“On the Nature of Daylight” is an acrylic painting created by Sarah Belford based on the views from run eight at the Hankin Backcountry area in Smithers, B.C. For Sarah Belford, it’s not just the summits, it’s the subtleties: the long pause on a ridge, the way light softens across distant peaks, the spacious stillness of a clear alpine day. ‘On the Nature of Daylight’ captures one of these moments; the vast, quiet, and expansive. With nuanced layering and precise attention to light, Sarah invites us into a landscape both intimate and immense. It’s a piece that holds space for reflection, and reminds us of the clarity found in stillness.

“This [piece] has a special name…it contains an extra layer to this painting. As you may or may not know, I enjoy some classical music, often when I paint. I feel like these deep, soulful, complex pieces help me dive into the feeling of my art. And this piece “On the Nature of Daylight” by Max Richter was one I listened to a lot while painting this scene. The painting felt otherworldly, vast, and stark. It’s at the coldest time of the year, during a cold snap of -28C when we where out there, and only have about 5 hours of sun. Daylight becomes such a luxury at this that time of the year, you grasp to those six hours knowing that the dark of winter creeps up on you so fast it almost always takes you by surprise. It’s so cold and quiet…but when its a sunny day, everything cones back to life. It’s this sense of hope the sun brings, and the clear sharp contrast of winters harsh grasp that gets me with this painting, and by extension the song it’s named after. So if you are at the gallery with some headphones, take a moment to pair the two together.” – Sarah Belford