Laverty Falls

I’ve only been painting for 5 years, but I’ve been collecting reference material since I was a teenager. I painted this 8×8 study a couple weeks ago of a place I probably haven’t been to in at least 15 years (too long!).

This is Laverty Falls in Fundy National Park. You find it along Laverty Brook, before it joins the Upper Salmon River. This group of trails was one of my favorites as a kid. If the weather was good, we would swim under the falls or sit in sections of the Upper Salmon River where the rushing water had eroded perfect little tubs out of the stone. I remember spotting huge Salmon resting in deep pools. I remember carrying my first backpack and eating peanuts and raisins out of a sandwich bag.

These photos were mostly taken in the late 90’s, after I had gone off to university. To the right, you see me in 1997, ‘hard at work’ as a park interpreter just up the road at the Hopewell Rocks Provincials Park.

It is great to relive these old memories through a painting,… although I am feeling like it has been way too long since I’ve gone swimming under those falls.

~ JW