Memorable Ports and Ocean Voyages
Creating requires inspiration. Inspiration requires experiences. It’s been a tough year for experiences. I think it’s safe to say that most of us are short on experiences and adventure lately. Having summer to adventure and fill that creative well is a luxury that I truly feel blessed to have in my life. Last summer felt like it was destined to be pretty bleak…until Captain Lou hatched a birthday plan! Aboard The Beauty Day we had adventures (one hairy crossing that will live in memory forever, and is a source of so much giggling when we are all together), great food, lazy days, nights of dancing and being ridiculous and, for me, the experiences that I need to call up later for creating. Perfection!
I am lucky to live in a beautiful and inspiring province, close to the ocean, mountains and nature. And, though Covid has kept us close to home the past year, I have had great times with my bubble beauties. One of last summer’s best weeks was one away on a boating trip with some beautiful women that I am lucky to have as friends. I took a lot of photos and took inspiration from so many beautiful anchors and ports of call.
Captain Lou wanted to celebrate her birthday aboard her second home, Beauty Day, and invited our bubble group aboard for a week of ocean travel and local stops, culminating in an onboard dinner party celebration at Montague Harbour, on Galliano Island. I have to say, after four months of fear and lockdown, it was heaven to be away in the fresh salt air, sharing food, laughter and good times with such an adventurous group. The sky and water were so inspirational and I spent several afternoons doing small watercolor sketches to bring home to use on larger studio works over the winter.
I love city life but isn’t it lovely to be in a place, away from everything, just for a little while? Silence, surrounded by nature, the waves rocking us to sleep at night and the sound of birds and the smell of fresh brewed coffee and salt air waking us each morning. Paradise. Honestly, I had a few fantasy moments of buying a boat and sailing the world, me and my cat…I could see him as a little pirate! The realities of boat life made me put that little fantasy away, tucked it in my back pocket…all I needed were a few crazy mooring moments (How do you catch a mooring ball? What do you mean, I have to jump off and grab that rope?) to put that little dream on the back burner.
Maybe I’m not a natural sailor or boater (there goes my dream of being a pirate) but seeing the world, my world, from the water, certainly changed my perspective about my tiny piece of the planet. Seeing the Sea to Sky Highway from the water made me realize just how epic this mountain highway really is, I had no idea, it’s not what you see from the bus or car on the way up to Whistler. And I certainly think that the rise and setting of the sun is just that little bit extra special from the water, aboard a boat, with great friends and a cold glass of beer!
Either way, I’m grateful for having good friends and the ability to shake off the mundane and have adventures, even if they’re close to home, in my own backyard. I am glad to be a Vancouver girl, born and raised. It is a place that never loses it’s charm for me. There is always something new to see and experience, you just have to change your vantage point. I guess that’s really the thing about creativity, my mom used to say, “A change is as good as a rest”. Traveling about Beauty Day with Captain Lou gave me a change and the rest that I needed and helped to fill the well for another season.
