This magazine is provided by Green River Canoes Ltd and shows a collection of posters made to advertise our trips. All our Canoe Tr i p s a r e a l s o d e s c r i b e d o n t h e w e b - s i t e a t www.greenrivercanoes.com . You can also reach us at: https://www.facebook.com/greenrivercanoes https://twitter.com/canoegreenriver For any questions please email us at info@greenrivercanoes.com or use the form at http://greenrivercanoes.com/contact-us You can subscribe to our infrequent newsletter to receive news of new trips, schedules and offers. Steven House & Steve Lines.
“Contents 1: Follow in the Steps of History.
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2: Being at One with the Birds.
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3: Let the River Take the Strain.
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4: Get your own Supper.
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5: You will discover wonder.
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6: The Adrenaline Rush.
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7: Swimming.
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8: Kids love it.
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9: You meet the nicest people.
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10: Canoeing slows you down.
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11: Choose you Style.
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12: Follow the stars.
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13: Feel like you are the first.
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14: Romancing the Water.
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15: Discover the river at dawn.
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16: Taste The Loneliness.
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17: Meet The Fishers.
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18: Lessons In Geology.
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19: Your Dog Will Have A Great Time.
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20: See a new window on the world.
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21: Find your innermost peace.
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22: Enjoy the sun going down.
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23: Find the Spirit of Adventure.
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24: You Can Talk About It.
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25: Slide over transparent depths.
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26: Avoid the Styx.
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27: See The Light.
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28: Look forward to that next beer.
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29: Enter new worlds.
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30: Frighten yourself (a little).
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31: Until The Sun Goes Down.
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32: Experience the serenity of silence.
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33: Glide through Time.
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34: You can have it all.
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Original Inspirations
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1: Follow In The Steps Of History. Rivers have been the conduit to the travel and exploration of territory since Neanderthal Man first started migrating through Europe. Drifting down the Vezere river you are following in the footsteps first set down over 40,000 years ago. In the caves along this river these people lived, only later to be replaced by the arrival of Cro-Magnon Man our own ancestors and Homo Sapiens just like us. They lived here and hunted on these waters and you can still visit the caves where they lived and see some of the cavepaintings they left behind for us to wonder at. In later times this same valley was inhabited by other peoples. You will pass a Roman castle and a Crusader chapel. At Roque St. Christophe you can see how people lived along the river during the Middle Ages high up on the cliffs on ledges cut by the river millennia ago. You will also pass some of the later structures built along this river still used as a major conduit for travel and trade long before the roads were passable and the railways were built. Your canoes will glide past several Chateaux, like the one in the poster, built by the land barons that controlled the river 300 hundred years ago and the remains of three lock gates where flat bottomed boats used to pass from one level of water to the next.
This is the Chateau Belcayre on the Vezere River in the Perigord region of France. We pass three of these stunning chateaux on our first day on the river.
2: Being At One With The Birds. One of the pleasures of paddling is the ease with which you can get close to the beauties of nature. Much of the bird-life seems unconcerned as you drift by and you can easily observe the wagtails and dippers strutting their stuff on the water’s edge. A popular favourite is the Kingfisher. They are not easy to see when they are roosted on a branch over the stream but as soon as they take off you can recognise the arrow straight flight and the flash of metallic blue as they pass through the light. On the Dordogne river they seem more sanguine than on the smaller streams. Perhaps they are more used to passing canoeists. From time to time you can sidle right up besides them. In a similar way the herons can be seen, but usually not observed so closely. They often rise slowly into the air and fly a few hundred yards downstream. They do this time after time until eventually with an angry squark, (they don’t often make a noise), they fly over your head, or cut a bend in the river to go upstream, or land tipsily in a tree high above your head, before you pass beneath them.
This is a canoe I borrowed from Carolyn to paddle on Branch Pond in Vermont near Arlington. It’s a Kevlar Wildfire (now called a Yellowstone) made by Ball’s Canoes. I had to hike in a little way with the canoe on my head. I didn’t weigh anything. I had the pond to myself.
