The peaceful nature of this image appealed to me as well as its sense of the circle of life. I was drawn in by the contrast of the stark whites of the fallen trees against the greens of the vegetation and by the graceful bowing of the branches towards the water. The idea of trying to capture the lacy effect in between the branches, called to me. A good portion of the lacy effect was created by painting with the wrong end of the paintbrush!
This painting gave me a sense of peace while painting it. It is a gentle painting and one I am glad I painted.
0 Comments
Today was sunny and gorgeous, as the weather forecast promised. I took advantage of it for my last day on Vancouver Island to go to Ucluelet on the west coast. I must be sounding like a broken record, but what a fabulous place! The drive took me on winding roads through the centre of the island, over the central range and through Port Alberni.
On the way down to the coast, I stopped briefly at a rest stop on the Taylor River to stretch my legs. To my delight and surprise, the clear water of the river revealed a school of bright red salmon spawning in the gravel of the riverbed. Another highlight of the day was spotting a large sign by the road in Port Alberni for Aboriginal carvings and promising that an artist would be on site. Well, I just had to stop and see what was going on. The artist was a carver, Kevin Cranmer, the nephew of Doug Cranmer, who worked with Bill Reid and who made the totem pole featured at Expo 67 in Montreal! Kevin was working on a large totem pole in honour of his father (Doug's brother), who was also a master carver and who had died recently. When complete, the pole will be erected at Alert Bay in Kevin's ancestral village. Kevin took time out to explain the construction of the pole and a bit about his history and the history of the tribes on the island and along the coast of mainland BC. Fascinating! The Ucluelet coast is rough, rocky and beautiful. The coastal cedars have been bent and twisted by the wind and salt spray and are covered with moss and lichen. They make living sculptures which provide endless fascination for me. Unfortunately, I had to return to Victoria, but I enjoyed a delicious salmon dinner inspired by the spawning fish I'd seen earlier in the day. Tomorrow morning I fly back to Montreal - but I now have a long list of places I'd like to return to and explore further. I can't believe that I'm here, on Vancouver Island, at the far western end of the Trans-Canada Highway. Over the course of the last year I've traveled the entire length of the highway, from Km Zero in St. John's to Km Zero (as it's called here) in Victoria. What an experience! I met a lot of great people and saw many parts of the country for the first time. I even met relatives who I'd never encountered before! Now I have to finish putting it all on canvas, which will keep me busy through the winter and spring. All 52 paintings by each of us have to be ready for our Gala exhibition at Galerie 203 in Old Montreal next Canada Day.
But back to today - I took drove to Horseshoe Bay and loaded the car on the morning ferry to Nanaimo. Breakfast on the ferry was wonderful, and the service was cheerful. In Nanaimo I saw a rabbit nibbling the grass while I was stopped at a red light. A crow was dancing around the rabbit - I quickly took out my iPad and began videoing - and then found it hard to drive on because I was laughing too hard (see the video in my last post)! I never knew crows could take such offense at poor bunnies. The day was uniformly grey and the road to Km 7350 ran mostly inland, through towns and past farmland, It was interesting to see the difference between the old and newer sides of the 4-lane sections of the highway as it passed over bridges - the trestles of the old and newer spans were of quite different design. At Km 7350 the view from the dining room of the Malahat Chalet was spectacular, overlooking Malahat Bay. On a sunny day it would be breathtaking. The last stop and the end of the road is at Beacon Hill in Victoria. Driving in through the city I had many opportunities to study the pedestrian traffic at crosswalks and I noticed that the city is getting prepared for Halloween, complete with flying witches invading downtown. I spent a few hours at Beacon Hill Park watching the seaplanes come and go, competitors in the city-wide cross-country competition run laps, many dog walkers promenading with their pets, the clouds and mist shifting over the sea and distant snow-covered mountains across the strait and, towards dusk, several seals fishing off the rocky shore. After a last look at some of the many monuments scattered around the park, I drove off to my hotel, the Waddling Dog, whose owner is an English artist and has decorated the hotel in a wonderful Tudor style. Tomorrow is supposed to be a sunny day, and I plan to revisit Beacon Hill so I can experience it in full colour instead of in shades of grey. I hope the seals will be back as well! Check out what crows do in Nanaimo ... News flash!!
