Art on Genoa Bay Marina Dock

One Hundred Yards of dock space in Genoa Bay, hemmed in on one side with corrugated aluminum boat houses, and on the other with float homes. The latter constructed of everything imaginable.
In one of the floating dwellings lives Tom Faue (whom I have never met) and creates fantastic collages made from debris one usually finds around docks and marinas, or maybe at chaotic engine repair shops.


And here is his contact information - should one ever feel inclined to purchase one of his works. They sell quite well, I understand, from chatting with some of the other float residents.



Untitled...a radiator grill with a bullet hole (?) mounted on gravel and framed in wood.

Coiled anchor chain, surrounding a metal opening. All mounted on rows of verdigris tinged weathered rope.

Saw blades lined up like tree trunks with steely lumberjacks. All mounted on an undefinable background and framed in more serrated saw-blades.

A dark distorted metal opening on a bed of rusty nails.

Almost out of character, a smooth collage of various metal plates and metal fittings with a stylized mask.

To the left, something that appears like a skeletal spine, made from metal hooks and rings.

Leaping salmon on corrugated aluminum.

Detail of a coffin shaped piece of wood, half eaten by grubs. Mounted on it are obituaries of well known and well loved local residents. Pitted black metal backs the newspaper clippings.

Most of the sculptures HAD titles. Those little bits of white cardboard, revealing their secrets, tend to blow away in the first wind and leave the visitor guessing...

After the Snow

I could not resist capturing the very same country lane I had previously photographed when it was shrouded in fog. Here it is with slushy remnants of aging snow under a wintry afternoon sky

Dozens of bald headed eagles gather in the treetops along Cowichan River. Far below their yellow eyes, their murderous beaks and grasping talons runs the river where a decomposing mass of salmon cadavers provides the last abundant feast. Slowly ice slivers will cover the water and soon the river will cleanse itself again.

A few steps from the river, a low elevation takes one to the the height of the eagle's eye: to the east spreads out shallow Cowichan Bay, bordered by flat marshland. Flocks of swans take up seasonal residence here.

To the west, a small church...

Long gone worshippers had built their centre of devotion here, rock by rock. Gothic windows no longer filter light through leaded glass, and heavy wooden doors have lit up fireplaces in the neighbourhood. The tiled roof still keeps most of the elements out, but the yawning cavities in the rocky walls invite them - and others - to enter unhindered....

...and leave destruction....or creation?

In the beginning there was the Word, and the word was Graffiti...

21 November 2011 - Colour in winter

Winter-Blues....maybe winter hues instead.
This is a little watercolour study of a couple of young girls dressed in their show-off best, whom I saw on distant Fanning Island in the South Pacific.

20 November 2010 - First Snow

First peek out of the window - no driveway to be seen. Second peek to the radio clock - no electric power to be had.
Ok, no hot coffee to start the day either, instead one faces a couple of hours of shovelling wet snow.
If this is not an incentive to contemplate an escape to the South, what is?


The lovely view towards the ocean has turned into a lovely view of my crooked wannabe Christmas tree. Every time is snows heavily, I am afraid that it will topple downhill, as the base of the trunk is at a precarious angle, and snowy top heaviness may be the demise of this tall and bent senior citizen of tree-hood.


A Junkie contemplating where to hide next


A confused Robin eyeing the situation for potential edibles


Power back on - after I finished shovelling snow. Take advantage of it, and prepare a hot breakfast, hot coffee, hot water, hot everything.

Goldstream Park, just north of Victoria, at the beginning of the Malahat Drive and the end of Saanich Inlet.

A sanctuary with giant trees, a clear stream, a couple of rapids and the other version of 'Niagara Falls'; it is a hiker's and picnicer's choice destination during any season.

The annual fall pilgrimage to Goldstream Park continues despite drizzle, cold, fog and a threat of snow. Why come here? Chinook Salmon make their way upstream to spawn - and subsequently die. Gulls, mink, racoon, the odd bear and eagles congregate around the stream, where decaying salmon cadavers provide plentyful feed for all of them.

Having given their all when alive to next years new salmon crop, they now offer their spent bodies to other creatures.

This year, the expected 20,000 fish did not turn up in such great numbers. So far only 5,000 or so found their birthplace, cleaned a sandy place in the gravelly riverbed, laid and buried their eggs, and defended their 'nest' until they died.

Screaming gulls pounce, as soon as the fish is too weak to flee, eat the unprotected eyes first, then wait, until the tough hide of the dead fish softens sufficiently to be ripped open to get at the underlying flesh.

United in their watery grave....

Fall in British Columbia - in watercolour

Foggy Field in Cowichan Valley

Fall 2010 in British Columbia

Autumnal British Columbia - after tropical heat, palm trees, spewing volcanoes, trade winds, atolls, Polynesian song, colourful blooms and coral fish - it takes a little adjustment.

Rain and fog seem to be the dominating weather pattern, with a couple of sunny but cool days thrown in for variety.

Amongst the permanent greenery of firs, pines etc, the odd Maple...

.....splashes a spot of colour into the gray green landscape.

The underbrush has lost it's foliage...

Paths disappear into layers of fog....

Crows guard lonely outposts....

Fall storms wash trunks and roots ashore...

.

Children and dogs explore the horizontal forest.....

Shannon Falls on the Sea to Sky Highway running along the shore of Howe Sound.

Snug in Squamish Harbour