HOME ISLAND
This landmark Island and adjacent rocky islands, are well known to fishermen. It’s right beside another island known as “Salmon Rock”. The area has been a famous fishing destination for as long as there have been fishers of the sea.
We who paddle these local waters around Gibsons know it well. It’s a destination to be circumnavigated, or to pass by on our way to other destinations. It’s only about 2 kilometers from Gibsons Harbour to Home Island. The waters around the island are an indicator for us, a harbinger of weather and water conditions to come as we venture out onto the Salish Sea.
Another painting I’ve done, “Leaving Sometimes” tells of where I’ve painted both images from. Below is a quote from that story;
“So special is this passage in fact, that our Gibsons Paddle Club has had a brass plaque made and it’s affixed to one of the rock faces. It’s a plaque to commemorate those of our paddling family who have passed. When that unfortunate, but inevitable event happens, we wait until the right tides allow it, and we gather as a fleet in our very own, and very special little “chapel on the water”.”
Were I sitting in my canoe to paint “Leaving Sometimes”, I’d be facing north in the little passage referred to above. To find the image for “Home Island” I’d simply turn my canoe and face south. Of course, I’ve seen Home Island thousands of times, always searching for the painting. Then one evening as Joy and I relaxed in the canoe, the image came into focus. The setting sun spotlighted the island like I’d never seen it before. It glowed with an enticing warmth. But those warning signs in the dramatic water told us to go no further on this evening. The conditions had been rising for the last half hour. No time to venture further.
But, I’d found my painting. I’ve paddled these waters for well over 20 years, and only on this day did I find the image. In these Covid times of 2020, we’d all been forced to slow down. Perhaps that slower pace had allowed me to finally find my painting. Patience and serendipity work their magic together quite often. This time for sure, they conjured up a painting for me that I call simply “Home Island”.
