20x24 acrylic on canvas

When I think of the coast, the first things that come to mind are fish boats and log trucks. Growing up I always had a fascination with both and wanted to do both for a living. In fact I’ve always wanted to be a boom boat operator at Kelsey Bay. As most of our towns used to be old logging camps and all of our ports were busy fishing hubs, it is our island heritage. I suppose I wanted to be a part of that heritage while working in nature. Nowadays neither are booming like the old days, though the sight of a fish boat off to an opening or logs piled high at the Kelsey Bay log sort give me the feeling that all is well and good in the world and our heritage is still alive. Lately, I’ve been enjoying painting boats but at the same time I’ve been bird watching quite often. For Valentines day this year I sketched my wife a scene on a card I wrote her that was inspired by a recent trip home from Port Neville, just north of Kelsey Bay. Later on, I decided it would make a nice painting.

The composition of a painting is the most important part of a piece. Each part I placed very strategically. The layers of coastline fading into the moist coastal air. The trollers peaking out of the fog into the sun as it is on a summer morning on Johnstone Straits. You often get calm mornings with a foggy layer that hangs around before afternoons become very windy. The placement of the Common Mergansers is also important as two ducks facing the boats would look unnatural but as the female is preening herself and the male takes notice of all the commotion as light bounces off the rock weed lighting their bellies up with gold. This piece almost makes you smell that salty air and boat diesel and feel the morning summer sun and gentle hum of an engine nearby as trollers head out on opening day.

Piece will be shipped within 5 business days.