Carol Chilton

Fifteen years ago, after retiring to Craig Bay in Parksville on Vancouver Island, my art career began to take root. Proudly Canadian, I draw inspiration from our country's superb landscapes and wildlife that one can paint. My lifelong passion for gardening has also 3influenced the selection of works presented here. Most are oil paintings on canvas, complemented by a few recent pieces in watercolour and acrylic. I am a member of the Federation of Canadian Artists. Thanks for taking time to browse. - Carol Chilton

Belted Kingfisher

18" x 24" oil on canvas. This large, male kingfisher is about to land on a log outcrop in our local coastal wetlands. From this perch, it wiil dive headlong into the water to catch the fish it spots. The painting is based on a shot by Tony Markle, an outstanding Craig Bay photographer.

Sunflower - People's Choice Award

This 12" x 24" painting won the People's Choice Award at the Major and Monk Gallery Summer Show. The bright yellow head of the sunflower contrasts well with the blue and white-clouded summer sky. As well as serving as a symbol of green ideology, the sunflower is a worldwide source for food and oil.

Winter Swan - Vancouver Island

This 2' x 3' canvas is based on a photo by Jim Murray who is another outstanding photographer in Craig Bay, our community within Parksville. That's new-fallen snow on the bank behind the Trumpeter Swan which is coping with ice on a neighbourhood pond. Ice and snow are very rare here so this is likely a new experience for this swan. This is a big painting, fitting for a waterfowl with a wingspan of six to eight feet.

Schooner Cove - Vancouver Island

16" x 20" oil on canvas. Here we enjoy some of Schooner Cove in famous Pacific Rim National Park. Standing on the expansive golden sands during a receding tide, we view one of the small volcanic islands bathed in sunshine. No longer available.

Autumn Rapids

18" x 24" oil on canvas. The soothing rush of mountain river rapids is brought to life as the water courses through vivid autumn foliage.

Bear - Georgia Strait

An impressive Grizzly dominates in this 24" x 48" oil painting based on a photo by Bob Roper. The bear is soaked from salmon fishing in the shallow ocean waters and here has paused to case the area. The protein-rich salmon will fatten it up for winter hibernation.

Comox Glacier - Vancouver Island

This pastel-like 18" x 24" painting looks across the Courtenay River Estuary at the 6,430-foot high Comox Glacier. Comox comes from the name of the K’omoks aboriginal peoples indigenous to the region. The estuary, where fresh and salt water meet, is a staging area for 70,000 birds migrating along the Pacific Coast. No longer available - sold.

Curious - North Pacific Coast

This 12" x 16" sea otter is based on a photo by Darren Livingston of Prescott, Arizona. Sea otters were almost extinct here 80 years ago but today they thrive in pockets along our coast. The otter's groomed fur has tiny air bubbles to keep it warm in our frigid waters. The fur is the thickest of any living animal with 100,000 or more hairs per square centimetre. Not for sale.

Get Ready To Rock And Roll - Pacific Coast

18" x 24" oil on canvas. This powerful, five-metre wave is about to hit the shoreline of Pacific Rim National Park, Canada's surfing mecca. For someone, this may result in a terrible tumble in the turbulent whitewater. No longer available - sold.

Herring For Lunch - Georgia Strait

The gulls and seal lions in this 12" x 24" oil on canvas are enjoying the springtime herring run off Vancouver Island's east coast. The schools are a valuable feed for many ocean species. The herring are also fished commercially which has incited debate over the conservation of our future stocks.

Winter Path - Canadian Prairie

A prairie farm lies under winter snow, set against the warm morning sky in this 18" x 24" painting. A worn path hints at regular passage. Today's lighter snowpacks create a growing uncertainty for farms like this.

Jamilah

12" x 12" oil on canvas board. Almost 500,000 Somali refugees, 58% children, fled their country's civil war and live in camps in Kenya today. This young girl, cradled by her mother's arm, is among them. No longer available - sold.

Trio - Pacific Coast

This 12" x 24" painting displays a trio of sanderling shorebirds hunting on the ocean shoreline. When the water recedes, they plunge their beaks into the wet sand in search of small burrowing crabs and invertebrate hiding just below the surface. No longer available - sold.

