Airstream View, White Tail Drive
Airstream View, White Tail Drive - 36 X 48 - Acrylic on Canvas
When I was a kid, around 11 years old we had ultra basic cable with something like thirteen channels. For a brief period, there was this family show that aired on CBS right before Touched By An Angel on Sunday nights called The Promise Land. It told the storey of a family traveling around America on a spiritual journey while living in airstream trailer. Much like Touched By An Angel, it had a wholesome religious flavour to it and was filled with hearty life lessons as the family helped out others as they moved from town to town.
Despite the Budweiser infused chaos and dysfunction in my family, we would gather to watch this show on Sunday nights. I don’t think there were any ulterior motives to my mom putting this show on other than she tired of hearing my father blast The Great Escape or In Harm’s Way ad nauseam. We were not a practicing religious family; my father claimed to believe in nothing, but my mother never discouraged us from exploring the various religious or spiritual avenues that presented themselves to us kids.
I don’t really remember the specific details of the episodes, or the valuable life lessons each one brought, or even what the cast looked like. The only thing that kept me interested in the show for that brief period in time was the airstream trailer the family lived in. I was enamoured with the concept; TV dad looses job, packs up entire family into a beautiful shiny silver canister on wheels and hits the road driving around the country. My own father was out of work often, we didn’t really go on vacations, and camping was limited to the backyard, until we had a cougar come through the yard. I had never seen anything like an airstream trailer, I thought it looked like a retro spaceship on wheels. Camping, but for the Jetsons. In my 11 year old brain, packing up into an airstream trailer and driving around Canada seemed like a great solution to all of our problems. Plus living in an airstream trailer sounded way more fun than our little house on the hill.
Ever since watching that show, I have had a fascination with airstream trailers and Volkswagen camper vans. My heart skips a beat when I pass one on the road. I love the cute little cabinets and compartments to store the right amount of kitchenware, toiletries and blankets. As an up and coming hoarder (my dress collection clocks in at over 120 and counting), I admire the idea of living minimally and on your own terms. To wake up somewhere new and not have to be chained down by rent and a brick & mortar job. One of my dreams is to travel own a camper van and travel along the Oregon Coast to Mexico, as well as drive across Canada.
When Dave approached me to do a painting of his airstream trailer, I leaped at the opportunity and told all my friends about this super rad commission I had coming up. He sent me an entire album of trailer photos, inside and out - giving me so much material to work with. I was completely captivated. I loved the colourful paisley curtains, the cute cooktop stove, stainless steel sink and beautiful metal finish on the interior ceiling. Also included were a couple landscape shots of Kelowna from Ellison overlooking the city towards the lake. Much like the Summerhill Winery painting I created this year, I was really excited about painting Kelowna from a different perspective and doing another full landscape piece. Ellison is a really beautiful agricultural area of Kelowna, and driving along the rolling hill of Anderson Road is a lot of fun on a sunny afternoon. The vibe of the neighbourhood is a lot calmer and gentler in comparison to the hustle and bustle of Kelowna’s city centre.
While working on this painting, I fell in love with Golden’s Heavy Body Smalt Hue and worked that throughout the sky and mountains. I also experimented with a satin gloss medium building up thin translucent coats of colour which I think gives the piece a special depth. For the sky, I added layers of pinks, corals, purples and gold with my palette knife and blended with my fingers.
Throughout the course of the painting, Dave would email me every so often asking to add little items, a guitar, his skateboard, deer, a white horse, llamas, a scrabble board, and a cowboy hat. I did a lot of reminiscing of past camping trips I had been on while I outlined this painting, so I added in things like smokies, chips, and all the fixings for s’mores.
Around the campsite you’ll notice chunks of rose quartz and amethyst scattered around. A friend of mine passed away suddenly while I was working on this piece. Cara was obsessed with crystals and geology. She had a very large collection of crystals and routinely shared photos online of the most unique and beautiful stones. The stones represent Cara as well as my friends Brittany, Ashley and Sarah who I have known for a lifetime now and I know are mourning the loss of Cara deeply.
I had such a wonderful time creating this piece and have find I really enjoying throwing myself into large landscapes. I would love to do a series one day of VW camper vans (or more Airstreams!) set in beautiful scenes around Canada. From the territories, across the Rocky Mountains, over the golden prairies through to the rolling cottage hills of Ontario to the Maritimes. I may not be in the position to load up a van and take off exploring for a couple months right now, but that doesn’t mean I can’t explore Canada by way of acrylic paint. I basically teleport myself back into the summer and get completely lost in street scenes and vineyards when I work on vibrant colourful paintings over the winter months. A cross country landscape series would really be no different. Canada’s landscape is vast and beautiful, each province offering something unique. Even within British Columbia, there is so much to take in visually. I recently did a round road trip up to Burns Lake and was in awe of how much British Columbia’s landscape changes in any given direction as the rivers curve through the mountains. We truly live in such a beautiful place and I want to paint more of it.
Playlist
Music selected from this playlist were new tunes and old favourites I rediscovered while creating this piece.
Norma Tanega - You’re Dead
In The Country - La Luz
Over Everything - Kurt Vile and Corny Barnett
Castles Made of Sand - Jimi Hendrix
Tornado ’87 - Rural Alberta Advantage
Sex Beat - The Gun Club
Parallel Universe - Red hot Child Peppers
Cohesion - Minute Men
Eight Miles High - The Byrds
From the Sun - Unknown Mortal Orchestra
Man of the World - Fleetwood Mac
I Found a Reason - The Velvet Underground
Piano Fire - Sparkle Horse
Mother Nature’s Son - The Beatles
Savior - Red Hot Chilli Peppers
Friendly Aliens - Chad Van Gaalen