3: Let The River Take The Strain. When you get tired of hiking a heavy rucksack about the countryside on your next multiple day trekking trip bear in mind that a canoe can carry all your gear for you. If your creaking limbs no longer allow you to hike carrying 30 lbs of gear (15 kilos) then you can throw everything you need, and perhaps a lot more beside, into your canoe and carry on into the wilderness.
This is Steve and Coral from our 3 day adventure paddle on the Loire in France. This is one of the chateaux that we passed. The canoe is piled high with camping gear as we spent the nights in tents in islands n the river.
4: Get Your Own Supper. Hunting down something to eat in the wild is hard. Setting traps is tricky and pursuing prey is difficult too. Fishing on the other hand is relatively simple. With a little skill and some patience you have a good chance of being able to catch your own supper. You may not have the skills to stand up to your waist fly-fishing or the patience for standing on the bank for hours, but the art of trolling for fish as you go is well worth trying. With any luck you have been taught how to gut and clean a fish. Perhaps by your Father. It’s not that difficult though, unless you are particularly squeamish. First of all make sure your fish is dead. Otherwise it’ll hop and writhe about a bit in your hands and it may make a slithery bid for freedom. A little bash to the head will do if you cannot wait for it to expire. It is a cruel world. Slit open the underside along the bottom seam and spill out the guts and stuff and give it a good rinse in the river. Top and tail it if you wish and strip out the backbone, although this is not necessary on a small trout for example. Open the fish into a butterfly shape or cut in two halves and fry quickly in a hot buttered pan.
This is Steve fishing. Actually I manipulated a photograph (the one in the previous poster) to remove Coral and replace Steve’s paddle with a fishing rod. The background and clouds are just drawn, as is the wobbly reflection.
5: You Will Discover Wonder. Nothing compares with the delight in canoeing a new river. Every bend a new vista and a watery tableau that opens up before you. You may have an inkling of what to expect but all the same a combination of light and reflection will invariably take your breath away. The river really can bring wonder back into your life. If you’ve been feeling jaded then the newness and freshness of seeing the world at the slow pace, and reflective space that the river provides will rejuvenate you and replenish your soul. It could be the wonder of the natural world that stuns you as you glide past the nonchalant birds and the fluttering damselflies or perhaps the tall glistening cliffs or the secretive quiet woods. Perhaps instead it’s the wonders of geology and geomorphology that reveal the massive grandeur of a landscape hitherto unknown to you. But whether it’s a quiet country stream or a gigantic gorge the wonder can be just as profound.
This image, in the style of 1930s travel posters, shows the approach to the Castle at Beynac on the Dordogne River in France. The frame is in an Art Deco style and textures to give an aged feel.
6: The Adrenaline Rush. Perhaps you don’t always get an adrenaline rush; you have to choose your water, but if you’re looking for thrills then taking a canoe through some white-water rapids will give you all the adrenaline rush you need. It may even give you white knuckles. Whatever your standard you can always find a stretch of water that is just a touch beyond your safe zone and one that gets the hairs on the back of your neck rising. The great thing is that as you get older the slightest riffle can give you this thrill and what’s more if you’re canoeing with a child, or a novice, on board you can enjoy the thrill they get vicariously on their behalf. Another great thing is that normally a rapid can be the exception on a stretch of river. You can prepare for it, and even climb out of the boat to have a look at it first. Afterwards you can relax and calm yourself or simply sigh with relief. On some occasions you can haul your boat back up and try it again and if you do happen to go for a swim then you will just have to get back on your horse.
This image has taken is from a 1920s poster of the Red Star Lines advertising world cruises at sea. The Red Star Line sailed out of Antwerp in Belgium. The canoeing part features Jack and Greg canoeing the quarter mile rapids on the White River in Vermont, USA.