Marney-Rose

10" x 14" watercolour. This rose was completed some years ago at the Metchosin International Summer School of Arts. A few hundred artists gathered for multi-day workshops at Lester B. Pearson College, west of Victoria. My workshop was conducted by Marney-Rose Edge, a wonderful B.C. artist and teacher.

Retired

In this 14" x 22" watercolour, we celebrate the beauty of an old workhorse of a truck that has rusted away. The vintage is most likely late 1940s. It's both a relic and an art piece.

Wickaninnish - Vancouver Island

This 12" x 16" painting captures mystic qualities of Wickaninnish Beach when the ocean mist rolls in, which can even happen on a sunny day. Located in Pacific Rim National Park, the beach is a wonderful stretch of sand, dunes and rocks pounded by powerful waves. No longer available - sold.

Sun Seekers - Rathtrevor Provincial Park

A 12" × 24" painting of two gulls on Rathtrevor's shallow shoreline soaking up the warmth of the sun on a chilly winter morning. No longer available.

Beach Grass - Pacific Coast

This 16" x 20" painting puts the spotlight on American Beach Grass blown by a warm ocean breeze. Despite its name, this grass is abundant on both Canada's Pacific and Atlantic shores. No longer available - sold.

Grace In Bloom

These 7.5" × 18" watercolours feature two of my favorite flowering plants. On the left, the Phalaenopsis orchid brings a sense of calm refinement to our indoors, the blooms resembling butterflies in gentle flight. On the right, luminous apple blossoms bring a soft elegance to the awakening of spring. No longer available.

Standing Tall - Vancouver Island

In this 12" x 16" oil painting, a lone evergreen stands tall on volcanic rock by the coast. To grow from sapling to maturity, the tree had to successfully cope with strong ocean winds and harsh salt spray.

Autumn Birches - Western Canada

Autumn is celebrated in this 16" x 20" painting. The White Birches are accentuated by the brillant colors of the deciduous forest. Birch like these produce little winged nutkin seeds which fly away from the parent tree so they won't compete for food and water.

A Quiet Spot - Vancouver Island

This 16" x 20" oil on canvas depicts a wonderful secluded spot at Wickaninnish on Vancouver Island's Pacific Coast. Wickaninnish is named after the 18th-century chief of the Tia-o-qui-aht First Nations of Clayquot Sound. No longer available - sold.

Waterton Lakes National Park - Alberta

This 18" x 24" oil on canvas captures a wonderful lake reflection of the Rocky Mountains in Waterton Lakes National Park. Waterton Lakes, the smallest of Canada's 46 national parks, is treasured for its clear, clean waters. No longer available - gifted.

A Leg Up

A 12" x 12" oil painting captures these gulls standing on one leg with the other tucked into their warm plumage. The pose is a natural behavior that helps conserve body heat and rest muscles.

Yoho National Park - British Columba

This 14" x 18" oil on canvas reveals a mountain lake nestled into Rocky Mountains in Yoho National Park. The lake is on the cusp of freezing over. In late Spring, the snow will melt and replenish the river basins with fresh water used to fill taps, irrigate farms and produce hydroelectricity. No longer available.

Thunderstorm - Southern Alberta

Ominous storm clouds over Southern Alberta wheat fields are realized in this 12' x 24' oil painting. The storm began with warm moist air blowing west from British Columbia and rising when it reached the Rocky Mountains. The cumulus clouds which formed were then fed and darkened by severe summer heat rising from the fields. No longer available - sold.

Mystic Beach - Vancouver Island

This is a 18" x 24" painting of Mystic Beach on the Strait of Juan de Fuca. The spectacular beach is loved for its sandstone cliffs and the hanging waterfall which is fed by rains draining from the lush forest along the shoreline. Each spring, it's a great spot to watch sea lions and migrating grey whales feeding offshore.

Unforgettable - Western Nunavut

A very deep canopy of snow blankets Arctic Canada mountains in this 2' x 3' painting. The unforgettable landscape, shaped by ancient natural forces, entices the intrepid with granite peaks, tundra valleys and shimmering glaciers.

Sanderlings - Pacific Coast

This 12" x 24" painting shows a flock of small sanderlings hanging out at the shoreline. Sanderlings breed in the Arctic from late spring to mid-summer and then migrate south over thousands of kilometres to the tidal sand flats and beaches on our Pacific Coast. No longer available - sold.

