Members of the Port Moody Art Association may live here in the Tri-Cities but their histories, influences and inspirations have global reach.

Among the artists in the group are people from Tanzania, Scotland, Siberia, Hong Kong, Mexico and Transylvania who will be showcasing their works at the 42nd annual show and sale Nov. 13 to 15. How they got to this point — both geographically and artistically — is as different from one another as the 200 pieces that will be on display.

Take Margaret McKean, for example. Originally from Scotland, McKean got an early start on her art career when family friend and famed colourist John Duncan Fergusson encouraged her to pursue painting.

At the time McKean was in her early teens; Fergusson was rubbing shoulders with the likes of Matisse and Picasso, and at one time painted a portrait of McKean's mother, Jean Brandt (called Head with Roses).

"He was the one who wanted me to become an artist at that time," recalled the now Newport Village resident. "But I wanted to make money and so I did some other things."

McKean studied nursing and physical therapy and moved to Canada with her husband when she was 24. She continued to paint and in the last several years completed a degree's worth of courses at the Emily Carr Institute — minus the stress of the exams.

Strangely enough, her time at the Vancouver art school brought her full circle with her early days. When Emily Carr went to France in 1910 to study art she found the instructors weren't much interested in nurturing the talents of a young female artist.

She was about to return home when somebody suggested a "nice Scottish fellow" could help. Fergusson taught Carr about figure drawing and still life, paint application techniques and new brush stroke methods.

"He always said, 'Margaret, you will be a very good painter,' but I didn't believe him," McKean said. "I still don't believe him."

It's a good thing McKean's talent speaks for itself. She started painting in oils but when she developed an allergy to turpentine she switched to acrylics. But while the colour proved as rich as the oil paints, McKean found the texture difficult to work with.

Near the end of the 1980s she picked up watercolours, something she thought impossible until she worked with legendary artist Toni Onley.

"I did a lot of painting with him and suddenly I realized his technique, and what he was doing with the big goat hair brush," McKean said. "It's like all his paintings were from Chinese calligraphy."

When she asked him about it he said he had studied calligraphy and it had been a strong influence in his watercolour painting.

"I've got some 11x14s from that time and they all look like Tony Onley's, but that was just the influence," McKean siad. "I'm so glad it opened up a new medium for me."

These days McKean divides her painting between watercolours and water-soluble oils, and many of her works reflect her travels to places like Mexico, Italy and around B.C.

Fellow PMAA artist Sher Nasser is also inspired by her travels, although the Zanzibar native came to art late in life.

It was 1974 when Nasser and her family arrived in Canada, settling first in Calgary. Her three kids quickly settled in and were soon busy with school, sports and other activities. "When they started going away it was something I hadn't gotten used to," Nasser said. "Because we were nine children in a small house when I was growing up, we were always together."

Then one day a woman suggested Nasser take an art class, so she phoned the city of Calgary to find out what was available.

"There was a class in oil painting, but I didn't even know how you can paint in oils," she recalled with a laugh. "The lady explained to me that the paintings are in oil, and that intrigued me and I had to find out what she meant."

Nasser took a few lessons but credits much of her skill to self-taught techniques, and plenty of practise. She paints most days for a few hours, in between visits with her grandchildren and travelling.

Her son, well-known photographer Amyn Nasser, took her on a safari as a 65th birthday gift; Sher Nasser used many of the photos to paint portraits and landscapes for the Art Focus exhibit at Leigh Square called I Dream of Africa.

Like the rest of the 50-odd artists who will be exhibiting at the PMAA show, Nasser will have a selection of about five pieces of varying sizes, some framed and others unframed.

• The Port Moody Art Association's 42nd annual show and sale runs Nov. 13, from 7:30 to 10 p.m., and Nov. 14 & 15 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Port Moody recreation centre. Admission is free, artwork prices range from $10 to $1,000. Visit www.portmoodyartassociation.com for more info.