Ray Ophoff

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For twenty-five years Ray Ophoff has painted the world around him. In his East Vancouver studio. He paints gardens, botanicals and the suburban wilderness in oils.

Community gardens and their contents are a recurring theme as are large scale botanicals and intimate views of muddy trail verges. Crocuses, skunk cabbages, Indian plum, salmonberry blossoms, nasturtiums, and Swiss Chard.

Yes, Swiss Chard. They seem to have stricken a chord with collectors.

In their colour as in their appeal, there is no gray area with chard. Grow them? Love the look. Paint them? Love the patterns and the shapes and the colours. Eat them? Well, they’re not for everyone.

This is Ray’s second solo show at VisualSpace and came about from a series of 2025 conversations in response to the upcoming International Sports Tournament.

It seems like a waste to not offer an entertainment alternative to tourists, locals and sports fans for the days between games.

Yukiko Onley pushed me toward the Chard theme. The paintings were created starting in July 2025. Ten images selected. Ten drawings. Ten drawings on canvas with charcoal. Ten sepia underpaintings. Ten paintings, one after another over the next 6 months.

Sap green, viridian, Hansa yellow, alizarin permanent, asphaltum, titanium zinc white, yellow ochre, raw sienna, napthol red, Indian yellow and ultramarine blue.

Most of the paintings are drawn up from 2” x 3” photos cropped with scissors (the original photoshop). In Ray’s experience, the crappier the photo, the better the painting.

Ray taught himself to paint roughly 30 years ago, switched to oils at the suggestion (nagging) of local painting genius Simon Shawn Andrews and enjoys the unwavering support of his many friends inside and out of the hugely talented Vancouver Art Community.

Without the support of his lovely wife Barb, it’s doubtful that he would ever finish a painting.