Watercolor Gallery    

This is a fairly old piece but is included here because it is the first of my art pieces reproduced as a limited edition. I completed the painting during a few short weeks of summer leave during my university years. The arctic gyrfalcon may be found in one of several different colour morphs. As this one is white, it is often confused for a snowy owl. To those who make the mistake, I point out that owls are more round in shape and that the snowy owl has larger yellow eyes, a nearly hidden black beak and feathered toes.

This image represents one of the truly spectacular views to be had in the Cariboo/Chilcotin region of BC. I've been here many times and it's still one of my favourite places. A short hike puts you more than 1300 feet directly above the mighty Fraser River, just south of the Sheep Creek bridge (barely visible). Here pigeons flutter in and out of sink-holes and caves in the cliff-face and one is tempted to throw a stone and count the seconds before its clattering sound returns from the rocky edge of the Fraser far below.

This view of the Chilcoten River is one I've enjoyed many times. In fact, it is so unique that I consider it an essential experience for anyone wishing to say they saw the Chilcoten/Cariboo. As a result, I have dragged many weary, thirsty friends from all over the world to the top of this partucular dune above Farwell Canyon. My Norwegian wife is one, and she was rather indignant that when I painted this, I ommitted her (her bikini-clad figure was front and center in the photo). This painting is meant to complement the former (Fraser Lookout).

Painted from three photos of the same swallow as it sat on a wire in front of my grandfather's place in Sardis, this captured, I thought, a moment in the birds' lives which seemed identical to our own lunch-break. I only wonder what their lunch-time conversation consists of? These little guys are quite beautiful with an iridescent violet rump and tail, and metallic green back and nape. A frustration with this painting is the optical illusion created by the curvature of the birds' wings. It makes the straight wire look like it's not level. I've measured over and over again - it is.

I took a drive around Kristiansand last fall during one of our spectacular autumn days and took a couple of rolls of film with mostly macro images of leaves etc. This photo wasn't as captivating as some others, but immediately caught my attention because I thought it lent itself very nicely to a watercolour. I especially enjoy the way the light plays on the leaves to create an overall image which is much more than just 4 maple-leaves. This is the first piece I completed in my new studio here in Norway.

When fall arrives I become eager to get out and do as much photography as possible; the colours don't always last long, and you never know when a particular subject might catch your eye and not be the same the next day. With so much rain though, sometimes I don't get much opportunity to take those photos. In this case it was raining and a maple leaf that seemed to have done its very best to hold on to every possible colour caught my eye from the puddle-covered pavement. I picked it up and took it to my studio where I simply sat it on my white countertop and painted it - hence the white background.