Matisse, Van Gogh, Picasso—Europe has practically been bursting with master painters since I don’t know, um…FOREVER–which is exactly why Emily Carr has always had a special place in my heart (and I mean aside from the fact that she had a pet monkey).

A painter and writer from the 1940s, Emily Carr was one of the first artists to apply Europe’s then contemporary techniques to the wet and often overlooked part of North America that I grew up in: Canada’s West Coast. I still remember seeing her striking landscapes as a child for the first time, and suddenly feeling like the world around me actually mattered–and that maybe one day I could too.

So thank you Emily Carr, you inspire me.