April 17, 2026
I’m grateful to have received recognition for my painting Afternoon Rowing at the 2026 Arts and Letters Awards Exhibition at The Rooms.
The initial idea for the painting was inspired by Bruce’s grandmother Daley, who once rowed back and forth between Colinet Island and St. Joseph’s. As I worked on the painting, however, I gradually moved away from the original story. The figure became an imagined self-portrait, and the landscape became a kind of mindscape—a place shaped as much by memory and imagination as by geography.
From a distant memory, I kept rowing, again and again—through days of wind, rain, and bright sun. And then, one day, I disappeared, becoming one with the wind, the sea, the dory, and the oars.
Afternoon Rowing, 30 x 24 inches, oil on canvas, 2025