Have You Looked Up Lately? - Exhibition

“"Have You Looked Up Lately?,” an exhibit of seven original acrylic paintings by Canadian artist, Olive Chan, was on display at Bevees Booze-Free Bottle Shop and Beverage Room in Port Coquitlam, BC, from August 6 - November 4, 2025. This collection expressed Olive’s love for clouds along with her longing to provide some respite to all of us who are weighed down by personal and global cares by simply inviting us to look up.

So often in our daily lives, our heads are tilted downward as we work, do chores, check our devices, and go about our days. By painting this series of clouds, Olive invites us to tilt our faces upward, both literally and figuratively.

The three larger pieces in this collection (“Let Gentleness Enfold You,” “Chasing Presence”, and “Joy in the Simple Things”) were curated to express the wide range of cloud formations; reflecting the breadth of human emotions and experiences as well as the variety of what we are drawn to.

The four smaller cloud studies were initially painted as demonstration pieces for an online demo that Olive did for Opus Art Supplies. She finished them by varying the sky colours and fine-tuning the clouds themselves. They are all based on the same reference photo of a cloud she once saw out her back window but if you look closely, you will notice the differences. Human-made art is never an exact replica; uniqueness is their value.

Olive titled these pieces, “Gratitude,” “Grace,” “Joy,” and “Hope” and sees them as a “take what you need” set. What would lift your heart today?

*The pieces in this collection are all available for sale. To purchase or see more details, click on the image of the painting. Thank you for supporting my art!