Hot Summer Nights (2020)

“Hot Summer Nights” -2020

Coyote among sagebrush

Acrylic on canvas

Sunsets are always a treat to paint. Bright contrasting colours and wispy textures of smudgy clouds, dark silhouettes and deep shadows. Turning water into great jagged mirrors. Caught in the last rays of light, the coyote is a prevalent predator in the deserts of Southern British Columbia, preferring the cool darkness to hunt quail and other small animals. So adding one seemed like the right guest in my painting.

I live in an area that is a high risk of wildfires in the hot summer. The first anniversary of moving to this beautiful area, I spent evacuated for a week due to an extremely large and aggressive wildfire that threatened my house and the entire community I lived in. A simple shift in wind kept it from destroying a dozen homes- including my own. I remember looking out my window one clear summer morning and remarking at how the clouds that were there looked strange. It was smoke. Within four hours the fire moved 17kms and destroyed over fifty homes. Six years later, another wildfire threatened Osoyoos, 45 kms from my house. I watched its movements and experienced the apocalyptic atmosphere created by the thick smoke while driving to work every day. This painting depicts a serene and beautiful landscape at sunset. The hot temperatures easing as the air cools bringing out the creatures of the night to begin their activities. However, are those clouds or smoke looming in the distance? Will this scene be reduced to ashes in the coming hours or days or drenched with life giving rains? Either way, life goes on and the sun will rise again.