We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Claire Cepukas a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Claire, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. If you could go back in time do you wish you had started your creative career sooner or later?

I’ve always felt a strong pull toward creating which is what led me to pursue a Bachelor of Fine Arts. I spent my university summers tree planting and immediately fell in love with life in the woods. After graduating, rather than develop myself as an artist, I moved out west to continue frolicking outdoors and to build a life more rooted in forestry. At the time, I don’t think I fully understood that creating was something I would eventually need in my life in a deeper way. I pursued a BFA because I couldn’t imagine studying anything else at the time, but I was still so young that I don’t think I approached it with the same clarity or intention I would now.

Over the next decade, I worked various forestry contracts across Canada all year round, often daydreaming about the art I wanted to make. I genuinely loved the work, but increasingly realized I never had time to create, and ultimately that became one of the reasons I stepped away from the industry. Looking back, I wouldn’t change my path. I might be in a different place career-wise had I dedicated myself fully to my practice from the beginning, but I also think those years gave me a much richer range of life experiences. I diversified my portfolio so to speak. They allowed me to grow at my own pace, without the external pressures that can often come with pursuing art professionally at a young age. I also had the privilege of travelling and working in many remote places across Canada, experiences that gave me a deep appreciation for the country’s landscape, which continues to influence my work today.

I’m now at a point where I can combine both of my passions. I’m still deeply connected to the outdoors, but I’ve finally found a way to centre creativity alongside it. It took time for me to arrive here, but I feel like I’m only now truly finding my stride as an artist, and I’m excited to see where it leads.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your background and context?

I am a lifelong creator, one who has always kept myself busy with different hands-on endeavours. These days I would consider myself first and foremost a painter. I create what I call “naturescapes” as they live in a space between still lifes and landscapes. However, my process is multifaceted as each painting starts with its own unique diorama I build for reference. I use both foraged natural objects like sticks & rocks, as well as manmade objects like fake plastic plants & toy animals. These constructed small worlds are the basis for my paintings, and they are quite fun to make. I view the world a little differently on my hikes, as I’m always on the lookout for the perfect stick, or maybe a specific rock. I usually have a scene in my mind I want to bring to life, but sometimes I’ll see something in nature that inspires a completely new idea. I’m an avid daydreamer so I spend a lot of time in my own head. The canvas is just where my thoughts eventually find themselves in the real world.

I love playing with unconventional colour palettes, scale and unlikely compositions, so the resulting paintings are usually a surreal yet familiar nature scene. Most recently, I’m very interested in re-imagining classic Canadiana nature motifs. My work embraces a deliberate contradiction: a form of wildlife and nature painting rooted in references that are partially plastic, carefully staged, and ultimately not alive.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

I love exercising my imagination. I think as we age, and life gets a bit more complicated, it’s so easy to dismiss things that aren’t necessarily “productive” traditionally speaking – for example, I often mess around building things that don’t ever make it into any of my paintings. I might spend hours making fake tree branches out of yarn and wire, or make an absolute mess cutting styrofoam to make mini mountains for a diorama, only to realize it’s not going to work out. I always enjoy the process and would never consider it a waste of my time. I think to create is to explore and embrace this sense of childlike play, and that is a very rewarding aspect of being an artist, as anything goes.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?

I think pursuing art can be both overwhelming and all-consuming. The need to make work never really turns off, at least for myself. Even while navigating my everyday life (working a full-time job, maintaining relationships, balancing responsibilities etc.), there’s still this constant pull toward creating. Like an itch that needs to be scratched. Once I have an idea I’m fixated on, I need to see it through to a finished product.

What people don’t always see is how much time and energy art demands. There are always deadlines looming, but creativity doesn’t operate on a fixed schedule. Something you think will take a day can easily consume the rest of the week, and next thing you know you’re already behind and need to make up the hours somewhere. It can be mentally draining and there are definitely sacrifices involved, but the drive to create is strong enough that you keep returning to it anyway. It’s a journey that’s absolutely fuelled by passion and something I wouldn’t trade for the world.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.clairecepukas.com
• Instagram: @clairecepukas