7: Swimming. Wild-swimming has become all the rage of the past couple of years. For good reason. Because swimming in the wild is great and knocks a chlorine infested swimming-pool into a cocked-hat. Canoeing down a river obviously presents plenty of opportunities for finding spots for swimming which are well away from places that have ordinary access. On a hot day nothing could be better than finding a secluded deep pool in the river, or a lonely, but beautiful beach on a lake, to take a swim. You can even choose a place where the water is running fast. Keep you life-jacket on and shoot some rapids in the water or merely sit underneath a rock and get yourself a wonderful massage.
Another image in a 1920s style. The canoeists are taken from a photograph whilst the mountains and forest and lake are all fictional.
8: Kids Love It. That’s the thing, kids love messing about in water and in boats. As long as they can swim about 25 yards and you insist on wearing the life-jackets - for them and for you - then taking children on rivers can be a lot of fun. Choose the kind of water appropriately and choose the day and weather and everyone will have a great time. They’ll soon get the hang of paddling, probably a lot quicker than an adult going for the first time. It wont be long before two kids in a tandem will be proficient to paddle by themselves. With your boat close by though.
This image uses a style and colour from the Winnie the Pooh books of A.A. Milne. The two boys are Sebastien and Charles who I took canoeing on the Lesse River in the Belgium Ardennes. After a few hours on the water they felt comfortable enough to stand up in the boat. Not wise.
9: You Meet The Nicest People. Canoeing down a river in a small flotilla is an ideal way to get to know people. The pace is slow and the difficulties are shared. If you don’t know these people on the first morning then by the time you’ve paddled a day or two with them you will be remarkably close. Those shared little mishaps, the picnics and the shared experience of seeing the world from a new perspective will bring everyone and anyone a little closer. A shared glass or wine at lunch-time helps as well.
This image is a figment of my imagination but uses the building and the canoes from photographs. That is the Chateau Walzin on the Lesse River in Belgium and the canoes are tied up at our picnic spot at Sergeac on the Vezere River in the Perigord region of France.
10: Canoeing Slows You Down. Let’s face it if you wanted to get straight from A to B you wouldn’t be paddling along a meandering river. Sometime you can paddle 10 miles to get 3 miles as the crow flies. And who cares? If you can have slow food you can certainly have slow travel. You will be using the time to enjoy the countryside around you whilst those in a rush whiz by on those roads you can hardly see across the fields. With any luck your river will take you far from the crowds and the rush. Even cyclists will appear to be rushing headlong through the world compared to you. Even hikers will leave you far behind as you swan about the river without a care in the world.
This image is a facsimile of a painting by Georgia O’Keeffe. I’ve added in the couple canoeing from a photograph on the Dordogne River in France.
11: Choose You Style. Rivers and lakes and sometimes even the sea offer all sorts of canoeing for all sorts of people and tastes. If you want the wild ride you can find it on the roller-coaster white-water rapids and if you want to idle wander down the most somnolent green river then you can find that too. And everything between. You can paddle busy little streams, or wide-open empty spaces. You can go for little day-trips to keep your hand in or you can go for enormous three week adventures into the outback. You can slide your boat into the water in winter and be careful of the ice or you can take the heat out of a hot summers day by trailing your feet from the boat in the cool river as you spin lazily downstream.
This image is also a figment of my imagination. The silhouettes are all taken from photographs including the hills which are in fact from the Himalayas in India. The sun-rays are generated in photoshop. I was pleased to learn how to do that. The rest is made up of colour graduations and textures.
12: Follow The Stars. Have you ever tried canoeing at night? It can be tricky but if you choose a clear night with a full moon and you paddle a stretch of river you have paddled many times before then you are in for a treat. The water glistens, the stars shine and perhaps a few distant buildings are still lit up. We’ve canoed a stretch of the Dordogne in France where the castles are lit up until midnight. It’s an amazing sight. And then the lights go off and the river regains its own dark beauty. You have to attune your senses to the sounds of the river as only the faintest glisten gives the movement of the water away. Strange plops and splashes herald some activity by the wild-life perhaps, but you cannot be sure. Just be careful though and keep a torch handy and I would avoid the rapids!
