Greg Innes paints the wild edges of Vancouver Island — forests, shorelines, and open horizons where land, light, and memory converge. His work moves between landscape and subtle surrealism, grounded in observation but shaped by imagination.
Based in Sooke, his paintings often begin outdoors, in changing weather and light, or return to the studio where real places are distilled into quieter, more contemplative spaces. These are not exact depictions, but interpretations — landscapes remembered, altered, and felt.
For nearly three decades, Greg built fine rustic furniture by hand, developing a deep understanding of wood, structure, and material. That foundation now extends directly into his art practice. Each painting is often paired with a handcrafted frame made from branches, bark, and driftwood gathered from the same coastal forests and shorelines that inspire the work.
These frames are not decorative additions, but continuations of the landscape itself — bringing the physical presence of place into the finished piece. In contrast to the permanence and formality of traditional gilded frames, Greg’s work gives the natural world its own sense of grandeur, elevating raw materials into something both grounded and timeless.
Composition plays a central, though often quiet, role. Underlying geometry and dynamic symmetry guide each piece, creating structure beneath the surface, while forms remain loose, atmospheric, and alive. Figures and faces occasionally emerge within these environments, rendered with clarity against more fluid surroundings.
His influences include Lawren Harris, A. Y. Jackson, Rick Bond, Maynard Dixon, Salvador Dalí, and Gustav Klimt — artists who balanced structure, atmosphere, and imagination in distinct ways.
Greg’s current focus is on creating integrated works in which painting, frame, and place are inseparable — where the land is not only depicted, but becomes part of how the work is held and experienced.
His work has been featured in Out of the Woods: Woodworkers Along the Salish Sea for his furniture, and in Sea & Cedar: Literature & Art Magazine (2025) for his paintings.
