From humpbacks to finn whales to orcas to blue whales, creating an artwork about whales remains one of the simplest and most complex subjects I've ever painted. Whales where the first subject I ever drew as a child and continue to be my favourite artworks today. I've only seen one ...

Orcas, or killer whales, are magical animals living in all the worlds oceans and are especially interconnected with the Pacific North West and it’s people. As a Victoria, BC wildlife artist I love painting these locally beloved whales so iconic to the west coast and west coast art.

Wildlife is essential to the life, health and identity of Canadian lands. Painting and portraying Canadian animals as a Canadian artist is not only a rewarding experience, I also see it as a personal responsibility. In painting iconic land animals like moose, wolves and grizzly bears I promote their important ...

Sunrise and sunset present some of the most beautiful times to view any location, let alone the Canadian wild. When darkness comes and departs, flipping the coin of life to the sun rising or setting, natural magic can happen. There is often a shift change in local life, as those ...

British Columbia is a natural, magical place for landscape painting. From scenic beaches and beautiful mountain ranges to lush rainforests, BC’s diverse landscapes are an endless muse for a landscape artist. Aside painting from the immediate beauty of BC nature, there is much to express in the color, texture and ...

A web page collection of tree portraits by BC landscape artist Kris Friesen. A Tree portrait is a landscape painting that portrays the essence, life, vibrance, mood and environment of a tree as a subject. Just like portraits of people, these painted artworks find unique attributes and characteristics in the ...

We are fascinated with the ability to take to the air, and we often hold the creatures that can do so in a metaphorical higher regard, compared to their cousins on the ground. As a wildlife artist, when I paint a bird I am painting a world I can never ...

Few animals have the immediate effect of eagles with people. Again and again eagles are shared as symbolic icons in human culture and have important roles in heraldry and religions as they can represent strength, intelligence, grace, power, wisdom and more. In many First Nations cultures the eagle carries the ...

We are instinctively drawn to life in the sea, and part of my job as an artist is to help us become even more curious and attracted to it. Where I love helping people get into the ocean to see first hand the abundance of life in the sea, painting ...

Otters, sea otters in particular, are my favourite animal. All my life I have wanted to follow their lead, bridging worlds between the land, air and sea. When I paint an otter, I paint my desire to experience and share the underwater world they thrive in.

Long had I painted wildlife in a world that is separate from the reach of humanity. In excluding any trace of humans in my wildlife painting I had hoped to find just that whenever I went into the wild, a natural world untouched by our influence. While untouched nature can ...

The ocean is often an immediate wilderness to enter, even if set directly beside the most urban cities. We rarely venture under the waves to see that sea life has found it’s way right next to us and even directly on top of what we build. Where our cities leave ...

The landscape painting is often the first genre most folks think of with art, and for good reason. An age old genre where artists portray the essence of nature, landscapes can show many different settings, such the ocean, jungles, mountains, rivers, beaches and forests. When I paint a landscape I ...

This collection of wildlife paintings spans a couple genres, continents where I painted, and time periods. Several of these artworks were created during my artist's residency at Sachaqa Centro De Arte in San Roque de Cumbaza, Peru, where I was encouraged by myself, my hosts, and my artist contemporaries to ...

As Canada still has more wildlife than humans bears make themselves at home and are well suited to the land. Encountering one of nature’s largest land predators is a unique experience and I seek to imagine acrylic paintings that capture the essence of these powerful, quirky and often misunderstood animals.

Octopuses are amazing animals. With over 300 species in their order of octopada, the octopus lives in every ocean of our world using their 8 arms to “walk” the sea floor. I love these creatures and every time I enter the ocean I hope to see one. As a Victoria, ...

A seascape painting is an artwork that portrays the sea as marine art. Related to the landscape, which depicts natural scenery like forests and mountains, a seascape reveals the artist’s perception of the ocean itself. As a Victoria, BC seascape artist who is fortunate to live by the sea, when ...

Kelp forests are like the upside-down version of the forests we know on land with, giant seaweed instead of trees. Starting at the ocean surface we have the kelp canopy which like trees is the thickest part of the forest, with kelp blades (the long leaf like part) kept afloat ...

As an artist who's favourite subject is nature and who is often called to paint figures and portraits, I find it natural to combine people with animals in an artwork. This juxtaposition of humanity and wildlife is often based on a common thread between the two species, a subject that ...

Creating artworks about fish in the sea is like diving into a dream, using the eyes of my soul like an old video camera. There is so much I would like to share with paint in visiting that world that the quality never comes through. Nevertheless, as a Vancouver Island ...

My new series of original acrylic paintings reveals a modern art view of Canadian landscapes and wildlife created with broad curved brush strokes. This wall art is inspired by the visions of the famous BC painter Emily Carr and influenced by Vincent Van Gogh if he painted with a limited ...

Salmon are the lifeblood of several coasts, including my own in British Columbia. There are seven species of Pacific salmon and five can be found in BC: their spawning season is one of the great events in nature. So many fish finish their lives inland after spawning that over millions ...