Doris McCarthy is best known for her landscape paintings, which celebrate the vastness and variety of Canada. She painted extensively in Haliburton, Muskoka, and Georgian Bay, where her summer studios, “Keyhole Cottage” and “Knothole Cottage,” provided a base for almost fifty years of painting. Traveling north regularly with fellow artists, she created a body of work that reflects both the ruggedness and lyricism of the Canadian landscape. Her visits to the Arctic inspired her celebrated iceberg series, where she captured the ephemeral beauty of ice and light. While Lawren Harris influenced these works through his simplified and spiritual vision of the northern landscape, McCarthy developed her own interpretation — one grounded in observation, discipline, and a long-standing devotion to the Canadian landscape.

West Coast Cloud Shine, 1977 reflects the confidence of McCarthy’s mature period, when her watercolours conveyed not only landscape but atmosphere itself. Here, the sky dominates, filled with light and movement, while the water below mirrors its shifting tones. The painting captures the fleeting drama of clouds illuminated along the horizon, evoking the immensity of Canada’s western coast while holding the balance and clarity that define McCarthy’s finest work.

Her career brought her wide recognition. McCarthy exhibited extensively across Canada and was elected to the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts. In 1989, she was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada, one of the country’s highest civilian honours. Universities awarded her honorary degrees, and major galleries acquired her work for their collections. She also published memoirs that give insight into her life as both artist and teacher, making her voice an important part of Canadian cultural history. This watercolour on paper measures 22 x 30 inches and is signed on the bottom right.