Saltery Bay 1996

This is a small watercolour of the rocky shoreline at Saltery Bay Provincial Park. I love painting the interaction between the sea and the land. In this painting I exaggerated the brushstrokes and the composition appears somewhat expressionistic. I painted a few more in oils that day and they did become smudged in the boxes but they still look interesting.

It was a day trip from the Mainland to the Sunshine Coast and we left by the Horseshoe Bay ferry terminal quite early that morning. At low tide the other people in our sketch party explored the tidal pools and they found small marine life swimming around.

Vaseux Lake Provincial Park 1999

In the spring of 1999 my family and myself went to the Okanagan for just a one week vacation. It was lovely and the weather wasn't to hot yet.
This is a small oil painting of Vaseux Lake where I would paint in the mornings and our motel was close by. The light at that time was soft and the reflections of the vegetation and landscape were mirrored with subtlety. I painted dozens of paintings and sketches at this Provincial Park; we also hiked, enjoyed the spring flowers and saw the mountain goats far up on the bluffs.

Those Mellow Melons 1994

Discovered more faded sketches of the dessert plate of melons from that Alouette Lake picnic.
The sketch paper of this small thumbnail of cantaloupe has been weather by moisture and time, but I still like the effect.
I'm glad I never throw any artwork out, in time everything has a place and use.

Remembrance Day 2010: We Will All Never Forget...

Their Winters Flights 2008

The frozen walks in the woods,
Send chills throughout the skies,
Only the brave birds which stay,
Will tough it out long into winters day,
Amongst the underbrush all the feathered soldiers,
Figures cast along with relief,
Replicate the wax berries,
They'll feed on in frozen solitude,
Many are received in generosity,
Only are the late birds in these nowadays,
Their predecessors would migrate,
In moments of departure,
Hitching rides back on the storms,
High up to kiss the earth good-bye,
Goldfinches, meadowlarks and swallows have taken flight,
Many more to name such delicate forms,
Birds and life I praise there out of sight,
Hearty wrens, chickadees and sparrows mostly never depart,
But winter along these woodlands of my heart,
There they'll cuddle in the underbrush,
Repelling jackets tawny and brave,
Even the homeless dear hearts will stay,
In their tents of blues and grays,
Cozy and awake to save their Soul a place,
They should've been housed in that village of shame,
Oh, those winters games,
And the cruel which shall be unnamed,
There, their winters flights,
Throughout these cold, cold nights,
Snows roused all into conscious shivering,
And some may feel the storms for a winters forlorn,
It is the season all should be warned.

Bonwick Island 2010

And the last oil painting from my Broughton Marine Park series is Bonwick Island. It's not technically part of the Broughton archipelago of Islands; but it was visible so I included this one as well.
We were done for the day painting and had lunch and it was enjoyable; we tried something different. We waited for the fish boats to pass by and the plane began taxiing along the waterway. It took around forty minutes to fly back to Port McNeill as the headwinds were quite strong.

Harrison Lake 1991

My memory will recall in vivid detail,
A Harrison Lake adventure,
Our party surrounded by such beauty,
Washes in truth and time,
With their colours and textures indicated,
The little ones would run and play on the swings,
Their legs kicking out and creating momentum,
A game of who could soar higher was on,
Across the waters from our joy,
Strangers behaving badly along that other beach,
Those scandalous shores would never reach us,
Even our sweet dog behaved wonderfully,
Respectful on leash and knew she was loved,
Mountains shrouding perilously to the touch,
In time they shall fade into the background,
Trails would reel in hikers ever higher to the goal,
We enjoyed the lake with waters tepid all year,
Most people never stayed dry,
Inevitably even a wade enticed all to bathe.