The Salish Sea

This last week Nick, Oscar (Nick's son) and I sailed over to Mayne Island to visit Nick's sister, Kathy,  and her partner, John.  We had fabulous weather there, back and in between, sailing across the strait in 15-20 knot winds, making about 7.5 knots on average, and then down Trincomali Channel to Montague Harbour for our first night.  Excellent moorage there tied to mooring buoy, and good swims at the beach.  Genoa sail jammed in the rolling furler the next day taking it in, so went without it for the rest of the trip. Cost us about a knot and a half on our way back across the Salish Sea.  Fabulous trip out and looking forward to lots more this August...

Oscar and Nick with Meg and Rose on Spring Moon

Big Gord, Rose and Meg

Yesterday I visited Big Gord in Long Term Care at UBC.  He's only there for Convalescence, so the Long Term part is misleading.  He's been battling with a wound that went through to the bone since last December, and has been in the hospital with it since January.  The bone got infected and the wound opened up to fist-size.  Long battle to recovery with surgery in the near future (hopefully) to put a 'patch over the opening.  I took the dogs in, Rose and our new dog, Meg, because for the first time in 6 months, he's in a place where dog's can visit.  They loved visiting Big Gord. Took to his bed like it was their own, snuggling up with him, and then falling asleep.  Born therapy dogs.  Love therapy.

Cardboard Kayak Races - Bowen Island Steamship Days

This Weekend Bowen Island Hosted Steamship Days with all of it's fun & festivities.  One of the events is a 'design and execute your own cardboard kayak' using a 4' x 6' sheet of cardboard, a roll of packing tape and an x-acto knife.  Our method was to design as we built... trying to hold onto the idea of origami paper folding and applying it to a boat design.  Lots of cutting and scoring took place with god knows what design in mind... but gradually a vessel slightly resembling a kayak grew out of the mess we had made of the cardboard.  Nick was frantically trying to get it 'structurally sound'  all the while I was cutting and scoring with great abandon.  Then massive amounts of tape were needed to keep the water from pouring through the seams. Midway we looked at the competition and felt sorrily inept, but in the last 5 minutes before Times UP, it came together as if by magic. And when we put in Tyler,  our little brave and skilled paddler, by god, we won!  She shipped no water at all, stayed up-right (others were tipping over and sinking, or folding in the middle and going down, or simply going down). But our little vessel stayed afloat like a water bug, skimming to and fro from start to finish line, back and forth many times, all the while passing sinking and abandoned ships. All this to say, never give up the ship: miracles do happen. 

Captain Tyler Matzen being greeted at the finish line by his sister.

Captain Tyler bravely paddling our cardboard kayak to Victory 

Painting Spring Moon: Bottom & Top Sides

Nick: Long day of sanding and painting..

Alex up the ladder 

Sylva Bay Shipyard and Railway lift for Spring Moon

Nick, sound asleep after long day of work on Spring Moon.

New Work

Tender Series:  Tides & Currents

Living Aboard

E. B. White wrote, "A small craft is not only beautiful; it is seductive and full of strange promise and a hint of trouble. It is without question the most compact and ingenious arrangement for living ever devised by the restless mind of humankind. A home that is stable without being stationary, shaped less like a box than a fish, or a girl, and in which a homeowner can remove her daily affairs as far from shore as she has the nerve to. Close hauled or running free - parlor, bedroom, and bath, suspended and alive."

New Painting - not quite finished

Racing Sloop - Bird Series

detail

Sunday sail in Howe Sound.. 

Two steps forward and one big one back

Started painting this sailboat on wood box board about two weeks ago.. It's been slow going... probably scraped and sanded it back at least 4 times. Tried a pecan stain for the ocean and sky, but it 'stained it in patches, so once again I'm going to sand all the background down again.  The boat is looking OK though, so that's good.  This next time I'll apply a urethane to the freshly sanded wood, then add the pecan to warm up the area around the sailboat.

Rosie's Aura

Took this of Rosie the other day on our walk.  Hard to tell what's making the water ripple with no sound to accompany the pic.  It's her breathing... she just finished a half hour of hard running and every breath created a ripple in the water.  

