Painting by Erin Stagg

“I grew up with nature being my safe space. Now, I want to give other people a glimpse into the everyday beauty that you can find in our exceptional country.”

Ursa Major

A bear sits inside a glowing crescent moon as the aurora dance and stretch to the top of the sky behind her. There’s a wonderful play of warm golden light from the moon and cool blue light from the aurora working on both sides of the bear.

This painting came to me as an emotion, a dance, an overwhelming feeling inside me. It’s playful, it has a rising lift, a warm comforting glow and a sense of grace to it. All of those emotions hit me as one, and came out as this beautiful painting.

16 x 20, acrylic on canvas

Ancient Forest

Follow the boardwalk. That’s what this painting begs you to do. The forest is lively and ever-changing as the trees gather their energy to grow leaves for the spring and the water tumbles over rocks and fallen logs. This painting is all about the energy in the individual sections of this small space. In one area the water is lively and spirited, in another area it is tranquil. Nothing stays the same for long in the forest.

The Ancient Forest was slated to be logged in the early 2000s, when a timber cruiser realized the value of this forest. He began encouraging people to hike the forest. A boardwalk was constructed by hand by the Caledonia Ramblers that now spans the entire loop of the hike. In 2016, the park was saved forever from logging when it was designated as a Class A Provincial Park, the Ancient Forest Provincial Park (Chun T’oh Whudujut in the local Lheidli T’enneh language). The forest is home to trees up to 2000 years old as well as an unknown variety of rare plants that are just now being studied.

24 x 36, acrylic on canvas

Evening Glow

The warm light of an early fall catches the fur of a grizzly, out for an evening stroll. It looks perhaps excited, is there a meal at the end of that gaze? The forest stands cool and blue while the rusty coloured vegetation reveals the signs of a coming winter.

I was drawn to this painting because the colours and vegetation reminded me of my own childhood. I can smell the pine trees, low dry grass and the wet vegetation starting to break down for the fall. This bear trots through the grass the way that I did growing up.

11 x 14, acrylic on canvas

Down by the Sea

A black bear carefully navigates the seaweed covered rocks to come to the edge of the sea shore. It didn’t climb down in order to drink the salty sea water, it’s looking for dinner as the tide lowers and exposes stranded sea creatures for it to gobble up. I wonder what the water will reveal.

I was drawn to this painting because of the quiet everyday action and the simple beauty of this intimate moment. I loved the texture of the seaweed clinging to the barnacle covered rocks and the soft, mesmerizing dance of the light on the water. To me, this painting felt so real, tangible and somehow vulnerable.

24 x 30, acrylic on canvas

Erin Stagg was raised in the small village of Fort St. James, BC, and found solace in nature at an early age. As a young girl, she spent hours alone in her corner of the forest. She encountered bears alone in the forest, made art in the middle of an airstrip, and slept under the stars next to the fire. Erin attended university where she studied botany and physical geography. After university, she pursued a job typical of her degree and found herself listless and unhappy. She turned back to art, and has been a full-time artist for 4 years living in Prince George, BC.

Erin Stagg is a self-taught acrylic painter, best known for her lively landscape paintings of British Columbia. Erin’s goal with her art is to show an intimate look at our land, to hopefully inspire others to find a love and respect for nature.

Erin can be found on Instagram @erinstaggart

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Painting by Erin Stagg