8x10 plein air acrylic on canvas

I normally like to write something to accompany my paintings to help tell a story but with this painting I was trying to convey a feeling. I’m learning that the best way to do this is to capture feelings like this is to paint en plein air, which basically to means paint outdoors on location. As a nature lover and nature artist I would love to paint all my paintings this way as it just feels right compared to locking myself in my studio under artificial lights for days on end. This particular day I was excited to wake early to cruise the coastline and snap photographs for future paintings but I woke to pouring rain. I enjoy the rains but expensive camera gear and rain to do not mix. Therefore I set up under some cover and painted the crab dock in Tofino as my eyes saw it and the rains poured around me.

The old spirit of the west coast is evident in this scene. Some of the things that I love about it are how the islands fade into the distant rainy and misty throat of Lemmens inlet, the woodsmoke gently rising from the toasty floathouse and the feeling you get on those calm, heavily raining days on the coast. For anyone who knows the area well you will notice that the absence of the rest of the dock to the left, part of this was out of laziness but mostly because I love the feeling old floathouses have that pepper the remote corners of our coast.

I find a lot of beauty in rainy days on the coast and I hope this piece helps the viewer appreciate them too.