Thoughts On Exploration: British Columbia and The Yukon

A view from the ferry, en route to Vancouver Island....

“How badly I want that nameless thing! First there must be an idea, a feeling... Maybe it was an abstract idea that you've got to find a symbol for, or maybe it was a concrete form that you have to simplify or distort to meet your ends, but that starting point must pervade the whole.” ~Emily Carr

There's nothing like waking up with the sun in your eyes, and I mean that in a good way. Waking up with the sun in your eyes in a new city is even better...in this case it is Whitehorse in the Yukon. I am here "on assignment" for the next month and if this morning is any indication, it is going to be one heck of a beautiful month.

I arrived late last night from Vancouver, where I have spent the last week. I also ferried over to Duncan on Vancouver Island to see my friend Anne. It has been two years since we have spent time together and it was such a pleasure to see her and her family once again.

Cherry blossoms were out all over Vancouver, lining the streets in pink petals.

I'll try to keep my rhapsodizing about the Western Canada to a minimum here but each time I visit I fall more and more in love with this side of the country. Maybe it isn't the West, but the coast, as I the east coast of Canada has it's quality of unparalleled beauty.

The mountain trail that I ran/walked each day I was in Duncan..

The intent of this five week journey is multi-faceted. To reunite with friends, to paint, to write and to shoot reference for future paintings. I have three commissions lined up, and this is a lovely part of being a painter...you are creating something special for friends and clients, something they will always have and that is unique to their lives and history. It is their vision, and as creatives we are a conduit to making that happen. The best commissions are the ones where the clients give me carte blanche. They say, here is the subject, I trust your vision. Do what you do. How liberating! Nothing beats that feeling.

The view down from Mount Tzouhalem, the mountain that Anne lives on...

Looking up while on a walk through the forest...intoxicating...

The weather in Vancouver was cool and refreshing. It was wonderful to revisit the neighbourhoods that I enjoy so much: Kitsilano and the West End. I took the ferry over to Nanaimo and stayed in Duncan for three nights, each day going for a hike or run on the mountain trails behind Anne's house. I remember distinctly going into town with Anne's son and her husband, and sticking my head out the back window to smell the air. It was perfumed with the scent of flowers and spring. It was remarkable...I can see why they say that our sense of smell is most strongly tied to memory.

Nefertiti, one of Ian's lovely cats whose company I will

enjoy very much over the next month..

Now I am in Whitehorse, arriving late last night. I can hardly wait to explore this part of the country...waking up to snow-capped mountains, fresh coffee and the promise of the unknown drives many a person, many an artist, many an explorer. My main objective is to take care of my three feline charges, Nefertiti, Sneggy and Pumpkin. That, along with painting and working on the book about Christopher McCandless will make the four weeks fly by. I am thrilled to be underway in the North... :)

Some of the changing faces of the landscape behind Anne's house in Duncan, BC....

"The only people for me are the mad ones,the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn, like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars..." -Jack Kerouac

Salt Spring Island Part 1: So Close And So Far Away

“It is wonderful to feel the grandness of Canada in the raw,

not because she is Canada but because she's something sublime that you

were born into, some great rugged power that you are a part of.”

~Emily Carr

In June of 2008 I visited Salt Spring Island, British Columbia. It is a small island (70 sq mi) a short ferry ride from Victoria on one side and Crofton on the other. There are more routes by ferry but those are the only two that come to mind at present.

This was my sixth time visiting British Columbia and each time I enjoy myself even more. From the first time I landed in Vancouver years ago I knew that some corner of BC or, certainly the west coast of Canada, was going to be my home one day. When that day will be is still up in the air, but I am patient. I know its not going anywhere, and it gives me something to aim for as the cost of living is a lot higher out there. I will not be dissuaded however. British Columbia is in my blood. I don't want to write off The Yukon of course, as I still have to visit Whitehorse and explore there, but British Columbia, with its wet weather, cool temperatures and excellent coffee, is always beckoning.

Eagles, greenery, good company and fresh air. What more could one ask for?

