Chasing Canada Geese at Manitou Beach!

“There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged, to find the ways in which you yourself have altered.”

Nelson Mandela

Chasing the Geese at Manitou Beach 13 x 19"

My First Canadian painting since coming back to Canada!

I'm hoping to get a series of Okanagan paintings together and there is talk of having a show in Penticton sometime this year. I'll keep you posted!

This painting is of a much bigger scale than the other paintings I have done so far.I wanted to try painting at a bigger scale because I didn't have to be so finicky with the details. Working on a smaller scale with a tiny brush is often much harder!

The crew at Manitou Beach in early January.

About the Painting:

Manitou Beach in Naramata figured largely into my childhood. It's the place that I learned to swim. It's the place I drank my first beer. Manitou Beach is where all the action happened day after day all summer long.

Zoe enjoying breaking the rules at Manitou. (No dogs allowed!)

Recently I took my parents' dog Zoe for a walk to Manitou. For some reason, in my mind, though it's deserted during the winter months, Manitou is still where the action is. It's the vantage point of the southern Okanagan Valley, It's where the Marina waits quietly for summer sailboats to return, and it's where the flocks of Canadian Geese and a few Mallard Ducks socialize on the frosty sand.

Honk! Honk! Honk!

Zoe would have loved to have chased those birds, four times her size if I had let her off the leash. But Canadian Geese, despite their serene appearance, are not the nicest of birds. I remember once as a child trying to feed some ducks, only to have a big Canadian Goose come squawking over to scare the ducks away from their meal. I picked up a big rock and threw it at the goose, hit it, and than ran for my life as it charged me!

Pure goose panic!

This painting is Zoe's fantasy. To be a big dog big enough to scare the geese away and have a little fun doing it.

Bark! Bark! Bark!

XXMelanie