Elizabeth Sutherland Cox combined her love of both the architecture and the spirit of St .Christopher’s Anglican Church West Vancouver to create an advent calendar and note-cards depicting the northern stained glass window of the choir loft. This was particularly fitting as Elizabeth has attended the church for over 40 years, and is a member of the church’s accomplished choir.
With the initiation of an Advent Booth at the November 13th, Christmas bazaar (Five Star Bazaar and Café) Elizabeth was inspired to create a water colour of the window to use as an advent calendar. There are 25 doors and 25 days of Advent. Each door hides a mini-painting.
Elizabeth is a West Vancouver painter who specializes in water colours and quilting “It’s an easy connect,” she says, “fabric is my palette.” Her water colours are a segue from her career as a commercial artist. She trained at Langara College’s “Art in Merchandizing” program and for 16 years worked as a window display artist, consultant and instructor. Her paintings have been shown in galleries since 1999. Many of them have been turned into note-cards available at West Van.’s Ferry Building and the Silk Purse.
With this history, it was an easy step to comply with the wishes of the bazaar committee to create note-cards/Christmas cards from the painting of the stained glass window.
Besides her art work, Elizabeth teaches water colour painting and organizes her family of husband Paul and three young adults. “But the real inspiration,” she says, “ is my love of our church and its warm congregation with their love for our rector, Archdeacon Lou Rivers.”
Her painting of the window exhibits this warmth as each pane glows from within as it is framed by a darker edge, and takes the viewer back to simpler times and the simplicity of carol services of old.