Georgia Beach is located right in the Town of Gibsons. Just the other side of the Bluff and facing Vancouver Island, this little gem of a beach is adorned with the smoothest black skipping rocks and an ever-changing collection of driftwood. Each day there’s a new offering of beach-glass too. Small bits of glass that tumble long enough and often enough in the endless tides that caress the beach become multi-coloured jewels as they shimmer and shine in the wet pebbles at the tide line. My grandsons, Keegan and Carter, love to go to Georgia Beach. There’s always that perfect rock for Grampa to skip onto the ocean waters. If we can count 6 or 7 skips then our day is complete. My wife Joy has a large jar of beach-glass she’s collected over the years, mostly from Georgia Beach. In short, Georgia Beach is a wonderful little place just to be at. It’s a place of solitude and peace, an escape right here in town.
If you want to see Georgia Beach at its very best, go in the evening just before sunset. The setting sun will have long been blocked from your direct view as the rocky point to the north hides you from its direct rays. You’ll actually be standing in the cool evening shade as the sun casts its final minutes of brilliance. You’ll know the sun is in its final throes though by its hot reflection on the bark of the seaside trees at the very edge of the grasses of Georgia Beach. The intensity of the moment won’t be lost to anyone who’s there to witness, but to a painter these few brief minutes provide a “wow moment” that just has to be captured in a painting.
By its very location Georgia Beach is always at its very best just as the sun leaves the day. I’ve even kept the photograph I worked from to paint the original painting “Shades Of Brilliance” simply because I want to be able to prove to the skeptical that such intense light and colours really do happen at Georgia Beach. Georgia Beach is located right in the Town of Gibsons and it is a very special place.