And this notice at the local gas station

Tender Series: White / work in progre

Wood stain and acrylic on board
12 X 12

I've been working on this off and on for a week.  Lots of detailing left to do.  I'm using these smaller panels to practice for larger 24 X 24 pieces.  Get some of the bugs out on a smaller scale.  Always playing with new wood stains and mixing with wood stain gels.  Cutting back into the board as well to expose the wood, then determining whether just to just use urethane on the natural wood, or add another color of stain.  Can't wait to work on the larger panels!

Tender Series; Wooden Dinghy
stain, varnish, urethane and acrylic on board
8 X 10

I've been working for 3 days on this boat... and was about to give it up a number of times.  The paint is thick and nicked with re-fits.  It still isn't what I would have liked it to be, and there were several occasions when I salvaged it from the depths of the discard bin. Nick thinks it's too heavy looking for a light dinghy, but I like the solidity of her form, it speaks of strength and endurance, not just speed.  I haven't painted in the oar locks, I think it may take away from the sleekness of her shear line.

 It's a small work, 8 X 10, and painted with varnish, wood stain, urethane and acrylics.  I've learned a lot doing this work, mostly about what not to do.  Al in all, it may make for a good image for cards.  I've just sold a batch of cards to the local card and book store, Phoenix, for $100.  I'm going to approach some more shops that sell cards to see if they will go for a similar deal... 42 cards in all of 7 different paintings (mostly my boats) and 6 of each.  She'll sell them for $5.50 and I got $2.75 per card.  It adds up.

Work In Progress : Tender Series

Work in progress .. For Doc Morgan's Restaurant on Bowen Island

Dynamic Transformation: Butterflies & Moths / On Gallery Wall

Tender Series:Blue

Works in progress

Tender Series: Blue
acrylic & wood stain on board
24" X 24"
Sold

Bowen Island Wharf for Spring Moon

Sam at Bowen Island Lodge has been generous with his prime waterfront wharf.. Giving us great wharf privileges from March through to end of June at his families beautiful Lodge.  We're the only boat here for now, and have power and water on the dock. Only steps from Ferry and market, and five minutes from Juniper Gallery in Artisan Square.  So lucky.  Truly grateful.

New Tender painting that I've been working on for the last week.  This one has been commissioned by a young couple who liked an earlier work (Blue Tender) which had already sold before they got to the gallery.  It's difficult working on a commission basis, and a good challenge, because I have to be so much more cautious.  No wild ventures into creative madness.  Can't experiment to the same degree- everything has to be exacting.  But, it makes for a steady hand and a relatively predictable outcome...

Blue Tender II
Becca Fairbairn
acrylic, varnish  and stain on wood
24 X 24

New Work / Tender Series - April

Getting ready for the summer....

Red Tender
acrylic on board

Bob McKnight & Boats

: 

My love affair with Bob, which lasted through the summer and into the fall,  went far beyond our common interest in sailboats.  We shared a love of bikes, all boats, family and friends, and he even tolerated living with Rose (and I)  for a few months.  (Bob loves to pretend he doesn't like dogs).  We read Farley Mowat's Boat That Wouldn't Float out-loud to one another for a week, and during this time Bob spoke to me, almost exclusively, in Newfie dialect (Come topsides and sees whats I'm doin'!!) he'd shout from the upstairs of his lovely (built by Bob) home.  He cooked pizza from scratch, rolling the dough out and adding the most bazzare toppings you could imagine, resulting in a mouth-watering feast of Italian (his grandparents) inspired cuisine. He shopped for and cooked a Thanksgiving dinner for twelve, with two turkeys and enough vegetables to feed all of the Pilgrims aboard the Mayflower. He used an electric paint mixer to mash the potatoes. The list goes on. Bob loves to drive his vintage 1969 Porsche, which usually means several hours on his back under the car adjusting something, usually the brakes, before he can get behind the wheel.  He rides a classic BMW 650 Boxer motorcycle in the summer to work , looking like a helmeted version of a very sexy Steve McQueen.  Even though our tryst was short-lived, the impact of Bob's powerful and passionate personality will never leave me.  His is a unique spirit.. full of fun, quick to forgive, incredibly generous to friends and family, hard-working (he said that if he worked any harder he'd throw up),  crazy and super athletic (rides a longboard most places in the city. He's 63. Can you bloody believe it??) and he's very, very loving.  He is, above all, a conundrum, mostly to himself.  A wild-spirited, soulful and wise 'young' man, who lives life DAILY to the fullest.  I will miss his presence in my life... 

