Painters and Hikers at Lake O'Hara

Classic Lake O'Hara from Sargent's Point

Anyone who has ever been to Lake O'Hara will share my sentiment that, magically, one never tires of it. In the Canadian Rockies it's the biggest bang for your buck with numerous, satellite, alpine lakes, all equally gorgeous and close enough to easily hike to many of them in a single day. 

From September 5th to 8th, 2016, Bill and I joined another back country excursion arranged by Patti Dyment. Ten of us spent three nights in the Alpine Club of Canada's Elizabeth Parker Hut. Most of us bunked in the smaller cabin, the Wiwaxy Hut.

Elizabeth Parker Hut, left, Wiwaxy Hut is on the right (internet image)

Hut accommodations are self catering and rustic, although the kitchen is outfitted with all you need, including propane hotplates and a full sized stove with an oven. If you aren't into outdoor, pit toilets and sleeping on a continuous bunk, next to people you don't know, this is not for you.
  

Sharon, Patti, Grant, Gwen, Jan, Dave, Alice, Bill, Sharon and Meg in the common area of the Elizabeth Parker

For many, Lake O'Hara Lodge is cost prohibitive, plus securing reservations isn't easy. They have their own stylish bus to transport you to and from the lodge/lake whereas hut and campground guests travel via old school buses. The Alpine Club of Canada's Elizabeth Parker Hut holds a maximum of 24 people and booking a stay is done, months in advance, by lottery. The third accommodation option is a 30 site campground which is usually booked out by 10am every summer morning. You can, and many do, just travel into the area as day trippers. Parks Canada recognizes the fragility of the landscape and limits access to the region via buses which have to be booked in advance. Numbers are restricted by the capacity of two school buses going in four times a day. Anyone wishing to trek the 11km access road (no private vehicles are permitted) before hitting Lake O'Hara itself and the sublime scenery beyond, is welcome to walk in.

In our group, the keeners who arrived on the 8:30am bus, were already hard at work when we arrived on the 10:30am bus ...

Jan and Patti 

When I'm at Lake O'Hara hiking is every bit as important as painting. My left hip needs replacing. Just prior to this trip, I had a cortisone shot that enabled me do two hikes which I wouldn't have been able to negotiate otherwise. The weather forecast was not favourable so, that first afternoon, while there were some patches of blue sky, a few of us hit the trail to Lake McArthur ...

Meg, with the dramatic Wiwaxy Peaks beyond.  To the right you can just see the shore of Schaffer Lake  

Schaffer Lake

McArthur and Mount Biddle when we first arrived

Minutes later it turned to this (thanks to Meg for this image).  We barely had enough time to take a few photos before ...

... those threatening clouds spilled over the mountain with ominous threats 

While we had hoped to be able to stay longer, Mother Nature had her own idea letting us know, once again, how she rules and that weather in the mountains can change in a heartbeat.

Dave and Meg hustling away from Lake McArthur, which you can just barely see in the background 

Descending the tricky bit from Lake McArthur in a full on squall

Janet and Tom Novotny, of Chicago, are so in love with the Canadian Rockies they've been vacationing here every year since 1983. I'm sure stranger things have happened but even so what are the odds that they would be back at Lake O'Hara at precisely the same time as us, in both 2015 and 2016? More O'Hara magic. You can't help but embrace their enthusiasm, plus they robustly join in on our hootenannies!    

With Janet and Tom

As already mentioned the hut holds 24 people and we were only 10 this time. Still we hope the others will join in on our fun when we burst into song. Yes, we inflict our singing on whoever else is in residence and we aren't deterred if they're not inclined to sing along, but we are mindful of lights out/quiet time.  

Sharon, Dave, Patti, Grant, Janet and Meg

September 6th, I'm all smiles at the start of my painting at Sargent's Point

I'm grateful for the many times I've spent at O'Hara under glorious, sunny skies, but on this particular trip the weather was quite ghastly. As the sky got darker it became more and more difficult for me to see my painting and what I was doing under the umbrella, which is intended to block the sun. I was cold, wet and generally cranky with how my painting was going, so I wiped off what you see here ...   

Now you see it and then no you don't - it's gone!

Of course Grant just painted on and created another absolute jewel ...

  

Grant working on his Sargent's Point painting

Gwen Day also stuck it out painting in the raw elements

September 7th brought more unsettled weather. Hiking seemed preferable to standing still painting so, Meg, Bill and I chose the latter and wandered up onto the Opabin Plateau ...

Bill on the Lodge's boat dock before heading up the West Opabin Trail

On the West Opabin Trail looking down on Mary Lake with Lake O'Hara beyond

Bill and the pools of Opabin Plateau with the WiWaxy Peaks in the background 

Alice and Meg on Opabin Plateau where the larches had begun to turn  

This is the sheer, raw beauty of Opabin Lake and Opabin Pass where one feels awfully small

I was thrilled to have made it to Opabin Lake

Our last morning, September 8th, dawned dismal with no prospect of the weather improving. Most everyone was weary of being soggy and cold. Several of us opted to take the first bus out at 9:30am. This is the transportation up and down the access road to Lake O'Hara ...