CBC Radio 1 in Calgary has rescheduled Alison and Carol's interview on the Eyeopener for TOMORROW (24 October) morning at 7:15 Mountain time, or 9:15am Eastern time. Listen in to hear the latest on the project! Go to www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/programs/eyeopener/the-eyeopener-weekdays-6-8-37-a-m-1.3223003 Another early morning before sunrise, but what a morning! The rain passed by in the night as promised and the skies were clear. I took a few quick snaps of Kamloops from the hotel parking lot before climbing into the car for the drive along the Thompson River and, after it joins the Fraser at Lytton, down the Fraser Valley. This is big sky and big hill country. Nothing here is small except for the amount of annual rainfall. It's hard to describe the scale of the countryside when everything is simply huge. 100-car freight trains look like miniature toy scale compared to the hills that the tracks wind around. Tall trees look like dwarfs. The autumn colours of the vegetation blaze in yellows and golds, balanced by the deep greens of the fir and pine. Everywhere else sagebrush and amber grass roll on to the horizon.
I looked for signs of this summer's forest fires, and found them most clearly around Cache Creek, which still smells strongly of charred wood, and in patches southwards along the Thompson. I didn't see any burned buildings, but did see several that survived despite being right at the edges of burn zones. Now that I've seen the land that the fire crews had to deal with, I'm filled with admiration for their strength and fortitude. Km 6900, an hour or so south of Kamloops, is a simply awe inspiring place. The hills rise high above the Thompson River canyon with sparse evergreen trees dotted along the slopes and ridges. The creeks that flow down the hills create their own miniature gorges, which are populated by golden-leaved trees and shrubs. The train tracks snake along both banks of the river - westward along the right bank and eastward along the left. A small farm growing fruit trees and melons has a little roadside shack for selling to passers-by in season, but was closed today. The river rushes over rapids as it falls southwards towards its confluence with the Fraser and the cold wind rushes with it through the valley. As the sun rose higher, the temperature rose slightly, but my hands were quite stiff by the time I got back in the car to continue to Km 7050. I ran into rain again by the time I reached Boston Bar. The landscape began to change, too, getting wetter and more heavily forested as the Fraser ran south. By Km 7050, cedar trees joined the mix in the forest, perfuming the air with their resin. Waterfalls spilled down cliffs and the soil was rich and spongy. At Hope the river turns west and the valley widens out. Blueberry farms, with rows of bushes turning bright red, alternate with other lowland crops and cattle grazing in pastures. The highway became a 4-lane, then 6-lane expressway for the run in to the Vancouver area and traffic filled it. The last stop of the day was at Km 7200 in Burnaby. The city skyline and rushing traffic along the expressway were a world away from the peaceful Thompson and Fraser valleys. I was happy to find my hotel nearby and enjoyed a good meal in the attached restaurant. Tomorrow I catch the ferry to Victoria Island and the last two stops on this western leg of the Transcanada Highway. It's hard to believe that in another day I'll have traveled the highway's length from coast to coast. Today started early, before sunrise. After a brief stop at Tim's and a gas station, it was off to Km 6600. The morning was raw and cold, but the mist over the slopes, along with golden leaves mixed with evergreen, was incredible. I could have stayed there for hours as the scene constantly changed with the breeze, just absorbing the vibrant colours and soaking in the serenity of the place. The road and railroad share the same narrow valley - a passing freight train reminded me that the rails were here long before the road, and that the first transcontinental CP track was joined near Revelstoke. I started looking for a historical marker; I found the marker a little while later, but didn't get a photo of it.
As the morning grew lighter, the mist gradually rose, eventually allowing some blue sky and sun to break through, revealing the surrounding peaks. As I neared Lake Shuswap, however, the clouds closed in again and I had to turn on my lights for safety. Then, over the lip of the ridge the sky cleared. I stopped for a bite to eat and a cup of coffee, and couldn't resist taking a picture of the Transcanada Highway street sign. That's my road, I thought. I had no idea how big Lake Shuswap is. It seemed to go on forever, connecting the small towns and villages along its shore. At its western end, the country dries out, the dense forest of the mountains giving way to dry grass, small ranches with horses and cattle, and sparse pines. The further west I went towards Kamloops, the drier the countryside became. I had to make an effort to remember that this dry valley at the northern end of the Okenagen, is an extension of the great Central Valley that is home to California's fruit and vegetable industry as well. I was expecting more orchards here and more luxuriant vegetation, but the land can't support them without irrigation. There were a few vineyards and wineries advertised along the way, but no time to visit them. As ever, the road and the railroad parallel each other through the valleys formed by lakes and rivers. Another freight passed by just before I reached Km 6750, east of Kamloops. The view was stunning - golden grassland, villages strung out along the river, gradually larger ranches, incredibly steep slopes rising high out of the riverbed. I was so mesmerized by it all that I almost missed the family of bald eagles roosting in a tree right in front of me! Today was a relatively short one for driving, but I thought it could be a good idea to stop in Kamloops and allow the forecast rain to pass by as much as possible before continuing on to Burnaby tomorrow. It'll be a long day, but the promise of clear weather is worth it.
|
Carol Loeb
|