Dory Lobster Fishing

I recently complete a painting that had been commissioned to depict lobster fishing in a dory. 



Although dories have been used for fishing small numbers of traps quite recently (maybe still in use), a schooner, faint in the fog was requested.  The hint of the schooner in the fog takes us back a hundred years.  Almost obscured by fog, the schooner has a ghostly appearance.

The gulls, always hanging around whenever a bait pocket might be emptied, are almost obscured by fog too.

The dory is a seaworthy little craft, easily handling the light chop on the water, with the reflections in the little waves picking up alternately the dory buff, the yellow oil coat, or the foggy sky.

And of course, we have to make sure the bowline is tied correctly at the bow of the dory; a fisherman simply wouldn't stand for the knot to be incorrect!

This was a fun painting to do, and I enjoyed the sense of our maritime heritage that it gives me.

Schooner "Bluenose"

As visitors come to Maritime Canada this summer, it seems appropriate to feature a Maritime icon, the Nova Scotia schooner "Bluenose"



The original "Bluenose" was launched in 1921 at Lunenburg, Nova Scotia.  At 143 feet long, she was a fast schooner, in fact the fastest fishing schooner in the world. 



She was not only a successful racer, but she also held the record for the largest single fish catch ever landed at her home port of Lunenburg. 

The owners sold her for a good prince in 1942, but she was lost in a storm off the coast of Haiti in 1946.
But the grace and beauty of this magnificent schooner prompted a replica to be built.  And the present "Bluenose" continues to be a fascination for visitors and a very important Nova Scotia attraction.