Mark Hobson (Prints)

There is something soothing about the smooth red bark of an arbutus tree in low afternoon sun. This painting was intended to create the feeling of peacefulness and warmth that comes to parts of the Gulf and San Juan Islands in late summer. The warm, lazy days of August with the summer school holidays just about finished are a wonderful time to be hanging out as a kid in the Strait of Georgia. Our family lived near the sea for four years in Powell River, B.C. when I was between 8 and 12 years old. Arbutus trees always remind me of the boating trips we made among the rocky islands to the north of the town and of the wonderful freedom we had to explore and putter in summer evenings along the coast.