Brenda Matsen

Originally from northern BC, Brenda Matsen resides in the Comox Valley on Vancouver Island.

Growing up on a farm in northern BC, living in rural communities and watching her children learn and grow, fostered her passion for observing animals and people in their natural environment. Brenda is inspired by the beauty around us and enjoys creating realistic images, capturing moments in time and thoughtful expressions. Brenda loves learning and using various mediums with her favourites being graphite, coloured pencil, acrylic and oil.
Brenda’s love of learning and creating has been a constant theme throughout her life. Her love for creating started at an early age with drawing and various textile hobbies. Throughout high school she received awards in Art and worked on special projects including designing and painting murals in her high school. Art became more sporadic for Brenda for several years as she pursued a career in the Health Sciences and raised a family. Brenda returned to Art in 2018 after moving to the Comox Valley on Vancouver Island with her husband and their dogs.

Brenda's work has been juried into both national and international online shows in multiple mediums with her artwork featured in art magazines. Brenda’s coloured pencil work has won international awards and she has achieved signature status with Pastel Artists.ca. In 2021 Brenda received one of ten Honorable Mentions with her self-portrait “Change is in the Air” in Artist Magazine’s The Best of Drawing Strokes of Genius 13 competition. She has been juried into the Colored Pencil Society of America’s International and Explore This! exhibitions, PastelArtist.ca’s Purely Pastel Annual exhibitions and has been a finalist in Southwest Art Artistic Excellence Competitions. In 2021 Brenda was a guest artist for CP Magic! Magazine with her tutorial of a “Pacific Tree Frog” as the feature tutorial for the publication.