Appearing at the Pearl Ellis Gallery February 21 to March 4 is local Courtenay artist Bill Heybroek.
He will be holding a public reception for his show on February 26 from 1 to 4 p.m.
Heybroek is a longtime Courtenay resident, having moved to Comox in 1959 at the age of 31. He was given painting supplies as a young child of 10 and during the years leading up to his 31 birthday painted sporadically.
During the next 50, years Heybroek began to sketch in pen and ink. A few years ago Heybroek's wife Sandy passed away leaving him with a large number of art supplies, having these encouraged Bill to begin painting again.
Sandy was an accomplished artist and had several gallery shows around the province. During her artist years, both Bill and her travelled the province taking a large collection of photos.
Heybroek began to use these photos as his source of inspiration and subject matter.
The majority of these are of outdoor adventures that he experienced during his earlier days of mountaineering, fishing, boating, and his connection with the wilderness and nature.
About 15 years ago, Heybroek became a keen birder and he soon began to put his love of birds on canvas. He found that perfecting bird paintings proved to be quite challenging. His love of birds does come through in his beautiful works.
Many of his landscapes are of mountain settings, and scenes from boating along the outer and inner coasts of B.C. He has also painted scenes from a trip to the Arctic in 1999 and his prairie days when he was an active duck hunter.
Heybroek's landscapes truly bring out his love for the outdoors with the majestic snowcapped mountain scenes and breathtaking wilderness scenes.
At 83 years old, Heybroek still desires to put the countless places that he has explored and travelled on to canvas. He looks forward to sharing many of these memories and visions of nature with anyone he can possibly touch.
The Pearl Ellis Gallery is located at 1729 Comox Avenue in Comox. The hours of operation are Tue to Sat from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Sundays from 1 to 4 p.m. (the gallery is closed on Monday). Admission is free. The gallery is a nonprofit public gallery and new members are always welcome.
For more information, visit www.pearlellisgallery.com