This image is made from 3 images; all photographs. A close-up of the moon, the couple canoeing and the river shot taken at night whilst canoeing under a full moon on the Dordogne in France. The strange patterns in the sky comes from the noise in the background of the digital image I took. The moon I took from my apartment in Brussels. The glow is added digitally.
13: Feel Like You Are The First. It is a strange thing that even in cramped and crowded places like England when you go on the river you can feel as if it is just you and the elements of nature. On many stretches of river you can find yourself seemingly far away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life. If you are lucky you will be out of earshot and away from the stink of cars and roads. The only sounds coming from the ripple of water beneath you and perhaps the rustle of the wind in the trees along the bank. A splash here and the call of a crow there or the song of a bird nearby. I always feel that the drone of an aeroplane above always adds to the warmth of a summers day. Perhaps it matches the drones of fat bees in the meadow. The point is in the right circumstances it can seem if you are exploring a river and country for the first time. You can pretend, or dream, that no-one has slipped down this stream before. The world is new and you have discovered it. The day is stretched out before you, unknown and slightly dangerous. You are ten years old again and in the country of your imagination.
This is simply a photograph with the posterisation effect applied. It was in fact taken in Scotland somewhere. The reflection of the canoe and canoeists was added
14: Romancing The Water. Canoeing in tandem is a great way to travel on a romantic holiday. Everyone knows that when you go hiking together one of you is always striding off and the other is struggling to catch up whilst the former is getting exasperated by waiting. It cannot happen in a shared boat. Of course you have to get past the bickering stage where you each blame the other for why the canoe is turning in circles or unaccountably running into each bank in turn. After several hours of this kind of nonsense you’ll discover that one person can take control whilst the other gets on with important things like taking photographs, pointing out the wildlife or preparing the cocktails or some such. And when you’ve paddled into some deep green secluded spot where the river runs crystal clear besides a hidden silver beach who knows how the situation may resolve itself.
This image is designed with the film Moonrise Kingdom in mind. A young boy and girl run away together (sometimes in this canoe) and set up camp on a small beach. The girl has brought the things on the left and the boy’s stuff is on the right.
15: Discover The River At Dawn. Off for an early start on the river. A long day ahead and a long way to go. I love sliding onto the water before the sun is up. The mist is rolling on the water like vaporous tumbleweed, and the waterfowl, still sleepy, disappear and re-appear. This is beautiful on an autumn morning. The canoe glides over the water which always seems to be unnaturally calm at the early hour. On this stretch of the Dordogne in France, if you time your launch correctly, you can look back on the sun rising over the misty Castle Beynac, and turning around can paddle towards the spires and towers of the Chateau Milandes spearing above the mist. Magical times.
This image is from a very early canoe taken at dawn on the Dordogne River near Beynac. The river is actually flowing towards us and I took this shot looking back at the Castle Beynac looming over the misty river. I added the canoe for the poster. They were actually paddling in Scotland!
16: Taste The Loneliness. Canoeing on a huge open expense of water with acres of water around you and a very distant shore can be forbidding. You know it will take a huge effort to get yourself back to land but at the same time you can relax and let yourself wonder at how alone you are under the firmament.
When I’ve canoed out in the centre of Scottish Lochs or the wild lakes of central Sweden I’ve often stopped to draw breath and then become overwhelmed by the sense of loneliness and emptiness. The feeling can grab you suddenly and quickly make you nervous and apprehensive about where you are. But a deep breath and a hard swallow later and you can enjoy it for what it is. An escape from the usual noisy madness.
