A Totem to The Stars – An Inukshuk Painting

It is no secret by now that I have been painting stories of west coast beaches this Autumn. The treasures that line the sand and the structures built from beach things by human hands. I have been making paintings about shells, beach huts, Inukshuk and being in these landscapes.

With this most recent painting I wanted to capture the aura of the rock stacks seen on the beaches. Here on Vancouver Island you will see these totems of balanced rocks at the corners of the beaches. Sometimes balanced on rock and other times balanced on logs. Know as Inukshuk, these towers come with rocks of various sizes and shapes and are skillfully built into delicately balanced towers to the sky.  Inukshuk is a figure made of piled stones or boulders constructed to communicate with humans throughout the Arctic. Traditionally constructed by the Inuit, inuksuit are integral to Inuit culture and are often intertwined with representations of Canada and the North.

This vibrant acrylic painting features an inuksuk rendered in bold, sculptural layers of stone, each shape carefully balanced to form a vertical figure rising from a rugged landscape. The stones are painted in warm earth tones – soft creams, deep charcoals, russet reds, and weathered greys – giving the structure a grounded, tactile presence. Behind it, the sky glows with a rich blend of ultramarine, violet, and magenta, creating a luminous twilight atmosphere. Flecks of white stars scatter across the sky, lending a sense of vastness and quiet northern magic.

The foreground suggests rocky terrain, its textures and contours echoing the layered forms of the inuksuk itself. The contrast between the solid, ancient stones and the dreamlike celestial backdrop creates a powerful tension between earth and sky, permanence and wonder. The painting captures the symbolism of the inuksuk as both a guide and a marker of presence – a beacon of human connection within the expansive Canadian landscape.