Donated to the Nature Trust of BC by the artist, and SOLD at their silent auction Earth Wind & Fire, in Kelowna, BC June 2015

One of these days you might be fortunate enough to take a special hike on a sunny day in April around the trail on the southwest shoreline at Mahoney Lake. This lake is accessible by road via Green Lake Road, six kilometers south of Okanagan Falls, or three kilometers west of Oliver, B.C. Mahoney Lake is a saline lake, and is fed only by precipitation, so it has been used as a research and teaching site for over thirty years. This beautiful arrowleaf balsamroot plant can be found in abundance growing along the hillside near the trail on the south side of Mahoney Lake. These bright yellow flowers have soft arrowhead-shaped leaves. The Balsamroot was widely used as a versatile food plant, and as a medicinal plant by First Nation people in the Okanagan region.

I hope that this acrylic on canvas painting, Springtime, Mahoney Lake has a strong visual impact, and an appreciation of light due to my bold use of colour to highlight the intense beauty of the Balsamroot flower. My work is often a celebration of nature, as I enjoy the outdoors immensely, and have taken this hike many times over the years. I have a Bachelor of Education from the University of B.C., and completed art education courses in the mid 1990s through the University of Victoria. I have active status with the Federation of Canadian Artists, and was proud to give a talk about my art work at the Penticton TEDx conference in 2012. I work out of my studio in Penticton, British Columbia, Canada.