bill hibberd fine art: Wooden Boats and Artistic Research

Hudsons Hope to Sea adventurer

For the sake of my art and for a healthy balance to my world view occasionally I need to strap a kayak on the car and head out of man's constructs into God's organisms. Always more enjoyable in the company of friends and especially with at least one kayak virgin. Four of us spent a few days on the north end of Kootenay Lake this week where we experienced pounding rain, lovely warm sunshine, adventurous river crossings (one of us discovered the excitement of recrossing a river after a rainstorm raised its levels 8"in thirty minutes), and the comradery born in shared adventure.
We climbed the Fry Creek Trail beside spectacular cascading waterfalls and strolled across acres of soft moss covered forest. With no time to paint in the midst of living the adventure I consciously absorbed as much as possible and I trust my future work will be enhanced by this time in nature.
There is something about wooden boats (or any hand made device) that seems to attract people and break through their resistance to connecting with strangers. Whenever I have my kayaks in populated spaces I meet interesting people with great stories. This trip was not an exception.
A fellow approached us in Nelson when we stopped for lunch on Baker Street. He had just returned from a wilderness kayak trip on his own for 54 days paddling from Hudson Hope to the ocean. Check your map to get a sense of the scale of that journey. There are plenty of adventures for us twenty first century humans if we step out of our tethers with eyes wide open.
Okay, I better get back to work now and hopefully my next entry will display fruit from my effort.