If Osoyoos artist Donna Byers gets enough votes, these paintings titled “Flying Colours” (left) and “Little Trumpet” could be shown on a billboard in Los Angeles, California. (Contributed images)

By Dale Boyd

Osoyoos Times

Osoyoos artist Donna Byers is hoping to display her art in a big-time way, on a Los Angeles billboard.

She is looking to local supporters to help vote for her work in the online competition through pixels.com, which will display the winners on 24 x 12 billboards for two months around L.A. and Santa Monica. 

“I sincerely want to win this for Osoyoos, I think we would all be very proud. It’s a very tight race,” Byers said. “If five per cent of our townspeople voted we would garner the No. 1 spot. So, I would love to see some Osoyoos spirit and have the local people get behind this.”

She is, right now, only 300 votes away from the top spot in the contest leaderboards.

Byers, originally from Ontario, has lived in Osoyoos for about 12 years. She prefers to work with oil paints and sometimes acrylics and notes that her art doesn’t fall under the typical “Okanagan art” category. While her subject matter varies from piece to piece, Byers’ goal is to convey her thoughts through her art.

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“For instance, ‘Flying Colours’ was painted specifically with sick children in mind. There are many children that are ill or suffering with terminal illnesses, so I painted this piece with the intention of donating limited edition prints to children’s hospitals and paediatric wards across North Americas,” Byers said.

Similarly, her piece “Little Trumpet,” was designed to draw attention to the plight to save elephants who are being slaughtered in the illegal ivory trade.

Byers has brought home a lot of accolades and several of her pieces are set to be on exhibit in Zurich, Switzerland from Aug. 15 to 19. To see more of Byers’ work go to her website at www.bigger-picture-studio.com or find her on Facebook at Donna L. Byers.

The following shortened links will lead you to the online pages to vote for Byers’ work: bit.ly/2ShcZOr to vote for “3 W’s” bit.ly/2XQvQ4m for “Flying Colours” and bit.ly/2JM3G5i for “Little Trumpet.”

Voting for the competition closes on July 31.