Inspiration
Friends of Shoal Harbour operate at the intersection of natural history, environmental advocacy, and municipal politics, rationally but persuasively, we hope. But what nourishes these endeavours, fleshing out their desiccated bones, is a depth of feeling shared by all of us but perhaps best expressed by the artists (writers, visual artists, photographers) among us (and there are many).
One Wild Thing
Patrick Lane
Let there be the comfort of silence between you,
the consolation of hands in the hour of the candles.
Their songs will find you, the frog in the arms of the moon,
the herons at dawn as they bend to the nest,
and the hummingbirds’ wings at the stoop of their fall.
Let there be eagles and owls and the vanishing of quail.
Let beetles make their thin music among stones.
There are many stories, a single tale, a whisper.
It begins with the cedars, the wind at rest.
Surely you are one dance, one wild thing.
Cry softly. Your song is the dove who mourns,
the wren in her hiding, the mole in his tunnel of grass.
But always let there be silence between you,
the consolation of hands in the hour of the candle
North Saanich Artist Keith Levang
I have spent my life on the Canadian westcoast and the natural beauty inspires me to capture on canvas the seascapes & landscapes. The ever changing weather conditions bounce light, shadows and reflections around, challenging me to catch a specific mood or moment in time.
I aim to relate a representational look to my paintings minus the finer details found in a photographic image. Fortunately, I can paint year round with a plein air painting group or in my studio. There is generous access to the shorelines of Vancouver Island and this has given me an unlimited visual choice of images to record.
It is my good fortune to live in a community of people who appreciate and preserve the environment in a relatively natural state. Between the natural elements of our coastal landscape, combined with unpredicable weather conditions, I can paint the same scene several times, each image producing a different mood, shoreline contours or colour combinations.
I display my artwork in a number of local exhibits; participate in studio tours, arts events and plein air demonstrations. I also teach some painting classes throughout the year.
Keith Levang http://www.keithlevang.ca/
