Sara Hodgson-Brown is a British Colombian oil painter known for intensely saturated paintings that use rich colour and expressive mark making to convey ever-changing light. Her work captures the impermanence of the moment and the ineffable sense of freedom found there.

As a former cabin dweller, wilderness guide, market gardener and art teacher, Sara has lived and worked in a myriad of far flung places that left their impression on her love of the natural world. More than just a landscape, Sara’s paintings use transitory times of day as a metaphor, where communion and reflection are the inherent result of self-identifying with the natural world. Sara’s paintings communicate a sense of urgency in their fading light, capturing a moment of in-between, numinous and transitory, that echoes our own existence and affirms our humanity and belonging.

Sara holds a BFA in painting and printmaking from the University of British Columbia, Canada, and has spent the past decade as an artist and educator helping art students learn and grow their own art skills. Her collaborations, projects and gallery works have been exhibited in Canada, the UK, France and Switzerland. She produces several collections each year and welcomes students from around the world to develop their painting skills in workshops from her art studio, based at the foot of the Vercors mountains in the south of France.

Sara holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of British Columbia and is an elected member of Oil Painters of America and an exhibiting member of the Canadian Federation of Artists and the Canadian Society of Artists. Her work has been exhibited across Canada, France, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom, including recent exhibitions at the Mall Galleries, London and the Federation Gallery, Vancouver. Currently based at the foot of the Vercors mountains in France, she continues to develop these methodologies in service of collective transformation and environmental justice movements.

My oil paintings celebrate the transformative power of light in landscape, focusing on those magical moments when familiar places become extraordinary. Working from my studio in southeastern France, I create works that capture not just visual appearance but the emotional experience of being present in remarkable natural settings.

This practice grows from my years as a wilderness guide and market gardener—experiences that taught me to observe the subtle changes that make each landscape unique. I bring this deep attention to my paintings, developing each work through careful study of how light, weather, and season transform the character of place.

My painting process involves building layers of rich color that reflect the accumulated experience of knowing landscapes intimately. Bold brushwork and saturated palette convey the sensual impact of being surrounded by natural beauty—the warmth of golden hour light, the drama of approaching storms, the quietude of early morning mist.

Through these paintings, I hope to offer viewers a pathway into their own deeper appreciation of the natural world, creating works that bring the restorative power of landscape into daily life. Each painting serves as an invitation to pause, breathe, and remember our essential connection to the beauty that surrounds us.

EXHIBITIONS

2025 FLAT WORKS EXHIBITION, FEDERATION GALLERY, VANCOUVER, CANADA

2025 SUMMER EXHIBITION, GREEN AND STONE GALLERY, CHELSEA, LONDON

2025 VANCOUVER SALON EXHIBITION, FEDERATION GALLERY, VANCOVUER, CANADA

2025 SOCIETY OF WOMEN ARTISTS 164TH ANNUAL EXHIBITION, MALL GALLERIES, LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM

2025 LANDSCAPES EXHIBITION, FEDERATION GALLERY, VANCOUVER, CANADA

2025 ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL REPRESENTATION EXHIBITION, FEDERATION GALLERY, VANCOUVER, CANADA

2023 BIZZ 'ART, LA NATURE ET LA PEINTURE, DRÔME, FRANCE

2022 ART SHOPPING SALON INTERNATIONAL PARIS, FRANCE

2022 EXHIBITION L’ART DE PARTAGER, ARGENTRÉ, FRANCE

2017 - 2020 STUDIO PAINTER AND EXHIBITING ARTIST, LES ATELIERS DE LA CÔTE - SWITZERLAND

2011 - 2014 STUDIO PAINTER AND SHOWING ARTIST SAANICH ARTISTS ASSOCIATION, BRITISH COLUMBIA, CANADA

ASSOCIATIONS

2025 SOCIETY OF CANADIAN ARTISTS EXHIBITING MEMBER

2025 CANADIAN FEDERATION OF ARTISTS EXHIBITING MEMBER

2025 OIL PAINTERS OF AMERICA ELECTED MEMBER

GALLERY & MEDIA REPRESENTATION

SIDNEY PIER HOTEL GALLERY 2014-2018) VICTORIA, CANADA

AWARDS

2022 BEST IN SHOW, ART SALON INTERNATIONAL PARIS
PARIS, FRANCE

2012 BEST EMERGING ARTIST
SIDNEY ART GALA- BRITISH COLUMBIA, CANADA

2011 BEST LIGHT IN LANDSCAPE
SIDNEY ART GALA - BRITISH COLUMBIA, CANADA

EDUCATION

2008 BACHELOR OF FINE ARTS, PAINTING AND PRINTMAKING, UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA, VANCOUVER, CANADA

2011 BACHELOR OF EDUCATION, VISUAL ARTS, UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA, VANCOUVER, CANADA