The Ocean, Early Art Depicting The Sublime Reality Of Man "In Concert" With Ocean.

SalishSeaNior

SalishSeaNior

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Okanagan Valley, Canada
Many folk on this forum are hard core, culturally immersed, modern kayak adventurers. This forum provides, lore, expertise, trip reports and advice for those of us who paddle the oceans like no other resource.

However, it struck me today while looking at the artworks below, works that resonate with me, and my passion for paddling adventures, that there are others, artists, masters, who experience and express feelings similar to my own, about the kayak and ocean voyaging. They do so in a way that is sublime and to me at least, inexplicable. Where do these images come from? I do not expect that the artists have actually experienced the conditions they paint, yet they can take me to the most intense moments of fear and excitement that I have myself experienced in more than 40 years of kayaking on the Northwest Coast. The works below are some of the most incredible portrayals of man at sea in small boats that I can imagine:

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Hokusai, wood block print: "Boat Fighting With Waves" circa 1803, an early work by the great Japanese master, who's most well known work is "The Great Wave".

The next two images, are by an unknown artist, probably Scandinavian, that were taken at the home of an acquaintance a year or two back. The signature on the second appears to be "Chitendon", but I cannot find an image of the work on the "WWW" even with A.I. search assist. The currator's Grandfather was a Newfoundlander and it is thought that they were both acquired while he was in Greenland in the early 20th century. So no artist, and no name for the works. I have done a web search for both works and the Chetendon name, and not solved the enigma of these works. It is a mystery!

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I have an intense interest in human nature, the human condition, the human psyche and in consciousness. These works seem to me to be almost magical, surreal, and inexplicable. If the artist has not experienced the reality, how can they depict it so that it resonates with such as I, who has experienced it? I have similar thoughts about kayak design, there must be something more than mere intelligence and intellect involved in the evolution of kayaks, canoes and other seemingly perfected craft. Channeling the gods, divine inspiration, being at one with "The Ground", with the Sea... It is a mystery to me, but one that makes me wonder! No belief's, no explantations, just wonder! Nature, the sea, kayaking, consciousness, all a wonder!!

Cheers, Rick
 
Well, this artist experienced it - Paul Kane 1847, 'Crossing the Straits of de Fuca - he comes to mind when I'm out there [in benign conditions, heh heh]. I like how he captures the smallness, the loneliness of being out there in conditions:

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Conditions Mick, those are indeed "conditions". I have paddled in conditions like those depicted, perhaps a wee bit bigger, only once in my kayaking life. That off the northern tip of Vancouver Island, Cape Suitl, after being beach bound for a week and making a very "bad" decision to have a go. What looked like a huge surf break on the way off the beach was welcoming on the way back into the Strandby River. The smallness, most definitely, the lonliness, that too. I had two other experienced paddlers with me, but we were alone, though we were close by, and knew it. "Teetering on the brink of madness", only yourself, your skills and your luck to get you through.

Thanks for the dramatic image and in Juan de Fuca Straight no less.

Cheers, Rick
 
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Great image Jon, is that one of your own.

The painting pictured above is an unfinished piece by my wife. She is away busy with family matters and hasn't had much time to work on it lately. But I am hoping she will take it up again over the winter. She is a paddler herself, though not a hardcore. Still, she is capturing the feeling of coastal touring quite well me thinks. I believe my old Impex Force 5 is the kayak she is using as an inspiration.

Cheers, Rick
 
SalishSeaNior said:
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Great image Jon, is that one of your own.

The painting pictured above is an unfinished piece by my wife. She is away busy with family matters and hasn't had much time to work on it lately. But I am hoping she will take it up again over the winter. She is a paddler herself, though not a hardcore. Still, she is capturing the feeling of coastal touring quite well me thinks. I believe my old Impex Force 5 is the kayak she is using as an inspiration.

Cheers, Rick
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I like your wife's work. The image that I posted is Kayak Bill's self portrait.
 
Thanks Jon, yes my wife is quite talented and I like her work very much though she does not think of herself as a painter, just someone who loves being creative.

With respect to the self portrait of Kayak Bill. I recall that he was quite well acquainted and friendly with Stuart Marshal, the artist and adventurer. So I took out my copy of the book "Painter, Paddler. The Art and Adventures of Stewart Marshal" and went looking for the image of a painting titled: "November Passage" from 1992.

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While not quite a self portrait, it is Stuart's impression of a November night when he paddled his kayak "Ahti", another work of art, from the Goose Islands to an unplanned landing near Cape Scott. The painting depicts this crossing of Queen Charlotte Sound in November 1991

The story that goes with the painting says that he had been painting on the Goose Islands and that he had launched in a big northwesterly hoping to do a fast downwinder to get to Malcolm Island in about two days. The story relates that there was a 15 foot Groundswell running as evening fell. Once he cleared the south end of Calvert Island and got out into Queen Charlotte Straight, he encountered strong outflow winds that were creating a 5 foot wind chop blowing across the huge groundswell. He became aware that the winds were blowing him West toward the northern shore of Vancouver Island. Not where he wanted to go. After 24 hours in these huge seas and in hypothremic condition, he managed to do a surf landing in Nissen Bight just east of Cape Scott. The total distance of the paddle was about 125 kms, and it took about 24 hours in the boat. He tells readers that he very nearly missed Van Isle and was contemplating his death.

