Heather McAlpine was born in Scotland 1962 she moved to London to study where she received a BA in Fine Art (1st class Hons) from the University of East London and an MA in painting from the Royal College of Art. She has exhibited widely in the UK including Oxford, Southampton and London including the Royal Academy Summer Show. Emigrating to Vancouver in 1999 she continues to be inspired by the natural world. The West Coast forests and sea have provided inspiration for my recent paintings; armed with my camera and macro lens I collect images of seaweed, leaves and lichen, this provides the ‘raw materials’ the starting points for back in the studio. The actual material of paint and the painterly marks serve as metaphors for energy, movement and growth. Rich texture is achieved by building up layers of color, suggesting time and evolution, during the process the images become pared down leaving elemental marks. My ultimate aim is to explore the relationships between abstraction, color and the vitality of the natural world.