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Atmospheric
(2023)
Straits of Georgia; between Vancouver Island and the Canadian
mainland. 
24
x 48"multimedia:
graphics & acrylic on paper & canvas.
When I was a little boy- eight years old, my family went on
vacation in British Columbia. A distant friend had a cabin on
Savary Island, located in the northern part of the Straits
of Georgia, about 90 miles northwest of Vancouver. It was June,
and we had access to a boat with an outboard motor. As a treat,
we were going to go out to the remote island of Mittelnatch,
bringing a picnic lunch. This was barely more than a collection
of rocks- a nature preserve, and only a few young researchers,
studying birds lived in a very small shelter.
However,
there was a storm brewing. And by the time we headed back across
the enormous stretch of open water, the waves got bigger and
bigger. Our little boat would fall over the top of the wave,
crashing into each huge trough, and we couldn't see anything
except the water. The sky had turned, dark, and the wind was
fierce. My parents, barely 40, had three little children and
my grandmother in the boat. We turned back. On Mitlenatch, the
young researchers radioed for help, and to my delight we were
rescued by the RCMP in a police ship. The Canadian officers
were marvelous, capable and friendly and not concerned with
the storm.
Coming back from an Alaskan Cruise a couple of years ago, I
stood alone on the back of the ship as the sun was going down.
And I suddenly realized this is where my family had its wild
adventure and rescue, fifty years ago. And I started this canvas.
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