Gratitude: Stories of the Heart: Artist Spotlight, LJyl Peterson

For artist LJyl Peterson, the landscape of the San Juan Islands is more than scenery, it is a lifelong source of inspiration, connection, and gratitude.

Jyl has been part of the Lummi Island landscape since 1958 and lived on the island full-time from 1977 until 2019. Although she now lives off-grid in a small cabin on Waldron Island, Lummi remains an important part of her life and her family's community.

“How can I not be inspired to paint woods and water from these islands’ natural beauties?” Jyl says. “I am grateful daily for their treasures.”

A lifelong artist and creator, Jyl has explored many forms of making over the years, from painting and carving to playing the violin she created herself. She also owned and operated Deja View Picture Framing and Gallery on Lummi Island from 2004 to 2019, where she displayed and sold her artwork.

Today, Jyl's acrylic paintings reflect the dynamic energy of nature surrounding her remote island home. Water and woods, driven by wind and changing seasons, become both subject and source of movement in her work. Her paintings are thickly and colorfully textured, with swift strokes that express the energy she experiences in the natural world.

There is something lovely about Jyl's lifelong relationship with these islands. She has watched the landscapes change through decades of seasons, storms, quiet days, and shifting light. The woods and water are familiar, yet never quite the same.

Her connection to Lummi Island also extends beyond her own artwork. Islanders may remember that, for many years, Jyl helped foster the island's creative community, hosting Lummi Island Artist Tours three times a year from 1989 through 2018 and participating in local exhibitions and the Lummi Saturday Market.

Now, living off-grid on Waldron, Jyl continues to paint and “fiddle,” surrounded by the same natural forces that have shaped her artistic life. Her work reminds us that Lummi Island can remain an important part of us even after we move away, and that gratitude for a landscape can deepen over a lifetime.

Jyl's story is one of an artist who has spent decades looking closely at the islands she calls home. Her paintings celebrate the woods and water not as static landscapes, but as living, changing forces that continue to inspire.

We invite you to experience Jyl Peterson's work as part of Gratitude: Stories of the Heart, on display through Labor Day weekend at the LIH&W Resource Center. The exhibition is open Monday–Thursday, 9:00 AM–Noon and during the Artist Studio Tour.