36” x 48” Oil 2025.

Where the Three Winds Meet

A collection of new works in oil inspired by the Similkameen Valley

“The Similkameen river cuts its way through a narrow valley bound by rugged mountains—six kilometers from peak to peak—shaped by glaciers, water, and ten thousand years of human habitation. It’s hard to imagine a landscape more different from my home in the Rocky Mountains. The dry soil sloughs sideways in powdery clouds when you step, then turns to oozing clay when the rain falls. When the rain lets up, the pervasive sweet scent of sage draws you into the ancient beauty of the landscape. It was in that valley that these pieces were born. West of Keremeos there sits a bench of land on the southern slope of crumbling valley walls. The Ashnola river valley joins the Similkimeen creating a trinity of wind tunnels… you never know which one will deliver the fresh breeze or the window-rattling gale. For six weeks in the fall of 2024 I pared my life down to these three simple actions; eat, sleep, paint—the building blocks of an artist residency held together by the mortar of walking alone through the ponderosas and sitting quietly on magnificent boulders. 

The colours are different there: tawny, grey-green, dusty rose and deep purple. Each muted hue is punched up by brilliant orange lichen, deep red ochre trees, and clear blue skies. I listened to the land and made work that I hoped the sage would be proud of. I opened my heart to whispers and wails of the wind and tried to capture them with my brush. The Syilx people practice balance; if you take something from the land you should leave something behind. I took wisdom, learning, peace, and awe from that place and mixed it up into my oils and laid it thick on my canvas. To preserve the balance, a pretty sizable chunk of my heart stayed behind when I had to leave.”

~Michael Hepher~