Langley painter Marguerite Whelton may work primarily from photographs and sketches she gathers during her global excursions, but she is adamant that art should not be like a photograph. "An artist's true creativity is only achieved by highlighting exaggerating and suppressing certain essentials," she told the Langley Advance. That's what this relatively new member of Fort Langley Artists Group hopes comes across in the three watercolour paintings she's picked for the FLAG's season opener this weekend. She's submitting three recently completed pieces, Waiting for the Hunter, a painting of her two Labrador retrievers, The Toucan, and The Eagle, to be included in their Fur, Fins, and Feathers show opening Saturday. The Amsterdam-born but South African-raised Whelton said she enjoying the challenge of FLAG's themed shows: "many times this is completely outside of what I normally paint." Her budding artistic talent was first put to use in creating advertising posters for display in the Johannesburg area, and the hobby artist hasn't looked back since. Her earliest works were in oil, and from there she moved to acrylics. However she found her niche with what she calls the "freshness and luminosity" of watercolour. While she enjoys painting landscapes, scenics, and animals, she reserves "a special interest in portrait study and the accompanying challenge of revealing the character and personality of the subject."

Her frequent visits to Europe and North Africa given her fodder for her paintings: "My travels have provided me with an inexhaustible wealth of material. Cultures that are substantially different from ours are to me the most fascinating and challenging," she told the Advance, pointing to the picture taken (above) in her studio where she used a photo to complete a watercolour in subdued colours of a back street in Istanbul, while a completed painting in the background shows a scene from an Italian street in vivid colour. "This is what I enjoy most of all, bringing out the variety of life as it is lived," Whelton said.

Her first commission was in England and her paintings have been displayed throughout the Lower Mainland, but she's particularly excited about this and other shows close to home. She's already working on pieces for the next FLAG "artist's choice" exhibit and organizing material for the group's upcoming 20th anniversary show being held in September at the Langley Centennial Museum. Whelton is a world-traveller who settled just outside Fort Langley 25 years ago. It wasn't until a few years ago, however, that she joined the ranks of FLAG. "This is my second year and the camaraderie of fellow artists working in different mediums was a strong attraction," she said.

The show featuring a few of Whelton's pieces opens Saturday, and runs to June 16 at the FLAGstop Gallery in the historic CN Station on Glover Road in Fort Langley. For more information about the group and hours of operation, people can log on to their website at: fortlangleyartistsgroup.com.