This is a composite image. The pink sky and silhouette of the boatman were taken one early morning when I was staying on a fisherman’s house, on stilts, in the middle of Lake Maracaibo in Venezuela. The waves and water are from the beach at Nice and the Heron silhouette from the Dordogne river.
17: Meet The Fishers. It is of course well known that different groups of people use the rivers and lakes in different ways. Paddlers and those that go fishing for example don’t always see eye-to-eye and suspect the activities of one spoil the enjoyment of the other. Fortunately this is largely nonsense. In the neck of the creek where we go paddling no motorised boats are allowed on the river anyway - therefore half the fishermen are paddlers - even if you think the punts are hardly worthy of the name boats. In my experience all that the fishers require is for you to give them as wide a berth as possible and to glide past quietly. A small wave doesn’t go amiss, and if they seem talkative (rare I know) then an enquiry after the catch. On the Célé river the ‘Friends of the Célé’ have arranged it so that the fishers have the river in the early morning and evening and the paddlers have it between times. It works well and everyone shares the river with respect, even when the rules are gently broken.
This image uses the silhouette style of Jan Pienkowski. I was pleased with the idea of the three sections of the land, the river surface and the underwater. The surface of the river uses a technique where oils are floated on water and paper is dipped in it. The underwater part uses a photograph of caustic light the type of light you get on the the bottom of swimming pools.
18: Lessons In Geology. Rivers expose the geology as they cut down through the rocks to make valleys (or as they are pushed up by plate tectonics) and they are an active force of geomorphology as they shape the land around them. One of the pleasures of canoeing is to see this and appreciate this at close quarters. After some time spent on the river and you will soon become acquainted with the way a river works; the way the river actively cuts the shore on the outside of bends and slows on the insides of bends to deposit silt. If you are looking you can see how a river snakes its way down a valley as the meanders move like a rope being flicked at an immensely slow pace. Ox-bow lakes are evidence of this and those places where you might think to cut across an isthmus to shorten a paddle around a long bend. When canoeing in deep gorges or in valleys bound by cliffs you can also see the exposed rocks. The history of time is laid out before you and if you are canoeing, for example, on the Vezere in France you can be suddenly aware that people like you were paddling this way 40,000 years ago and these cliffs would have looked much the same.
This is taken from one my photographs. Carolyn and I were scoping the Ardeche for a possible future canoe trip and I was down on this beach where the aluminium canoe was sitting. It was unusual to see such a boat amongst the plastic ones which are common. Also not too many people were on the river so the arch stands out.
19: Your Dog Will Have A Great Time. Many dogs are mad about water and keen swimmers and I’ve seen plenty of dogs in canoes in my time. Our family dog used to love standing in the bow of our little dinghy and cut an impressive figure-head. I’ve seen a few dogs swimming besides a canoe too and on one occasion it was a Labrador, wearing a life-jacket. I asked about that and the owner said the dog would otherwise keep swimming until exhausted, but wouldn’t get in the boat very often. I guess if you got a dog you learn pretty quickly whether or not your dog is up for a boat trip and you’ll know whether or not he or she needs a life-jacket too. Everybody knows a dog is a great companion when you go camping so I imagine it’s a great bonus if your dog will come with you canoeing as well. Just be safe and look after your dog.
I came across this design on the net where a fellow in the USA sells a whole range of merchandise featuring silhouettes of dogs. Not plagiarism, but flattery.
20: See A New Window On The World. It comes as a surprise to many people that when they try canoeing for the first time, even in a place they think they are familiar with, everything looks new and different. Even if you are paddling on a stream only a few yards from a road you have travelled many times the world looks and feels different. It’s a bit like sitting in a low slung sports car and you get an increased sense of speed even if you are only doing 30mph. Only kidding. Sitting in a canoe only inches from the water and snuggled down between the banks of a river overlooked by trees and perhaps cliffs you are in a different world. It smells different and sounds different and you perspective has completely changed. Even if you are sharing a stretch of river with others you will notice how, somehow, you are impelled to whisper and share the quietness and smilingly enjoy what nature offers.
