ARCTIC ODYSSEY

          

Arctic Odyssey Limited Edition Package

          It's been almost 25 years since Winston Bushnell (skipper), George Hone (first mate) and I (adventure artist as an art gallery referred to me) stepped aboard a small (8.5m, 28') sailboat, Dove III, set sail from Nanaimo, BC and headed north, the illusive NW Passage our destination. In this time of obvious already climate change taking place, the arctic was stuffed with ice; cruise ships non existent that far distant in the northern hemisphere. Not being a seasoned sailor like Winston who had earlier sailed the world in a small sailboat with a wife and two daughters, later a son being born in Cape Town, South Africa as he repaired their small sailboat Dove, which had been rolled over and almost sunk during a horrendous storm that swept around the Cape of Good Hope, I was a rank amateur at heart - heart being the key word for my desire to be part of his crew. Being artistic, to me the voyage would mean a feast for the eyes and I wasn't disappointed - the grandeur of the arctic is breath taking and when I experienced that part of the world first hand, it was a seascape and landscape completely alien to anything I had ever experienced before.

Samples of  8.5"x11" pages

Shishmaref Island, Alaska

         (Since I mentioned climate change, which many people seem to disregard, the presence of the changing climate conditions was already evident in the arctic. I saw huge chunks bitten out of the tundra by the insatiable sea and at one village, they had placed automobile tires along the shore to keep the land from eroding. I recall a small island called Shimaref, which is located in Alaska that we tucked into to escape our first encounter with the relentless ice. We spent a day there, even chatted with a congenial Eskimo mayor who was already concerned about the Bering Sea and the out of control growth of the population, "Even kids are having kids," he stated. I recently Googled Shishmaref Island and the houses that we had once walked past are now falling into the sea. And, it's not the only island! I also witnessed evidence of the sea eroding away the land in our own country.)

          During the voyage, since Dove hugged the shoreline to avoid the ice as much as possible, we visited many villages. However, that being said, there were many times when we were unable to tuck into a safe haven to escape the ice and I would often go ashore, sometimes with Winston but mostly by myself. I always brought my video and two 35mm cameras, as well as my sketch pad on these excursions. As a result, when we eventually arrived home, basically being at sea for five and half months, I had a lot of reference material to write and illustrate Arctic Odyssey. An American publisher, himself an avid sailor, was so enthralled with my tale and illustrations, he published my story. It was my understanding that he was going to publish Arctic Odyssey the way I had put it together and had presented it to him but he didn't. Although the book still looked great, he unfortunately put a price on it that suited a coffee-table book (approx. $35. US) which made it difficult to sell. I eventually bought the remaining books and my contract and have been selling them at an affordable price. And, as much as I like the soft cover edition, I eventually self-published Arctic Odyssey the way I had envisioned the book with a hard cover. Since I considered it to be a work of art, hand-lettered with pen and ink illustrations, along with maps I drew, I decided to publish it as a Limited Edition - only 200 copies available. I also put a video together about our voyage and although it would have been very exciting to film some of the horrendous winds and seas that confronted us, we were all too busy holding onto something to keep from being flung about like rag dolls. Plus, going outside on deck would have been very precarious, being swept off into the icy sea most likely resulting in death. Arctic Odyssey, both versions as well as the video are available at our Etsy store.

          One day, while drawing portraits of people who were waiting for a ferry at the Nanaimo Ferry Terminal, I had a woman pose for me. As I drew her, we of course struck up a conversation and it turned out she was a nurse at the Whitehorse Hospital in the Yukon. I guess the pen and ink sketches of the children were quite good because she said, "Eventually most people in the outlying arctic villages bring their kids to the hospital for one reason or another," and to my surprise she started naming them. Now that almost 25 years has gone by since our remarkable voyage through the NW Passage, I sometimes wonder about the kids I drew and how much their physical appearances must have changed since then. Such fond memories. I'm so glad that Winston took me along. Oh, he also mentioned one of the reasons he took me, besides not being a well-seasoned sailor, was because I "wouldn't mutiny" and as odd as it seems, I almost did - but that's another story...peace.