Bring the outdoors indoors!
One of a kind, hand painted originals on pieces of driftwood from around the Pacific Northwest and British Columbia, Canada.
Marina Tasman Insley was born and raised in Victoria BC, with Cordova Bay beach as her front yard and the ocean as her playground.
After experiencing a traumatic injury in 2014, and being unable to walk normally for nearly six months, she began exploring her artistic abilities. She credits her parents, Mark and Bev Insley, for this. They encouraged Marina to slow down, breathe, and get in touch with her creative side.
And so, the self-taught artist discovered a new passion for painting with acrylic on driftwood.
Since the summer of 2014, Marina has been using driftwood as her primary canvas. She paints one of a kind landscapes, seascapes, and abstract west coast designs using acrylic paints and bold colours. Each piece she creates is completely unique due to the distinctive textures and shapes found on driftwood.
Marina finds the majority of her inspiration comes from the way she was raised to be active outdoors; skiing, hiking, sailing, surfing, and frequently exploring by way of land, water, and air. Her deep love and respect for earth’s elements and protecting the beauty surrounding us shows in her paintings.
“The driftwood I paint on are all pieces that I selectively choose from beaches around Victoria, various places on Vancouver Island, and even some I’ve collected in Squamish, or other parts of coastal BC. I look for curvature and uniqueness of the piece, and some are even parts of old boat wrecks. Driftwood is kind of like nature’s sculptures; pieces are really brought to life once hung up on a wall as a focal point in a room.”
