Plein-Air Paintings That Heal Me, original art. Nature/Camping/Okanagan. Episode III - 2015

In August 2015 I took off to my solo camping/painting trip to Okanagan again.

Oil on 24x8" wood, one of the four paintings I painted in Okanagan. This one depicts Giant Head rock in Summerland, one of my favorite short hikes.

So far, it was the best trip of all, although I believe that this year it's gonna be even better. Yes, I am taking off next week, and I can't wait to feel the dry grass, rustle of forest in the wind, smell the fruit orchards, climb the rocky hills to watch the sunset and dive naked in the lake.

At my spot to paint the above painting of Giant Head hill. You can see the hill in the background. Sun was merciless that day...every day!

Summer of 2015 was super hot and dry. There were over 200 burning forest fires in BC and even Vancouver was submerged into smoke all the way from Vancouver Island fire for days. It's was totally apocalyptic times. City felt like from zombie movie. Everyone was praying for a rain and that's not a joke. There were actually organized groups that prayed for the rain.

I remember that our beloved neighbors Americans finally decided to "help" us with their water dropping planes, and they were charging us like $10k per hour per plane or something like that. Nothing better than a good hearted help from the most "strategic" alliance neighbor and the biggest business partner of Canada. Mind you, Washington state border is half an hour DRIVE from Vancouver, so it's not like they had to cross half of the continent to get here. Anyways....

That year I took the second optional route for the first time (I believe it's Highway no.5)- through Osoyoos , a picturesque town by a beautiful lake. On the way from Osoyoos to Penticton, I could already see several fires on the horizon...

On the way to Penticton, not the first fire that day...

First night I spent camping at my secret spot in the middle of forest next to a little lake. This time I made only a really small fire to cook my food and prepare my coffee, and I was super careful to keep an eye on it all the time and extinguish it right after. The earth was dry like a gun powder. With a gush of wind the fire would spread like .

I loved it though. For some reason, I'm the summer type of guy. I don't suffer in 35 celsius. For me, the hotter the better (I mean not above 40 celsius, that's Dubai baby:) (sorry Farenheit people, why do you even still measure tempreture in this totally illogical system?:))

I spent the following day doing the usual- staring into the trees, sipping on delicious beverages I brought with me while ants were crawling over my naked body, swimming in the lake and most importantly- driving around hunting for places to paint.

And so I found this abandoned truck next to a small local train station:

Of course I loved the scene. So I set up immediately and started to paint, in the middle of the dusty countryside road where no cars ever pass:

Sombrero is necessary in the high afternoon hours:)

Two hours later, I finished the oil painting study, and I still have it to this day, and it still reminds me of this magical afternoon:

Painting number 2

The next painting that I performed was kinda unusual for me. First of all, I painted it from a platform of a train station. Ok, it was just a tourist railway from a long abandoned mining route, with only one train per day, but I usually only paint in nature. Secondly, when I was in the advanced stages of the painting, the train full of people arrived, so I had lots of curious people looking over my shoulder, which is not exactly my cup of tea. Nevertheless, I really liked the result, the study of a train locomotive standing in front of the hangar.

This was my third painting crime scene.

And the final result, small format but super happy about how it came out

My last painting was right across my second camping spot by the river. I was cruising back from town where I was refueling my cooler on some good Czech lagers, when I spotted an abandoned shack in the middle of fields. Clearly it was waiting for me to immortalize it on the canvas.
And that's exactly what I did:

Final result:

I set on the journey back in the evening, after having a solid bite of my favorite vegan carrot cake in the cozy family coffee shop in Summerland. I hit the pedal to the floor on Coquihalla highway like the devil himself was in my heels.

In reality, I missed Okanagan already. It was just the thrill of seeing my car cutting through breathtaking landscapes as if it wanted to run away from the setting night, and chase the youth of the day for just a bit more...

I felt full, happy and sad and grateful at the same time.
Life is so precious, yet so fleeting...

Much Love to all of you,

Thank you for reading , upvoting and following me.

Jan
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P.S.: All pictures taken by my Canon 50d with a tripod, self timer in case of pics of myself.

Sometimes even human garbage can come handy when you're sick of sleeping on hard ground.