After a few days reconnecting with my good friend Anne in Duncan, she dropped me off at the Crofton-Vesuvius crossing over to Salt Spring Island. There were bald eagles fishing and the sky was overcast as I spied the small ferry starting its 20 minute journey over to our side of the blue grey water. I was going to meet my friend John, explore, and take in this small island which so many artists and craftspeople are drawn towards.

The section of the wildly immaculate garden at my Bed And Breakfast

I made my through the circuitous backroads that run in veins around the island. There are only 10,000 people who live on Salt Spring Island, depending on the season I think. From the moment I stepped off of the ferry I knew I was truly somewhere special. I had been forewarned of this phenomenon by Anne and others. I remember musing to myself "really? Could it be that different from the rest of Vancouver Island?" It really was. If you can believe it, the pace was even SLOWER than the rest of the west coast that I had experienced. It was in the air. It had a charm without being cloying. It was quaint without being precious. I fell in love with it immediately.

The harbor in Ganges, the hub of the island where there is

a fantastic market on weekends.

I spent some time with John and his family and then poked around Ganges, enjoying some of the best coffee I had ever had. People were friendly and laid back and it was easy to strike up conversations with just about anyone. I encountered the same thing in Newfoundland. Actually, Virginians too are some of the friendliest folks I have ever met. In Ontario we are friendly, but we tend to be a little more aloof than people I have met on the coasts. We are a bit more insulated and self-contained, whereas easy small talk seems almost rote out east and west. That brief connection goes deeper than you would expect. It supports a feeling of community and warmth that roots you to a place, that fosters affection. Salt Spring had that energy to it.

This affable and humble gentleman was collecting money for ALS

research outside the supermarket in Ganges

The weather during my stay was as changeable as any twelve hours in England. I find their climates similar and perhaps that is why I enjoy BC so much. I love the rain and the cold. Perhaps I am odd, perhaps its genetic, but give me a cloudy day with layers of sweaters and a mug of coffee over sitting and sweating in 30 degree Celsius heat any day of the week and twice on Sunday.

No multiplexes here. The movie theatre on Salt Spring Island.

No, I'm not kidding. 

John was celebrating his birthday and there was a great party lined up for the weekend at Beaver Point Hall on the south end of Salt Spring. The building had so much character, with beautiful hardwood all throughout. It was a perfect place for a gathering and yet another opportunity to meet some pretty terrific people.

Beaver Point Hall

Festivities continued late into the night.

I had plenty of time to go on some hikes and wander around Salt Spring as I was there for four days. Up at the top of the island I visited Booth Bay Beach. I remember stepping on to the rocks as it was low tide and seeing the earth shift all around me. For a moment I could not register what I was seeing. The very ground seemed alive. It was then that I realized that millions of crabs were moving like a living carpet along the sand and rocks. I stepped carefully around them as I hopped from rock to rock, all the time appreciating how privileged I was to share this space with them. I moved along side of them as they went about their daily ebbs and flows of habit and instinct. They were primitive, beautiful, ephemeral, fragile and resilient at the same time. I was moved then and I am still moved by them now as I write this.

I was the only one on Booth Bay Beach, but one of millions too,

 including this Great Blue Heron.

The environment was filled with all sorts of exciting textures and colours. I loved their variety and unique qualities. Below are some examples. 

Driftwood with lines like fields of wheat or canyons from space

Shells like pale spectres sitting on wet driftwood

Barnacles cling, petrified, to the rock

Silvery driftwood that appears charred

My favorite tree: Arbutus. Arbutus is very unique and found in only a few places on the planet. 

I had a lot of time to myself during my stay on Salt Spring Island. I was careful to be as open to impression as I could be. I tried to keep my mind uncluttered with its usual staccato chatter that can periodically unhinge me. I simply relished its silence and let it soak in, setting aside this special time, unfettered by obligations, prompted on simply by my own two feet, the map in my hand and my trusty camera. It was a time of contrasts. Lots of convivial company with John and his friends and family, plus lots of time to simply let the rest of the world drift away for a time. I have never experienced lucid dreaming but I would guess the experience was similar to that phenomenon: you are aware that you are sleeping, yet acutely aware of what you are dreaming about. Salt Spring was a bit like that. I will write more about my time there soon. 

