Edmonton soldier and artist selling painting to support victims of Nova Scotia murders

July 13, 2020 - Tim Bryant, Western Sentinel

Following the tragic murders in Nova Scotia in April, one Edmonton-based soldier knew she had to do something.

Corporal Beth Martin has been a soldier for three years, and grew up in the village of Donkin on the north-eastern tip of Cape Breton Island. She is also an artist, which gave her an emotional outlet when she heard the news.

“It’s very difficult for me to express how I feel through any other way but art,” she said. “My immediate reaction is to just pick up a paint brush and feel through my artwork.”

Over the course of several days, Cpl Martin produced a piece titled ‘Nova Scotia Strong,’ depicting Peggy’s Cove and its iconic lighthouse, a mourning RCMP officer, and a line of silhouetted people transforming into birds.

“I had no idea what I was going to paint when I decided to paint it, it was just feeling through my paintbrush,” she said.

Although the piece was done initially as therapy for herself, Cpl Martin also filmed herself painting ‘Nova Scotia Strong’ and posted a timelapse of its creation online to share with others and help them process their own feelings.

“I wanted to share the process with everybody because it was a very therapeutic process for me,” she said. “It was about dealing with my emotions, with how I was feeling about what happened back home and not being able to be there, and wanting to feel connected to my home province and mourn with everybody there.”

She also posted a picture of ‘Nova Scotia Strong’ in a Colchester support group on Facebook, adding her piece to the collection of stories people were sharing as they mourned together.

That simple act turned out to be bigger than she expected – the piece was shared thousands of times as people told her it brought them peace, comfort, support and hope in a difficult time.