On my way to visit Vancouver from taking a bigger BC Ferries’ ferry ride. It was so cold and windy (like I’m sticking my head out of the airplane or car window) on the top deck and I could hardly feel my fingers when I was sketching this.. Not that great, but it is hard to have the patient to sketch while trying to enjoy the once a lifetime ride and view.
A “BC Ferries” ferry ride to Kuper and Thetis Islands ticket booth.
This is where I pay for my ferry ride to the Kuper Island (Home of the Penelakut Indian tribe) and Thetis Island from Chemainus, Vancouver Island.
One of the huge perk about the Pacific Northwest is the freshest seafood. That was one thing I missed so much about when I have relocated in the middle of the desert from Florida with lack of fresh and cheaper seafood!
On Vancouver Island’s best specialty is the good ole Fish n’ Chips, hence the name of the providence: British Columbia. Anyway, you can see an Inukshuk beside the image of my delicious Battered Halibut, Coleslaw, and French Fries with gravy (a Canadian thing). Drew an Inukshuk from a photo beside where I was sitting while waiting for my food.
What’s an Inukshuk?
Its a First Nations thing, you will see the rock sculpture almost everywhere in Canada. The word inuksuk means “something which acts for or performs the function of a person.” The inuksuk may have been used for navigation, as a point of reference, a marker for hunting grounds, or as a food cache. The Inupiat in northern Alaska used inuksuit to assist in the herding of caribou into contained areas for slaughter. Inuksuit vary in shape and size, with deep roots in the Inuit culture.
Kin Beach Park – Chemainus, Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada
A sketch of a local beach near the town of Chemainus. It is a beautiful beach during a low tide, you can see the mountains and the greens along with the boats docking in the middle of the water. It was a relaxing place to be, right after this half finished sketch.. I fell asleep right on the breakwater.
Passports Part II
Here the completed pages of each passports. I highly recommend viewing it in larger quality. The Canadian passport was a pain in the donkey to sketch, so much details on their crest and sometimes I get lost from focusing on it too much. lol.
Bluenose – Ink in a Watercolour Moleskine
This famous schooner was launched in 1921. She was designed to fish the Grand Banks of Nova Scotia and race in some of the great ocean going races. She was fast and won many honours, quickly becoming a symbol and icon of Canada. She was even commemorated on a 50C Canadian postage stamp in 1929 (and other stamps decades later). Alas, progress meant that sailing boats became uneconomical and she ended her days hauling freight, such as coal, in the Caribbean. In 1946 she hit a reef, off Haiti and was lost. This is a video, showing her racing. It is accompanied by music from the late Stan Rogers – another Canadian icon – both sadly missed.
There was some good news. A replica, Bluenose 11, was built in the early 1960;s and still sails, as a an ambassador, from the port of Lunenburg where the original Bluenose was built.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunenburg,_Nova_Scotia
Many years ago a song, popular in folk clubs, described Bluenose. I wonder if anyone knows of a recording of this or even can access the words. All I can remember, accurately I hope, is the chorus:
Bluenose, Bluenose!
Sailing through the wind and rain.
Bluenose, Bluenose!
Will we ever see your likes, again?
Last sketch for this week.. I won’t have much time to do more before I leave to Canada this Sunday. Hello to Final exam and final project…
As the sketch trip begins, here is my Passport.. As you can see I reserved a spot on the next page for the Canadian Passport. Hopefully, I would like to borrow from a friend of mine to fill in the page. =)
I will be gone for a week to Vancouver Island, British Columbia and it home of the Province capital, Victoria. I’m sure hope to record many sketches as possible for you all to enjoy. Till then… Au revoir USA!
I was at a local park yesterday and saw these two Canadian Geese.. I thought to myself what are they doing here in desert..? It is pretty unusual to see them here in a hot climate.. This is what I came up to be pretty funny… Two geese are lost and trying to figure out their way back up to the Great White North.. As you can see there is a comedy reference from an old Canadian movie called “Strange Brew.” Also “Loonie” equal to a Common Loon (it is another Canadian waterfowl), I’m sure these geese doesn’t want to be in the same category as a Loon…
To race the “Roaring Fraser” to the sea – Acrylic in an A4 Watercolour Moleskine
My first every attempt using acrylic paint only.
One of Roseindigo’s recent posts ( 8th August ) shows a steep gorge leading down to a river. When I opened Saturday’s newspaper there was an article about travel in the Canadian Rockies. This advertised the great rail journey from Whistler to Vancouver. The accompanying photograph seemed to have so much in common with Rose’s, I decided to attempt my version showing, I assume, the River Fraser crashing through this gorge.
The title of this post comes from the song “Northwest Passage” by the late Stan Rogers. In it he drives across Canada comparing his journey with that of John Franklin who tried, in vain, to find a route for shipping across the north of the continent. You can hear this song on You tube. (When my kids were wee, I used to “sing” this to them – other children got more conventional stuff).
The tale of Franklin’s, and other Polar expeditions, has long fascinated me. Victorian society was appalled when the Scottish doctor and naturalised Canadian explorer, John Rae, discovered the remains of some of Franklin’s expedition. He concluded that the last of the survivors had resorted to cannibalism and this shocked folk in the UK – Englishmen would never resort to such a thing! The local Inuit must have been responsible. A smear campaign was directed at Rae, mainly by Lady Jane Franklin but also by, among others, Charles Dickens the famous author. Rae was ostracised, his reward for finding the “truth” about Franklin’s fate withheld for some considerable time and he was branded a liar. Only years later were his findings grudgingly acknowledged. Rae is buried in St Magnus Cathedral’s graveyard, Kirkwall, Orkney. There is a memorial to him inside the cathedral which shows him, as if asleep.
Canada’s $1 coin, affectionately known as the “loonie,” because of the loon on the tails side. Drawn in ballpoint pen.
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