Every picture tells a story don't it? And this one tells the story of the paddler that lived it. Awesome painting, awesome story.

Cheers Rick,

PS. My own epic and terrifying encounter with the biggest seas I've ever paddled in: as mentioned in my reply to Nick; was about 12 kilometers further east of Nissen Bight where we surfed into the Stranby River until we could get out on the back side of the sand bar in the estuary.
 
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I have that book and recall his account of that episode. Terrifying! Stuart and I have written letters back and forth and his descriptions of Bill are nuanced in a way that others haven't captured. Seems that Stuart always knew where Billy was.
 
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The Last Hunt, by Cape Dorset artist Pudlo Pudlat, 1993.

I saw this in a Kitsilano art gallery when I was in my early 30s, decades before I started kayaking, but something about this just called to me....not sure why; perhaps the primal nature of it? Whatever it was, I bought it on the spot and still enjoy it to this day.

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I have that book and recall his account of that episode. Terrifying! Stuart and I have written letters back and forth and his descriptions of Bill are nuanced in a way that others haven't captured. Seems that Stuart always knew where Billy was.
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Jon, I have been re-reading the biography of Stewart Marshal, now that I got it out again. The tales of his life and his art work are astounding. It seems a bit ironic to me that "Kayak Bill" is a legend in the north west coast kayaking community, but I doubt if many have heard much about Stewart. If anything, his journeys are even more epic, 1000s of kilometers from Alaska to Vancouver Island. Epic 8 month long trips living off the sea and land and painting. Long open ocean crossings in a kayak to Haida Gwaii and back, as well as offshore crossings of Queen Charlotte Sound. It would seem that he has much in common with Bill, a loner, an adventurer, an artist. But in other ways he is quite different. Educated, travelled, raised in a loving family in Montreal.

His art work is not well known even in Canada, as most of it is in private collections. Like Bill, he sold his work to help pay for trips and time out on the Coast painting. He has been compared to the Group of Seven, iconic Canadian artists who he says he admires. So, all in all, a truly unique character and artist from the BC Coast.

I found a link to a 2003 documentary about him titled Stewart Marshall Painter A Season With... Documentary (2003) Canadian Artist, Paddler. It is a very well done piece with a lot of footage of his art, and of Stewart living and painting on a trip on the coast, of his kayak Ahti ( Finnish God of the Sea and fishing ), under sail and being paddled. Worth a watch for certain.

He must be 79 or 80 now, still living in Sointula I believe. One of the articles linked below from the North Island Gazette in August 2022 says he mainly continues to work on the archive of paintings that he keeps at his studio. I wonder if he will perhaps have another exhibition. I would certainly make the journey to Sointula to see his art, especially if it were in the ambience of a pub with a draft to sip while I pondered his work.

Stewart Marshall: Artist at a turning point

The ‘Paddling Painter’ exhibits at the Whale’s Rub Pub in Sointula

Cheers, Rick
 
I saw this in a Kitsilano art gallery when I was in my early 30s, decades before I started kayaking,
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a c, I wonder perhaps if your painting was a subliminal prompt to pick up a paddle and explore the coast. I did a search of your image with Google Lens and found this link, which indicates that it is by a Cape Dorset artist by the name of Pudlo Pudlat. Thanks for posting the image.

Cheers, Rick
 
Rick [ SalishSeaNior], thanks for the 2 posts above about Stewart Marshall. The youtube documentary was very interesting: his approach, his techniques, his ability [kayak borne, etc] to get into locations and consequently show both the granular as well as the ethereal nature in and of his work.
Sort of annoyed I didn't know about him - and have got a loan of his book from the local library, so thanks.
His solitary nature and display in remote galleries, means that he isn't/wasn't well known - so his stuff will be greatly undervalued for some time.
 
Stewart is the real deal. A bit eccentric, for sure. Years back while researching Kayak Bill I tried to contact him about Bill's presence and timeframe on a certain part of the coast. I knew he was in Sointula but couldn't find him. Someone who knew him told me that Stewart didn't have a computer so no email address. I wrote him a letter addressed to General Delivery Sointula. Didn't hear back for at least 6 months. When I did get a response it was an "envelope" made of heavy art stock that he had painted. The message was on the back or inside of the envelope. Handwritten, of course. He included a couple of small prints of two paintings he had done. Pretty cool.
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mick_allen said:
Rick [ SalishSeaNior], thanks for the 2 posts above about Stewart Marshall. The youtube documentary was very interesting: his approach, his techniques, his ability [kayak borne, etc] to get into locations and consequently show both the granular as well as the ethereal nature in and of his work.
Sort of annoyed I didn't know about him - and have got a loan of his book from the local library, so thanks.
His solitary nature and display in remote galleries, means that he isn't/wasn't well known - so his stuff will be greatly undervalued for some time.
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Hi Mick

Glad to get Mr. Marshall more widely known in the paddling community. I think you will very much enjoy the book and the artwork it contains, most pieces of which are said to be in private collections. The works in the book are as close to public access as we are likely to see. Unless of course one of the public galleries manages/decides to acquire some.

Cheers, Rick
 
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