Classic Boat Festival’s Artists Aboard Program Highlights

I’ve always been interested in boats and boating. I learned to sail at RVYC at age 12, and kept a small sailboat there for a couple of years. I’m fortunate to have friends who are involved in the Classic Boat Show and have visited their boats at the show many times over the years. 

When I did my MA in Drawing at Camberwell College of Art, London, my subject was the Thames. I took my inflatable kayak onto the upper reaches of the river and photographed some of the boats and boatyards from my kayak, to get a water-borne perspective. I made a number of drawings of these boats in graphite, enjoying their muscular practical shapes, the ropes and rigging, and their reflections in the water.  

I moved on to make a series of charcoal drawings of the surface of the river waters,  and the wild riverside verges. 

Growing up in Kent, England, coastal archaeology and maritime heritage are inescapable; they become part of your DNA. A life-long interest in naval and military history became a career; first as an architect with English Heritage and, latterly in Canada, as a heritage planner and building conservator. These days, I enjoy painting maritime scenes in acrylic and have a growing portfolio of maritime heritage-related subjects. 

I am a plein air artist working in oils and I paint on location twice a week with two plein air groups on and around the Victoria area. Although I am inspired by our landscape I am most drawn to the beautiful lines and shapes of a variety of boats. Whether they be classic sailboats, tugboats, fishing trollers and even freighters, if there is a boat of any description in sight it will surely be the focal point of my painting. With the use of colour, texture and interesting mark making, my hope is that the vessel in my painting tells a story to the viewer.

It is my goal to paint all the tugboats on the West Coast of BC. I came up with the idea 3 years ago. I wanted to raise awareness of the importance and significance of our Nautical History, as I hoped, in some way, this project would do. And it has. I have been totally overwhelmed at the response i have gotten. There are over 550 tugboats working on our coast right now. I have also included many heritage boats. I have completed 80 paintings so far. This project is a collaboration of the many mariners and tugboat photographers who submit their photos for me to use with their permission. It is my dream to one day put a book together with the photos/paintings and stories from all the mariners and marine photographers of BC.