Nature Canada's 2016 "Art for Nature" Auction

Spotted Owl

Size: Stone Lithograph – 17 x 18”

This unframed hand-drawn stone lithograph is of the Spotted Owl. These endangered owls are only found in southwestern British Columbia. They need old-growth forest to nest and hunt, and with increasing populations of their chief competitor, the barred owl, their situation is dire.

 

Artist: Elisabeth Sommerville

Elisabeth Sommerville was born in Calgary, Alberta and graduated from the Alberta College of Art in 1963. She moved to Vancouver, B.C. and worked as a designer before setting up her own award winning graphic design studio.

In 1995 she became interested in printmaking and began fine arts studies at the University of British Columbia and Malaspina Printmakers Society, where she found her drawing skills worked well with stone lithography. Her years of hands-on experience with graphic design, done before the introduction of computers, helped to hone her skills as a printmaker.

She draws and processes the litho stones and pulls her own prints on a lithographic press. Her childhood in Alberta and her Métis heritage combined to give Elisabeth a respect for nature; something visible in her sweeping prairie vistas and seascapes. Her images, land or sea, experiment with the moods evoked by natural light, weather and changes of the seasons.

Elisabeth has been an active member of Malaspina ­Printmakers Studio since 1998. She is also a member of The Federation of Canadian Artists, and in 2015 their Board of Directors awarded Elisabeth with her SFCA Signature Status. Juries have selected her work for exhibitions in Canada, Japan, Cuba and the U.S. Her work is in ­collections in Canada, Europe, Australia and the U.S.

 

To view more of Elisabeth’s work please visit www.elisabethsommerville.com.