Summer has been my favourite time of year since I was a kid. I love to swim in the ocean and in outdoor pools, and I am incredibly fortunate now to live near many wonderful beaches, as well as historical sites and local summer festivals.
As an adult I still aim to make the most of these few busy months, creating memories anchored in sense-of-place. I have been immersing myself in experiences that I will want to return to repeatedly, to paint artworks that share that restorative energy with others.
It’s filling my creative reserves that I will draw on throughout the year, so it’s still “working on my art” even if I forget to bring my sketch book to the beach.
Selfie, Rebeka Darylin at Panting Shore/Northumberland Provincial Park Beach, July 27, 2025.
The 2025 Art Show at Sir Andrew Macphail Homestead finished at the end of July. It was quite exciting to receive payment for two pieces of mine that sold, that felt wonderful!
If you missed it, you can still go there to see some of the other original artworks I exhibited: I was asked to leave several pieces for sale in their gift shop until the end of the season in September.
Last week, I finished a painting based on my photos and pencil sketches from the Plein Air event at the Homestead on July 19. A close up of the outside of the Veranda Tearoom, featuring some very bright and energetic lilies and hostas. The windows were a new challenge, quite different from the organic and irregularly-spaced shapes that make up my usual landscapes, although maybe not so different from certain tedious graphic design homework I did back in 2001. I will ask Macphail if they would like to feature this one in their shop, too, but you get to see it here first:
Outside the Veranda Tearoom at Macphail Homestead
by Rebeka Darylin, August 2025
Acrylic on cradled wooden panel
8″ x 8″ x 0.5″ with painted sides
Ready to hang, no need to frame
$150
August 7 was International Lighthouse Day, and the temperatures were pleasantly mild yet it was not at all windy — so I headed over to nearby Cape Bear Lighthouse and Marconi Station for some more plein air painting.
There was a thin haze from forest fire smoke from other provinces, scattering the sunlight, making the sky slightly orange but still very bright, and that scattered brightness was reflected in the water. The haze was all high in the atmosphere, and Pictou Island, Nova Scotia was still visible to the southwest, across the Northumberland Strait, depicted on the horizon in the left of the painting.
There are just a few small changes I’d like to make before I sign and frame it.
High Haze at Low Tide (in progress)
by Rebeka Darylin, August 2025
Acrylic on canvas panel
8″ x 10″
On the morning of August 13, the CreativePEI Artmobile returned to the Murray River Library. I attended and started another collage, a companion piece to the collage landscape I made last month when they visited:
Untitled, in progress
by Rebeka Darylin, August 2025
Collage on paper
8.5″ x 11″
Which brings me to upcoming events from CreativePEI:
On Friday, October 3, there will be an Artmobile Gallery and artist’s reception at Art Night at The Guild in Charlottetown — for one evening only! Artists who have participated in Artmobile Pop Ups are invited to display their work, especially but not exclusively artwork made at the Artmobile Pop Ups. It will be free to attend, all are welcome!
Check CreativePEI’s website for more upcoming Artmobile Pop Ups at various libraries around Prince Edward Island, go make some art in community, and then sign up for the Pop Up Gallery to show off what you made.
If you would like to participate in these events, or other ways to connect with the PEI arts community, but you are facing barriers, consider filling out CreativePEI’s Accessibility & Barriers Survey.