Tom, Sharon, Janet, Patti, Alice, Meg and Bill

On the ride down, we laughed as we recounted another incredible time together despite the weather because even in bad weather it's a most wonderful place to be. At the parking lot we bid one another farewell and happy trails, until we meet again.

Grassi Lakes, My Spiritual Place

Upper Grassi Lake, May 9th, 2016

It's easy to be smitten with Grassi Lakes. The mountain jewels are nestled in a gap between Ha Ling Peak and Rundle Range. There, in 1990, above our then home in Canmore, Alberta, after exclusively painting only indoors - for twenty-five years - I ventured forth to create my very first plein air painting ... 
    

Grassi Lakes #1 MYSTERIOUS DEPTHS   12" x 16" oil on masonite completed in three hours, September 26th, 1990

The abstractness of Mysterious Depths disturbed me. It's simplicity looked like child's play so I hid it away in a closest. It was eighteen months before I found the courage to paint on site again.

Meanwhile, retreating to the studio, I painted Lady of the Lake (aka Margaret Discovers Alice Lake) featuring Maggie Ecclestone (at the Lower Lake) for the juried exhibition Return to Exceptional Pass hosted by and held at The Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies (Banff) in January and February 1992. 

LADY OF THE LAKE (Maggie Ecclestone) 1991 studio oil on canvas 24" x 40"

After I had faced my fear of plein air painting I went out often, returning to Grassi Lakes a number of times which resulted in a series of 13 oils painted in 1992 and 1993. 

When working on site I simply don't have time to fuss with details. Plein air painting enabled me to let go of my obsessive realism. The new approach carried over into my studio work as well - it too became more painterly.

Painting on the shore of the Upper Lake August 4th,1992



Grassi Lakes #8 WHERE ROCKS MEET WATER   oil on canvas 12" x 16"   September 2nd, 1992

Grassi Lakes #11 SPRING AT GRASSI  oil on canvas 16" x 12"   May 9th, 1993

Painting the Upper Lake from the gully, August 27, 1992

Grassi Lakes #6 FROM THE GULLY  oil on canvas 16x12   August 27, 1992

Often I was joined by other artists but my most regular companion was Zelda Nelson (1943 - 2015). Below is the painting of a tree stump by the Upper Lake that she gave me ...

  

"WANAGI" - soul, ghost, spirit - watercolour 1992  5x6.25 by Zelda (who was Zelda Henricks at the time) 

FIREWEED AT GRASSI LAKES   1994 studio watercolour 7" x 10"   collection of Mary Shilabeer and Tom Matier


My favourite vantage point of the Upper Lake is captured in the small watercolour above. It begged to be painted larger and so in the spring of 1995, I used it as the study for a 4 x 6 foot canvas ...

    

FIREWEED AT GRASSI  in progress   4 x 6 foot oil on canvas  April 1995



My studio at home was too small to accommodate such a large canvas so I approached the Canmore Artists and Artisans Guild about using their gallery space weekdays - because it was only open at weekends. Fridays, I'd move the large canvas behind the wall (above) and reinstall whatever art was part of the current exhibition. I really don't recall why I put the painting on hold for so many months but I was motivated to finish it for my solo exhibition Saltiel, Routes Without Limits which showed at The Whyte Museum, Banff from September to November 1997. To this day I still enjoy the curator's written description about the style which emerged as a result of plein air painting "... subsequent paintings continued this distraction of abstraction."

FIREWEED AT GRASSI LAKES   1997 oil on canvas   4 x 6 feet   collection of Carol and Gord Godfrey 

Beyond the plein air series and into this century I painted several more Grassi Lakes paintings. Although it's been a number of years since my last (below) I'm certain I'll paint them again.

 

GRASSI IN APRIL #25   2007 oil on panel    12" x 24"  collection of Susan Dorion and Jim Wilker



A little about why Grassi Lakes is my spiritual place. At a time when things were rocky in my life, I sought an outdoor place where I could have solitude. Somewhere beautiful. Somewhere that was quiet and easy to reach. Somewhere that I could meditate. To be there alone was possible then, but today it's such a busy place that at almost anytime of day, any day of the week it is overrun with people.  Weekends are simply impossible. In 1993, before coffee or breakfast I power walked the 2.2 kms up to, spent twenty minutes at and power walked back down for 41 consecutive days. The only reason my ritual was interrupted was because of a painting expedition.

