Rebirth of the Red Cedar 2008

It always amazes me of the visual elements of our seeing. We never look past our preconceived knowledge of life. Sometimes right in front of our view even in nature the Sun will cast a Brilliant Light and illuminate a splendid vision. Sometimes, it's like a spotlight following a performer on stage. This enchanting little red cedar stood knowing and wanting to be painted and thus its performance grew on me. As I visit and watch it grow into that star of those woods.

River Marshlands and Tree Swallows (1997)

Sometimes when I'm in Delta the marsh regions hold lots of wonderful wildlife activities. There's always nesting boxes for the Owls, Tree Swallows and Songbirds which they fearlessly use and occupy for years. In Spring most of the birds will find nests in the hollows of the trees or build ones or weave them in the cattails. I've noticed the Tree Swallows breed usually two times into late summer especially when the food supply is abundant and the fledgelings grow quickly while their nest and parents are rearing another brood of youngsters. My watercolours capture a convenient and quicker moment in the field. I usually study later from those paintings and produce an oil from them.

Night Flight Tree Swallows at Dusk (2007)

It is possible to paint in the dark. Once when we were camping in Delta we would return to the familiar places that were nice and filled with nature and the kerosene lanterns are always put to good use. If you're very quiet and move in a non-threatening manner the animals, especially birds will behave naturally and sometimes visit you but still display their wildness and daily routine. When I painted this one the birds were preparing for sleep and the colony were all safely at their nests with the artificial light reflecting off their plumage.

Indian Arm Fjord 2007

Every time when I go to Seymour Mountain I enjoy hiking along the different trails. The Old Buck Trail will eventually merge into the Baden Powell Trail and that artery extends to some spectacular views. Usually from one of the Trails a wonderful scene of that glorious body of water and those straight and thriving pines appears before me. Many summers ago my friends and I would bring our kayaks down to Deep Cove and beginning to paddle along the Indian Arm. We would often stop along the steep shoreline to look up into the Mountain terrain and then proceed with some vigorous paddling as the currents in that fjord are quite challenging.

Mayne Island in Active Pass 2000

In this painting of Mayne Island the waters of Active Pass were very choppy and the Ferry and other Vessel traffic kept a safe distance from each other. I liked the coral-ochre colours of the cliffs and shoreline which compliments the prussian blues and different shades of green.

Oh, Those Memories 2001

Every time when I'm back in a forest setting, even Stanley Park. The trees aren't the same or even the natural surroundings, but nevertheless they provoked feelings of the time we were in that out of reach valley of the Carmanah.

Sitka Spruce Carmanah 1983

Back in 1983 when I visited Vancouver Island. I remember driving to Duncan and began travelling to another remote place, years later I found out that was Youbou. We explored gravel roads and I just kept driving till finally stopping at a desolate location and then we got out and began hiking and traversing deeper into the forest. You could tell it was an ancient rainforest as the trees were huge and all different kinds of cedars, spruce, fir, etc. were towering above us. On the westcoast, we are basically living in a rainforest , but this place was different and beautiful and I'm glad finding it accidentally leaves me with that fond memory.