Shop / original paintings
Original painting
Acrylic on canvas
36x48 inches
We have always traveled extensively so when we arrived in the storied Santorini, we expected to be impressed, but nothing we had seen or read had fully prepared us for the breathtaking beauty of the island! We visited Santorini while on a Mediterranean cruise, and as we were sailing in it seemed from a distance that the houses and the island were covered in snow. Little did I know what was in store for me! We scrambled up and downstairs, followed winding streets, lanes and even dead ends! We wandered into and out of shops and restaurants and we could not get enough of it. The twisting streets, the magnificent churches, the beautifully tended flowerpots at the doorsteps. This was my largest canvas to date and it took me a lot longer than anything else I had done up until then. Again, the precision required to capture the details appealed to me!
Original painting
Acrylic on canvas
48x36 inches
Italy has always been one of our favourite holiday destinations. The people, the history, the scenery, the wine and of course, the food! Venice and the islands in the Venetian Lagoon hold a special place in our hearts. The island of Burano is most famous for it’s lace but it is the brightly coloured homes and boats on the island that appealed to my wife’s “inner photographer”!
Legend is that the fishermen painted their homes in the bright colours to help them find their way home in the frequently fog-shrouded lagoons. Burano is slightly less at risk for the flooding that is becoming increasingly frequent and damaging as the floods in Venice.
In 2016 Burano was second on the Forbes list of most beautiful cities! It is as part of the Venetian Lagoon, also a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Original painting
Acrylic on canvas
36x48 inches
This painting was inspired by a photo my wife took a number of years ago, on a chilly January day in Smuggler Cove Provincial Park. The sun was up, but there was still a soft blush of frost on the water of the marsh, creating the illusion of snow. The park was originally an abundant source of seafood for many of the local first nation people living here. The name however comes from it’s history as a hiding place for smugglers along the coast in need of secluded, calm anchorage when smuggling foreign immigrants into Canada. The marsh was created by the industrious beavers and is still home to many of them, as well as to numerous ducks and seabirds. There is a lovely boardwalk that winds through the marsh, leading to pristine beaches and coveted campsites. I particularly enjoyed the freedom this painting gave me to “interpret” what I was seeing, rather than duplicate it.
We recently returned from a true “trip of a lifetime” through South Africa, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Namibia. Our first stop in Zimbabwe was to a Houseboat on Lake Kariba.
Lake Kariba is the world’s largest reservoir and manmade lake. During the filling up phase of the lake, the water was high in nutrients coming from decomposing, inundated vegetation, creating a thick layer of fertile soil on land that became the lakebed. Inhabitants of Lake Kariba include Nile crocodiles and hippopotami. Gamefish (particularly tigerfish, which was among the indigenous species of the Zambezi river system), now thrive on the kapenta, which in turn encourages tourism. Fish eagles, cormorants and other water birds patrol the shorelines, as do large numbers of Elephants and other big game species including Lions, Cheetahs, Leopards, Cape Buffalo and a myriad of smaller plains game species. The southern Matusadona National Park was once a haven for Black and White Rhinoceros, but recent poaching activity has dramatically reduced their numbers. Both Zambia and Zimbabwe are now attempting to develop the tourism industry along their respective coasts of Lake Kariba.
It was the vast number of elephants both on the shore and/or walking through the lake at sunset that caught our attention. The trees that are visible are normally well under water, but the recent years of droughts have lowered the water levels so dramatically that they are facing even greater power shortages in Zimbabwe once there in no more water going over the dam, something we were told was just weeks away.
Acrylic 18” x 36”
Original painting
Acrylic on canvas
24x24 inches
In 2012 we enjoyed an amazing holiday in Turkey with my brother and his wife. We had heard from many friends about their travels in Turkey and the one most frequently mentioned “must do” was the hot air balloon ride in Cappadocia, that rises up from the valley floor just as the sun comes up. Both my wife and sister in law are a little uncomfortable with heights so we weren’t sure how the “Balloon Ride” was going to go. As it turned out, they bother so awed they completely forgot their fear and were hanging off the side vying for photos as the sun came up and the balloons emerged from the valley. Cappadocia is an amazing and spectacular landscape that has been sculpted by erosion over thousands of years. These cave-like dwellings and rock-hewn sanctuaries date back to the Byzantine period, possibly as far back as the 4th Century. Today what is left are these amazing cave dweller villages, underground cities that once contained human habitat and beautiful valleys that go for as far as the eye can see. Again, being “detail” oriented, I found myself choosing this view to work with!