Have a wonderful day/evening/night/morning, wherever you are,

Heather

"We live in a very tense society. We are pulled apart....and we all need to learn how to pull ourselves together...I think that at least part of the answer lies in solitude." ~Helen Hayes

Salt Spring: sanity and salvation

“There is something bigger than fact: the underlying spirit, all it stands for, the mood, the vastness, the wildness.”
~Emily Carr

I recently returned from a much-anticipated journey to Vancouver Island and Salt Spring Island in British Columbia. I went to visit my dear friend Anne in Duncan, across the way from Salt Spring, as well as to meet John and his family. It was easily one of the best trips I have ever taken. I feel like a changed person. It is a huge cliché but it is true. I made some wonderful friends and connections while there....friends who will make a move there easier when the time comes, hopefully sooner rather than later.

I spent a night in Duncan with Anne before heading to Salt Spring. We visited galleries in Victoria, drank lots of coffee and caught up. It has been two years since I last saw her. Her family are amazing people and we had a lovely vegan dinner of Anne's creation that evening.

I headed to Crofton the following day to take the ferry over to Salt Spring Island. The air was so clean everywhere. I noticed that when I woke up in the morning my lungs were clear with no coughing. I don't suffer from asthma but I really noticed the difference. My bed and breakfast on Salt Spring was idyllic....everything was frankly. I went to the market in Ganges on Saturday, met John and his family as well, went to his birthday party, met other friends serendipitously and just relaxed. I have been threatening to move to BC for years and now, after returning from this trip, I really mean to do it...most people I met there said "just get in your car and do it"...just take the leap. Leaps are difficult to take because friends and family are what root us to places. I do not have a large family and I can easily return to Ontario to visit. Being a painter is supremely flexible in terms of where one works...it really has no limitation, as long as I can reach a post office to ship paintings.

Salt Spring is only 70 square miles and so I covered almost all of the island through visiting people and exploration over the course of the 5 days I was there. I noticed that everyone was just so naturally beautiful. It is as though the residents have been scrubbed with salt from the ocean...in a good way. Like a natural exfoliant that has let their true personalities come to the surface. People stop and wait for you to cross the road rather than screaming past, casual conversations strike up anywhere and at anytime and there is a general feeling of relaxation about the place, despite the ubiquitous coffee shops everywhere. Be prepared for when you order a "small" coffee in BC....small is medium or large here in Ontario...in BC when you order a large they hand you a thermos of coffee. Just kidding. Also being vegan, I noticed that every single coffee shop had soy milk. I doubt I will be so lucky when Rob and I visit Newfoundland in September....needless to say I'm packing my own soy milk.

Upon returning to Ontario I really do feel re-energized creatively, body and soul. I tend to get myopic and depressed in my little studio here and this trip expanded my philosophy and horizons both. I had such amazing conversations ranging from ancient civilizations thriving and collapsing to the utter hatred for the three new Star Wars movies.

There is so much nature and wildlife out on Salt Spring that I will have to seek out new models and inspiration when I am there. The first thing that grabs your eye is usually something from the landscape. I have a feeling that my artwork that is produced there will definitely have the natural world included in some capacity. Almost all of the buildings have large windows, inviting the outside in constantly. The Old Man's beard hangs off of so many trees, indicating a healthy environment. I love the rain and clouds as well...though I'll need some strong studio lights to compensate for the cloudiness. Regardless I know that a new creative epoch is just around the corner...if all goes well I want to be there in 1-2 years tops.

For now I am going to get back down to it and complete three paintings by months end...if I can. A bunch have sold recently so I need to get more inventory for the galleries. Good times ahead.

Listening to: "De usuahia a la quiaca" by Gustavo Santaolalla from the Motorcycle Diaries Soundtrack. The man is a genius.


"To get away from one's working environment is, in a sense, to get away from one's self; and this is often the chief advantage of travel and change." ~Charles Horton Cooley