the Rossignol Cultural Center in Liverpool, N.S. and private collections across North America.