Catherine Taron
Vancouver Island Visual Artist
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Remains of the Day

30" x 15" acrylic on canvas

This painting is the view from Frank Island at Chesterman Beach, looking toward Shell Beach on the Tofino side. I remember when west coast beaches were clogged with many, many highly piled drift logs on the shore and at the back of beaches, often making it hard to get out onto the sand. They were the remains of an intensive logging industry at the time, including escaped logs from broken booms or offshore log carriers. Then as now, winter storms also continuously drag logs about and erode coastlines, even dislodging rooted trees at high tides. Today there are fewer drift logs, such that a drifting log or stump on the shore or thrown high up on the rocks stands out. These are the remains of the day, whether from recent storms or from days of industry now past.