Pender Islands, Beaumont Marine Park. A small campground with six spaces. We
were there on our annual ritual camping trip with friends from Victoria and Vancouver.
It’s Canada day long weekend. The official beginning of summer for us all. We came by
canoe. No easy task when sporting 10 adults and 8 children, including my daughter
Charlotte in her wheelchair. Not to mention food, clothes and camping gear for all.
The children are all between the ages of four and seven.
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This is Hanna, at age seven the older daughter our friends Sean and Patty. In the heat 
nd golden light of this perfect summer afternoon on the coast of British Columbia. She,
along with all the children are engaged in their favorite sport at this location. Patrolling
the water’s edge, hoping to find some treasure. A dead fish, a beach crab, an Aurelia
or perhaps even a stinging jellyfish. These are the prime targets. Perhaps something
really unexpected...
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I took a canoe out that evening with Hanna and Gabriel, age 7. They wanted to try
fishing. While bouncing the bottom looking for rock cod, Gabriel tied into a 20 pound
Chinook salmon on his toy rod. He quickly handed me the rod, lest he be pulled over
the side. Despite a brave battle that lasted 40 minutes, we lost the trophy fish at the
boat, as we had no landing net (excuses, excuses). That’s the kind of unexpected
magic that the sea here can provide. No wonder it fascinates them. It fascinates me too.
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In “Beachcomber” I was experimenting with composition, but mostly with colour
temperature. I chose a cool palette of blues and reds that were leaning toward violet.
As a twist I selected the light to come from top left which is also unusual for me.
The highlights are quite yellow as a complimentary to the violets of the skin tones.
This experiment in using a cooler palette led me in a new direction, exploring cooler
subjects to go with the new colours.   Mark Heine