Gratitude Artist Introduction: Nancy Uding

Meditation on the Sea by Nancy Uding

Some people look at the sea. Others listen to it.

For artist Nancy Uding, the Salish Sea, is both companion and inspiration, a living presence that continually draws her back to the shores. Her piece, Meditation on the Sea emerged from countless quiet moments spent watching light move across the water, studying the shifting colors and depths that never appear the same twice.

Nancy describes herself as “enchanted” by the sea, and that enchantment is visible in her work. The painting carries movement, reflection, and a sense of immersion, inviting viewers not just to observe the water, but to feel it. She hopes people experience the same meditative quality she felt while creating it: the movement of light, the layers of color, and the emotional calm the sea offers.

Now in what she warmly calls “the autumn” of her life, Nancy sees gratitude as the act of noticing. At 67, gratitude has become an awareness of the long list of blessings, relationships, joys, and experiences that have shaped her life. Living on Lummi Island has become part of that gratitude, a beautiful resting place that offers both inspiration and space to create.

The island itself deeply nourishes her artistic practice. The active skies and waters, wildlife, quietness, and ever-changing weather all find their way into her creative life. But just as meaningful is the island culture itself, friendly, artistic, slightly off-beat, and wonderfully accepting. Nancy shares that Lummi Island allows her to feel less self-conscious and more free in her art-making than she does in the city.

And perhaps that freedom is part of what viewers feel when standing before Meditation on the Sea: openness, movement, and permission to simply pause and be present.

Nancy’s gratitude for island life extends far beyond the shoreline. She treasures the balance of solitude and community, the contrast between forest and sea, the wild winter storms and jewel-like summers, the beaches, boats, artists, and even what she lovingly calls the island’s “gentle scofflaw attitude.”

Nancy Uding

Like the Salish Sea itself, Nancy’s work reminds us that beauty is always shifting, always alive, and always worth returning to. See her painting now on displat at the Gratitude: Stories of the Heart exhibition at Lummi Island health & Wellness Resource Center on Lummi Island. Open Monday-Thursday 9:00am-Noon.