The end of the Victory Ship

The Victory ships were built during World War 2 as fast cargo transports, made quickly to replace ships lost to u-boats.  The ship yards in North Vancouver produced 164 of them, a major contribution to Canada's war effort.  This is the last part of the last one, the stern of HMS Flamborough Head.  It was saved as the centre piece of the National Maritime Museum on the waterfront beside Lonsdale Quay.  A propeller from a sister ship was purchased to replace the lost original.  The only problem is that the museum was a co-operative project of the federal, provincial and municipal governments and private developers.  You can imagine how well that went.  In contrast to the effort of thousands of men and women who produced each ship in less than 100 days, this last piece of that history has sat rusting in a weedy vacant lot for years, partly covered by industrial strength Saran wrap like a forgotten left-over, a monument to government inability to get things done.  Even the weeds are failing to thrive.

Spring, sort of

I thought spring had arrived when it was sunny for a couple hours on the weekend and the crocuses in the lawn opened.  Today - not so nice.  And the problem with declaring the arrival of spring in mid-February in Vancouver is that you'll be left wondering in mid-July if summer is ever going to arrive.  Still, like the crocuses, you have to make the most of the sunny moments at this time of year.

Sun Peaks

 We had a few days skiing at Sun Peaks, in the BC Interior.  Skiers in motion far exceeded my life drawing skills, even the smallest of kids on the bunniest of bunny slopes.  The architecture was more my speed.  The condominium complexes probably have a monster-house look in summer, but the thick layer of snow makes them fit in in the winter.  The covered bridge is elegant in its own right, and the snow just makes it better.

 

Fragmented life drawings

 A couple recent "fragmented" life drawings with watercolour, from 30 or 40 minute poses.  Someone at the studio said she liked the idea, because I get three or four tries to get each bit right.  True, and I don't have to worry about proportions.

Fire, wood

It's quite often been too cold and damp for drawing outside recently, so I've tried a couple of watercolour sketches from photographs.  I was trying to get the general shapes, patterns and colours, rather than copying the actual images of a pile of firewood and the edge of a burned forest.

Grinnell dry pipe valve E2

I went down to the Lonsdale pier to draw this afternoon, which wasn't very clever as there was pea-soup fog.  But this dry pipe valve stood out.  Fans of dry pipe valves will immediately recognize it as a 1953 Grinnell model E2.  With its prominently labeled 150WSP Canada, 6 AC37 and 209-344 ALT, it is widely acknowledged as one of the most sophisticated and stylish of the dry pipe valves.

"Um", you say, "what is a dry pipe valve?"  I'm sure Google knows, but I asked knowledgeable passers-by instead.  Apparently dry pipe valves are used for unloading oil from ships, loading wheat, cleaning barnacles, fighting fires ("On a concrete wharf in the middle of the ocean?"), making fog, mixing cocktails, and are there purely for their aesthetic value (but brass fittings would look better).  So, a multi-purpose apparatus.

St Andrew's church

The church down the street is 101 this year.  I think the cedar-shingled wooden structure is starting to show its age, but I love that its walls are full of woodpecker nest holes.  Pretty much all the dead trees have been cut down in the neighbourhood, so that's about the only place they have left to nest.  The front of the roof peak is also apparently prime real estate, as two pigeons were fighting for the spot the whole time I was drawing.  The church is actually stained a much more somber brown colour, but I like my natural-wood version better.  Maybe next time I paint it, I'll make it purple.