The West Coast Trail is one of the best-known hiking trails in Canada. It covers 75km through some of the toughest and most beautiful terrain in British Columbia’s coastal rainforest. In my twenties, I was privileged to hike the trail twice. While I was impressed with the rugged beauty along the entire trail, I was particularly awed by the rock formations near Carmanah Point. Those hikes inspired this drawing, my attempt to capture this truly unique coastal formation.

The drive through British Columbia’s Nicola Valley is especially beautiful. As an avid BC history buff, I absolutely love the old barns that abound along this route. The dry climate has preserved them far longer than in other areas of British Columbia. It’s one of my goals to get out on that road sometime soon to see if this old barn is still standing.

The King Road barn is a rarity with its split level design. It was situated on a steep hillside which allowed this building style. Sadly, this barn has long since disappeared.

My passion for steam equipment was piqued when I came across this old steam powered iron horse. As I recall, it was located on the southern end of Vancouver Island.

This McCormic tractor dates back to the 1920’s or 30’s. It was especially interesting to me because of its mismatched front wheels, an obvious homemade repair, made to keep it in service. It had clearly been parked for some time but I still wonder if, with a little coaxing, it could be fired up one more time.

This early 1950’s Dodge truck has seen some hard miles and been modified to perform its heavy chores. It obviously failed at some point and whoever towed it to its final rest neglected to take the time to hook it up properly, instead wrapping the cable under the grill work. She ain’t what she used to be sums things up nicely.

This heavy duty truck has been converted to handle towing duties. Every square inch of the truck’s surface was covered with rust, save for the bright chrome work of the grill and trim. I painted the original using acrylics on canvas.

We converted a Radio Flier wagon into a go kart for our kids. They dubbed the speeder 'the Tornado'. I did a whole series of drawings of the kids and the wagon. A Chemainus policeman, Constable O'holleran, was generous enough to pose with the kids for this picture. I remember him as a kind man who took this sort of approach to community policing. In fact, I was fortunate enough to get my own friendly reminder from him, rather than a written citation, when he caught me speeding through town one day.

I found this boat languishing along the Fraser River as I searched for fishing boats to draw. It was in pretty rough shape but still beautiful, half submerged in the slough.

This barn was located in the Kelowna area. Civilization encroached onto this farm long ago and it was demolished to make way for a shopping mall shortly after I captured it in pen and ink.

The Townline Road barn was found close to home when we lived in Clearbrook back in the late 1970’s. It didn’t remain standing for long as the roof was already deteriorating and windows were missing. Once the weather gets inside these structures, they aren’t long for this world.

These two pen and ink drawings were done after one of my hikes over the rugged West Coast Trail. The landscape along this stretch of the west coast of Vancouver Island is both surreal and beautiful. Even after all the passing of time, I clearly remember the beautiful views when the sun shone and the absolute misery of a grey, cold and wet day.

I did many original drawings and limited edition prints of aircraft in the 1980’s. I have split vision (no depth perception) and am not allowed to get a pilot’s licence, but that hasn’t diminished my love for aviation. I have many connections in the aviation industry which has allowed me special access to restricted areas normally out of bounds to the general public. I took advantage of these opportunities to get some great photos of planes. This CP Air DC10 landing was based on some of those pictures.

The Boeing 737 is one of the most popular commercial planes in the world. CP Air acquired their eighth 737 in 1979. The paint on this plane was practically still wet when I drew it. I remember clearly how noisy it was as the plane took off — I was huddled beside the runway as the plane launched overhead. The reference pictures for this drawing were taken with a norma lens at VERY close range.

This Lockheed L-100 Hercules turboprop freighter was used by Pacific Western Airlines to carry freight in the arctic during the winter and during the summer months it was flown in warmer climes.