Having served in teaching posts in Toronto and London, Ontario, after having worked as a photography retoucher and freelance illustrator in Montreal and Hamilton, Frederic M. Bell-Smith took advantage of the Canadian Pacific Railway from 1887 onward and travelled to western Canada. Enamoured by the majesty of the Rockies, the artist found inspiration in the distinct landscape and returned throughout the remainder of his life to render the vista in watercolour and oil paintings. Punctuated with jewel tones of aquamarine and emerald, Bell-Smith captures the lush terrain of the West Coast in “Logging Camp, British Columbia”. With a complex, layered high horizon, the viewer is placed within the landscape at the base of the mountain range, and can imagine breathing in the crisp fresh air near the clear body of water amidst the logging camp. Both sublime and calming, this landscape typifies the beauty of peaceful solitude in Canada's West Coast.
Frederic Marlett Bell-Smith - Logging Camp, British Columbia | Cowley Abbott