Dynamic Transformation: Butterflies & Moths

Just about finished....maybe Saturday.

I've had to take an x-acto knife and cut out areas that don't work, and repaint them.. then wait for them to dry and reintegrate them with the work.  Constantly balancing and rebalancing the composition as I go along... always following the direction of the wood's grain.  There is a natural aesthetic in the grain that is harmonious and dynamic, which has it's own ebb and flow.

Dynamic Transformation: Butterflies and Moths

New Painting Evolving Everyday

Dynamic Transition: Butterfly & Moth
acrylic on panel  36" X 19'

I'm working on this.... and the transition not only includes butterflies and moths, but painting itself.  I've changed this everyday, and it will go on morphing until it looks finished. Someone interviewing Jackson Pollock once asked him, "How do you know when a painting is finished?".  He sat thinking for a moment and replied, "How do you know when you're finished making love?"

                                    Dog Agility Competition : Kimberley B.C.

Merle-Coated Border Collie

In the fall of 2013, while staying with Margie on Muskrat Ranch, I ventured out with her god-daughter, Lisa, an exceptionally talented dog-trainer, to an agility competition a few kms. north of Kimberley, B.C.  It was interesting to witness the enthusiasm of all sorts of breeds, from collies to doberman pinschers,  performing at a high level of athleticism and obedience.  It's a colorful event, and like any sport involving speed and agility, it becomes a photographers paradise. Even an amateur like me. 

Bearded Collie

Ever-Enthusiastic Chocolate Lab

Tri-Colored Border Collie

I'm all excited about the dogsled race in the Yukon that begins today.. 1,600 kms from Whitehorse to    Fairbanks, Alaska.  That is the distance from Vancouver to Revelstoke (600 kms.),  back to  Vancouver (600 kms), then Vancouver to Kamloops (400 kms.)  Each team has maximum of 14 dogs to begin, and may end up with 6 or 8 dogs at the finish line, the others succumbing to exhaustion, sickness or injury.  Vets are posted along the way to ensure the well-being of the teams.  I had a wee taste of dog-sledding last year on Muskrat Ranch, in the East Kootenays, when Margie left me for the month of February to look after her ranch while she went biking in Cuba.

Muskrat Ranch, Ta Ta Creek

 Every morning I hitched the dogs (3) up to the kick sled and we went for a tour.  It was beyond belief exciting.  Tess is the lead dog, 4 years old and smart as a whip.  Rosie is a good puller, and Amy will pull if necessary, but would rather run along beside (she's 10).  I usually went to a neighbor's place and picked up Quiz, a merle coated border collie, and a really good puller.  When you yell 'go', you had better be hanging on tight and with one foot on a runner, because they are going to go from 0 to top speed in no time flat.  I got left behind the first time I tried it. And it took me a while to get the drift of how to negotiate curves in the trail.  I had to slow the dogs down ('Slow!') and then lean into the corner without flipping over.  The dogs love to pull.

Tess (lying down, lead dog, ) Amy (left) and Rose (behind Tess)

Tess on left.. very powerful runner

Rose and Tess with kick sled

I want to get a kick sled and figure out how to train Rose.   But I better not get ahead of myself.  I need to find a sled first - under $250.

Feeding the mules, Emily & Georgia.  It got down to -25 C. 

Handsome Georgia

Sledding on Lake Windermere, Invermere B.C.

John Zehnder trained Caleb to pull his kick sled.  

On a glorious sunny morning about a month ago I walked with my friend, Susan, around Killarney Lake on Bowen Island.  I took these photos with my i-phone.

I'm painting a panel based on one of the photos... but the surface as I progress has become lumpy with the built up pigment and suspension medium, and I need to either sand it back down to an even finish, losing a lot of the color, or build it up to an even surface, requiring more patience and technique than I may be capable of.

 It's a delicate skein of nothingness...fog, sky, light and reflection,  but there it is.  Hard to replicate.. and I'm wondering if I shouldn't just have the photo enlarged and present it as is.