Wildfire Summer
“Wildfire Summer I” is a small study that was a bit of a breakthrough piece for me, with the style influenced by silkscreening and the grain of film photography, and the abstracted depth and colour inspired by the devastating wildfire summer that may have initiated the phrase ‘Wildfire Season’ in BC.
On holiday in the Okanagan with my sweetie, the skies were grey and thick with wildfire smoke. His friends took us on an incredible trip across the lake in their vintage boat, and we spent the afternoon on a remote beach. The view was lost in a thick haze of smoke, and I felt a strange sense of timelessness and loss of place.
In this small study, and subsequent larger 36 x 48” “Wildfire Summer II”, I explored the feeling of being lost in that haze of smoke, without a horizon or sense of place. My choice of colour playing a huge part in imagining the wildfire itself. And at the time, I was very influenced by film photography and printing techniques, and reimagined the photo reference I worked from in a painted silkscreen-like in effect.
