Belize with Island Expeditions

Have Kayak will Travel

Painting in my journal captures a feeling better than words for me.  Here in Bhutan, I blended the Tiger 's Nest Temple into the River we kayaked, called the Paru Chhu.  

Whimsical Boats



 

I had fun with these two canoe paintings, and was quite taken when the lead actress 'Anne' of the TVO series Annedroids (shot at MKC this fall) bought the red canoe as a memory of her whitewater debut.



More whimsical boats - playing with the water in my watercolours.
The wood for my frames comes from the BC Fir boom-logs that worked the Ottawa River for a hundred years. We were fortunate to have been able to purchase 90 of these 50ft long boom-logs in the early '90's when transporting logs down the River seized operations (due to bark suffocating the River beds).  Our dining room tables at MKC, the post'n beam chalet, and OWL Rafting resort have all been built with this rustic red wood.  The frames are fabricated with cut-offs of these bigger projects.

France by boat & bike

At the end of each season Dirk and I escape for an active vacation to rekindle energy.  This year we flew to Toulouse, France.  We rented hybrid bikes that we kept for the full two weeks.  In our first week we chose the alpine hamlet of Bangere du Bigorre in the Haute Pyrenee's where cycling maps helped us discover remote, rolling terrain with lots of not-too-steep ups and downs.  Stopping for Cafe au Lait, a Croque Monsieur or Biere Presse we gradually increased our fitness level after a summer of too little. 

I had fun painting my morning coffee.  

A golden moment en route to our next week was meeting up with whitewater kayak champion Nouria Newman at the Brasserie d'Opera in Toulouse where she studies between paddling events. 

Next we joined five friends aboard our 'barge' on the canal du Garonne in the Aquataine region of southern France. A fantastic way to travel as your 'home' travels with you. 
Less tourists at this time of the season, les marches filled with fall harvests, and fields of sunflowers most past their primes, but I found this one that had a few blooms remaining.



This is the third time we have vacationed aboard a barge in France where 2-3 hours a day are spent boating through numerous locks to the next destination, then biking, reading, cooking, drinking wine and painting for the rest of the day.  glorious

Patagonia

 A photo often doesn't capture the essence of what we see with our own eyes.  One of the reasons I love to paint is to create what it means to  me.  So I painted the Boatercross race in southern Chile on the Rio Futaleufu at the World Extreme Kayak Championships - www.whitewatergrandprix.com where our daughter Katrina competed.  This is BIG water ! Kayaks popped up and down like balls in a pinball machine.  Katrina is the red kayak in the lead - she actually won this race; one of five stages held on the chilly waters of Patagonia. "Chaotic fun", is how she described the Class V rapid called "Mas O Menos" .

I entered my painting in the Tribe Rider art contest - look for their symbol embedded in the waves.

Isles de la Madeleines

 

A wee paradise in the mouth of the St Lawrence River, belonging to la belle provence. Les Isles sont tres speciales...

 

Dirk and I have been three times in search of strong winds, and shallow waters the ideal learning ground for our new sport of kiteboarding.  A quaint beachhouse overlooking 2kms of white sand and open water is our home for a week in July.    I get inspired by the wild flowers, open fields and farm houses painted multiple colours.  Last summer the lupines were in bloom. This year it was red/yellow cornflowers and chamomile growing in the ditches and along the winding paths along the beach burms.  

 

 
When the winds are calm, anything less than 12 knots, we rent bikes and go cycling. 

A little bit of excersise each day, delicious meals at the incredible choice of restaurants, that really know how to cook seafood, fresh. Our favourite is petoncles - scallops that are locally harvested.

Already looking forward to next summer !


WILD FLOWERS

I have been drawn to the wild gardens of the Madawaska Valley my whole life...dig them out of ditches to plant in my own garden, photograph them and paint them whenever I can ! Enjoy a selection here...