ESCAPE TO CHRISTIE COVE
Here on the Sunshine Coast, in the summer of 2020, the year of the Covid pandemic, many folks are finding their peace in a canoe or a kayak. We have so many lakes, and so much ocean water, and such easy access, it’s a natural. In small craft that allow for proper and safe social distancing, we find our diversion, our escape from the realities of the times.
A group of friends took the opportunity to paddle their kayaks on one such adventure a few weeks ago. Their travels took them to the waters along the shores of the Sunshine Coast just northeast of Port Melon, not far from Gibsons. It was a calm, pleasant day, and they ventured close to shore to explore and just savour the reality of being anywhere else other than isolated at home.
Kate, Donna and Patt, friends of mine and members of the Gibsons Paddle Club, were among the group enjoying the afternoon on the water. As they relaxed in the calm beauty of Christie Cove, the rocky point and the animated, colourful water caught their attention. “That water looks like an Ed Hill painting.” Kate said, and she photographed the scene to show me when they got home.
As soon as I saw the photograph that evening, I knew I’d paint it. I seldom paint images I don’t personally experience, but this one was of familiar water, and indeed, the water was – what I paint.
And so it was that their paddle adventure, and my time creating the image, would have a synchronicity that wasn’t lost on me as the painting came to life out of my palette and brushes. In these days and times of the “new normal” of Covid-19, we’re all trying to find healthy diversions. We all need those times, experiences and places that take us away from the turmoil and worry associated to the very real threats of this worldwide pandemic. They’d found their time by paddling that day in the ocean waters of the Sunshine Coast, I’d found my time of diverting my attention by painting the image they’d brought back for me. We’d all found what we were looking in those waters just a bit northeast of Port Melon. We’d all found the same thing, our healthy diversion, in our “Escape to Christie Cove”.
Thanks Kate, Donna and Patt.