Walk On The Beach - Pacific Coast

In this 10.5" x 10.5" watercolour, we see a couple stolling on one of our Pacific Coast beaches spotted with driftwood that rode the big waves ashore. No longer available - sold.

Moraine Lake - Banff National Park

This vivid 18" x 24" painting is of Moraine Lake in Banff's Valley of the Ten Peaks. The distinctive blue water is caused by the refraction of glacial rock flour continually flowing into the lake. This scene is called the “twenty-dollar view” as it was featured on the back of the 1969 and 1979 issues of Canada’s $20 bill.

Gabriola Sands - Vancouver Island

The soft white sand of this beach in Gabriola Sands Provincial Park is a rare find on Eastern Vancouver Island. It’s a super chill spot – perfect for a peaceful picnic, shallow swimming, or just kicking back and relaxing. The oil painting is 17.75” x 21.75”. No longer available.

East Flattop Mountain - Waterton-Glacier

We leave the country for this 9" x 12" painting which captures a very striking portion of East Flattop Mountain in Montana. The mountain is actually in Glacier National Park next to Canada's Waterton Lakes National Park. The two parks were joined in union in 1932 and named Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park.

River Ice

My first abstract, this 18" x 24" acrylic painting represents the cool tones of river ice with melded shades of turquoise, blues and glistening silver highlights. Look for the Japanese Kanji symbol for ice.

Inukshuk - Canadian North

This 16" x 20" painting portrays the Inuit stone inukshuk, often built 6 to 7 feet tall. Inukshuk are prominent landmarks on the Arctic landscape used to aid navigation and as a food cache.

Lingonberries

This 10" x 13" watercolour features lingonberries, a plant that thrives in a cold northern climate. IKEA shoppers are familiar with this cranberry-like fruit which is made into a tart sauce and syrup for Scandinavian cuisine.

Sunflower

Here's a 10" x 12" watercolour with a sunflower that's muted, even old-fashioned. It's quite a contrast to the vivid sunflower in the oil painting at the top of this page. No longer available - sold.

Alpine Winter

Canada's frigid alpine winter is epitomized in this recent 9" X 12" watercolour. Here's a steep mountain slope covered in virgin snow and intriguing ice crevasses. No longer available - sold.

Water Baby - Vancouver Island

In this 14" x 17" piece, a mother cougar carries its cub in its mouth while swimming across a lake. Vancouver Island has the highest concentration of cougars in the world, as many as 800 of Canada's 4,000.

Botanical Beach - Vancouver Island

This 16" x 20" canvas captures the misty rocky point at Botanical Beach on the Straight of Juan de Fuca. The beach is famous tidal pools and shaded crevices filled with abundant intertidal life. Orca and Grey Whales often feed just off the point. On clear days, you get a stunning view of the snow-topped Olympic Mountains across the Strait.

Tidal Garden - Salish Sea

This 14" x 18" painting highlights the strands of vibrant seaweed that stretch across wet sand, shaped by the gentle push and pull of the ocean tide. Such seawood is used in BC as a nutrient-dense fertilizer and animal feed additive. No longer available.

Marion

I'm new to portraits so this one of Marion Dewar - to many Ottawa's greatest mayor - was particularly challenging. Marion was a dynamic woman, full of energy and empathy for people. This is a 18" x 24" oil on canvas.

The Mountain - Western Canada

Big and bold, this mountain is typical of the Pacific Coast Range. The peaks are glaciated and the western slopes are forested. This is a 14" x 18" oil painting on canvas.

Pink Peonies

This 8" x 10" oil on canvas captures the big peonies we're lucky to grow here in British Columbia. Peonies are highly-scented and this pink variety is among the most fragrant. Ants are crazy for the sugary nectar of peonies and line-up to feast on it. Based on a Ernie Wearn photo.

Monarch

4" x 6" oil on canvas. This dazzling orange, black and white Monarch butterfly is the size of a real one. Monarchs love to pollinate our many wildflowers, especially the brightly coloured ones growing in clusters. No longer available.

Boys On The Beach - Pacific Coast

California sea lions bask in the sun in this 9" x 12" watercolour. Colonies like this one forage for seafood all along our coast, sometimes diving for as long as 10 minutes. Males grow to about 8 feet long and can weigh more than 700 pounds; females are generally about 6 feet long and weigh about 200 pounds.