Getting into position at the mouth of the shallow cave above the Upper Lake May 9, 2016

In my happy place, May 9, 2016



View, of the Upper Lake looking down from the mouth of the cave, May 9, 2016 

View looking up to Ha Ling Peak from my perch in the cave, May 9, 2016

  

A Great Horned owl returns each spring to nest in the higher cave.  Happy to see her, but her young were not visible on May 9, 2016

Visiting the lakes wasn't always about painting or meditation. Many friends and family have been there with me enjoying picnics and fun times. In 1993 I began a circle of stones which I recessed into the earth to make them flush with the surface. Over time, I added other stones. This was my way of honouring all who had accompanied me there both in reality and in spirit. The circle is next to an uprooted, decomposing tree root where the water rushes between the two lakes. Today it is so overgrown that even I can't find it but I know it is still there buried in nature and in time. 

My circle of stones July 9, 1996

My circle of stones identified

We don't live in Canmore now and it's often weekends when we visit. However, last Monday, following an unseasonably sunny and hot weekend (which, I have been told, saw outrageous traffic at Grassi Lakes) it dawned overcast, snowy and cold. At 8:30am Bill and I went to the lakes anyway. It was a sublime gift to find only one car at the trail head parking lot and nobody at the lakes. It wasn't until we were about to depart the lakes that we saw another couple arriving. Coming down the trail we met a number of people hiking up. 

I am most grateful for this recent visit, it was a most precious gift of divine intervention.

Painting in Victoria

All will agree that there is no shortage of beauty in Victoria, especially in the springtime. For a plein air painter it's bursting with locations and subjects. The first place I wanted to return to paint at was Beacon Hill Park. In my mind's eye this tree looked for all the world like those in Autumn Hillside painted by Group of Seven artist, Franklin Carmichael.  Maybe not! 

February 25th, 2016

It proved to be a much larger challenge than I imagined possible. At the end of the two hours (I painted between 10 and noon) the light had changed so significantly that the tree was completely in shadow. I simply had to quit. 

A week or so later, in our vacation rental and armed with a photo of the scene, I took it on again working it further ...

My Carmichael tree 12" x 16" -  remains still mostly unresolved!

It wasn't always nice enough outdoors (yes I can be a fair weather painter) so some days my good buddy Sharlene and I painted in her studio. Bless her for letting me move in and take over half or more of her space.

Here Sharlene is developing a massive background while I start a painting featuring a cherry tree

 Cherry tree with blossoms just beginning to unfold, close up and personal  oil 12" x 16"

There is a group of painters in Victoria called the Al Frescoes. Every Friday morning any number of them trundle off to a prearranged location. On February 26th many folks painted strictly the sea and the sky, but this former mountain gal had to find some rock to anchor my painting ...

I was overwhelmed by the number who came out (around 30 artists) to Saxe Point Park, Esquimalt. At noon they assemble for 'show and tell' ...

 

Ken Faulks and the masses at the Al Frescoes 'show and tell'

I was amazed that I finished this one on site - SAXE POINT  oil 9" x 12"  (and yes I've yet to sign it)

The following Friday, March 4th, the Al Frescoes painted in Chinatown. While others chose street scenes and buildings, I opted to paint the dragon outside of the Mountain Equipment Coop.

In two and a half hours all I was able to finish was this umber drawing, painted on with a brush in oil ...



The non-red dragon oil 12" x 16"

Someday, maybe, I'll finish the painting so that it will have the red I was so keen to paint!

That same afternoon, after freezing my legs and feet to my very bones by standing on cold pavement in Chinatown, we were still on some kind of painting high, so we retreated to Sharlene's studio ...

You can see that we hardly have any fun at all working together

Afternoon results, another half baked painting, a peony in acrylic this time



Sharlene and I had one more studio day at her place on March 11th. This time we painted parrot tulips from life. You ought to have heard the complaining about how the blossoms opened and changed so much while we were painting them! I mean how dare they?



For my tulip painting Sharlene gave me a canvas on which she had already painted the background. It may be signed but I'm not convinced that this one is finished either ...



OPENING  oil on an acrylic background 12" x 12"

On March 15th, Sharlene and I both went Gelli plate printing in Brentwood bay at Arlene's studio. I've worked with Win making Gelli prints, but it's always fascinating to observe how another artist works in the same medium. Sharlene hadn't Gelli printed before and grasped the process like an A-student. I have to confess that I wasn't on my game that day and yet it was still a most pleasurable time.

Arlene and Sharlene. You try keeping their names straight, I often can't!

Yours truly pulling a Gelli plate print

There was one final painting day, March 19th. This one with and in the studio of Sharlene's friend, Marcela. Everyone worked away on their own creation. It pleased me that Marcela allowed me to work from a painting she had done which employed a new-to-me technique.

Happy painters in Marcela's studio

Marcela surrounded by her colourful oil paintings

The wild and wonderful oil painting above, unfinished as it may be, vibrates with exciting energy. It was a fine way for me to wind up the painting part of our six week stay in Victoria. Huge thanks to my painter pals for indulging me and making me feel so welcome.