 Kate is delighted to be a member of the Victoria Sketch Club, having joined in 2023 when she moved from California to British Columbia. She enjoys the communal experience of plein air painting and learning from fellow artists.
Born and raised in southern California, Kate spent time each summer camping with her family in the Sierras Nevada mountains. Annual trips to stunning national parks such as Yosemite, Yellowstone, Bryce, Sequoia, Grand Tetons, etc. installed a love of nature in her, which continues to inspire her artwork.
The walls of her childhood home were covered with her mother’s paintings, and created a warm association between art and a sense of family. For Kate, art facilitates connection with o thers, and she has enjoyed, both as a child and adult, gifting others with homemade crafts and greeting cards.
Kate's undergraduate degree is from Princeton University and she completed doctoral studies at the University of California, Berkeley. She's established a rewarding career as a clinical psychologist, working in a range of settings over the past thirty years such as outpatient Psychiatry clinics, Veterans Hospitals, College Counseling Centers, and currently in her private practice in Victoria. Kate integrates the principles of positive psychology into her work with clients and into the trainings she offers other health professionals. She is also a poet and published author, and has been featured on podcasts for her writings about the intersection between psychology and spirituality.
Kate began exploring painting in her thirties. Seeking an immersive and meditative creative outlet, she participated a series of watercolour classes at the local community college. She has since experimented with acrylics and collage, as well as jewelry design.
 Kate secured more training in the craft of landscape painting during the pandemic through mentorship with American artist Matt Smith. Though her work has been selected and displayed in juried shows in the San Francisco Bay Area, she considers herself a novice artist. She is always learning, intrigued and, at times, intimidated by the complexities of light and colour, value and composition. She hopes to continue developing and sharing her artwork in the spirit of experimentation and discovery. |
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ajor brands across Canada including Fairmont and Westin. I was also part of a Canadian start up CHIP REIT (now SilverBirch Hotels).
but finally settled on oils as my medium. 
Born and raised in Trinidad, West Indies, Nirmala taught high school art for 2 years before emigrating to Canada where she studied Indian, Chinese and Japanese art, history of art, design fundamentals, techniques of the old masters among others at UBC. Instructors Tony Onley and BC Binning were among many of her influential teachers.
Her work covers a wide range of subject matter, evocative of time and place, and she’s remained close to her tropical roots, infusing as much light as possible into her work. Nirmala especially enjoys the immediacy and spontaneity offered by plein air painting. 
Nirmala joined the Victoria Sketch Club in 2008, and enjoys the camaraderie of fellow artists as well as weekly opportunities to hone life-drawing skills.
pottery, but parenting, work, and school tended to take most of my time and I put painting ‘on hold’. I completed my graduate degrees (MSW, PhD) at the University of Calgary and worked in a variety of sectors: educational television, healthcare, human resources, and academia. I retired from the University of Calgary a few years ago.
and source of inspiration, and I always have a sketch book ready to create a visual journal. 
Some of my earliest recollections are sitting beside my father and watching him paint in pastels. This was my first exposure to art. It would be many years before I would return to further explore this interest.
I have also had a keen interest in travelling and have visited 35 countries and travelled by motorcycle in 23 of those countries. Some motorcycling trips have included riding from Germany to Corsica; the UK; Spain to Morocco; Winnipeg to the Copper Canyon in Mexico en route to riding the four deserts of North America; Victoria to Panama City, P
anama; and Victoria to Cabo San Lucas.
Agnes Oosterhof was born and raised in the Netherlands. She obtained a BSc in Physical Education, and moved to Hong Kong in the early 1970’s, where both her sons were born. She took portraiture classes in The Hague and downtown HK, and taught at private girls’ schools. 
ainting (watercolour and acrylics), as well as sketching with pencil, conte and pen. Upon retirement in 2014, she joined the Victoria Sketch Club and was involved as follows:
Plein Air organizer, Newsletter, Show Director 2020 (the show was cancelled due to Covid), Secretary and Show Co-Director 2024.
Phillippa works in many medias including graphite, watercolour and acrylic, or basically whatever she has at hand to make a mark. Although she has been drawing since a very early age, finding the time to make art consistently has been a struggle in her adult life. Now retired, she hopes to start honing some of her skills and become deeply involved in the daily practice of making art.
Val Lawton, with whom she reconnected 25 years later here in Victoria.
reative. Having retired, she is now volunteer treasurer for the FCA Victoria Chapter and was delighted to join the Victoria Sketch Club last spring. At about the same time, Phillippa also treated herself to a new greenhouse which she is slowly learning how to use.