Having grown up on the BC coast, Esther developed a passion for the sea and love for the shoreline. As an adult, she became a commercial fisherman for many years. The time she spent working on and travelling the span of the coast deepened her love for life on the water and shaped her artistic eye.
With a growing family soon too large for the boat, she moved on from fishing, turning her focus to painting. Largely self-taught, Esther spent fifteen years using watercolours and pencil before settling into acrylics. It is here that she has found her niche in the brightly saturated medium.
In November 2011, Esther was the first woman to win the Pacific Salmon Foundation’s Salmon Stamp award with the painting Hunger Strikes. She works from her home studio in Comox where she can easily draw inspiration from the beauty that surrounds her.