This image is a facsimile of a Tiffany Glass window called ‘Magnolias and Iris’. I first saw these windows at the Metropolitan Museum in New York. The Art Deco frame has been added as has the canoe!
21: Find Your Innermost Peace. In many circumstances when canoeing on a river or lake you have to be at your sharpest and concentrate full time: rapids, of course, or perhaps battling strong winds, or currents or waves on an open expanse of water. However at many other times you can relax and let the world go by. It is at these times that the actual now and present can seem to disappear as you enter a quiet zone where the river, the canoe and you become one. At a point like this as time slows you find yourself between realities. Some may attribute this to a spirituality and others to a type of zen but for me it’s more of a feeling of zoned out bliss. A happiness and contentment that has embraced you, even if it’s for just a brief moment. Inevitably you are soon brought to your senses by the sound of some approaching riffles or the sudden realisation that you are underneath some overhanging branches, or your boat has spun around.
The idea for this poster came from a Soviet travel poster for Japan. I liked the simple structure and pale colours. The boat and badge were added.
22: Enjoy The Sun Going Down. Staying on the river as the sun goes down on a beautiful day can be an entrancing experience. Of course it depends if you’ve got somewhere to go or a definite destination, but if you have planned carefully then being out on the water as the day ends is often transcendental. Of course more often than not you will experience this because you are running late and your destination has mysteriously become further away. No matter enjoy it. For some reason the world becomes even quieter at this time, as the wind drops and the water often becomes calmer. Very often you will find yourself in the long shadows, especially on those bends in the river where the sun disappeared over a cliff. But paddle on and you may find the last of the sun. You might be tired and you may be worried about not finding a place to camp but somehow the golden rays at the end of the day raise your spirits. If you’re lucky enough to be camped beside a lake and the sun starts to go down in a spectacular fashion then you should take the opportunity to paddle out into the pink.
Another image in the Art Deco style, with a font to match and a gold frame to accentuate the image within. The picture is from a photograph of the Ardeche River taken from the village Aigueze which sits high on a cliff above the river.
23: Find The Spirit Of Adventure. It’s never too late to try a new thing. Some people have never been canoeing and perhaps think that it’s too difficult to try. Perhaps they think they are too old. They are not. Paddling is easy if you obviously avoid white-water and huge distances across wind-swept lakes. We’ve had several people canoeing with us that are over 80 years of age. As long as you can get in and out of the boat you’ll be fine, especially with a younger partner to put the work in where necessary whilst you enjoy yourself and take some photographs. Learning how to canoe can be done at any age, and within a couple of hours on the water you will be paddling like an old hand and not zig-zagging down the river from bank to bank or tipping over at every opportunity. After perhaps half--an-hour the stress of worrying about how to do it will be gone and you can enjoy the feeling of gliding over the world quietly.
This poster is also based on a design, for Transatlantic Travel, from the 1930s. I liked the typefaces and the single tone.
24: You Can Talk About It. It’s a fact that using the a facsimile of the ‘Jaws’ poster to advertise a trip on the water is probably not wise. But face facts, you are unlikely to see a shark whilst paddling on fresh-water. I say unlikely because fresh-water sharks do inhabit Lake Nicaragua and were apparently trapped there aeons ago when the lake got cut off from the ocean. But besides that, and going to happen. But may be swimming, in thinking about all the beneath you.
I’m told they are small anyway, it is not people do have phobias around water. It may be the under-water or might be the slimy slippery things that you can’t see
Whichever it is we an help you come to terms with it. Canoeing is safe and calm. One of the most pleasing aspects of canoeing in tandem is how the person in the bow (front) can talk freely without facing the person in the stern (back) who can listen intensely without interrupting. Whatever is bothering you can then be addressed to the open air, a surprisingly benign listener. This can, and often does, help.
‘Jaws’ is probably also not a great film to use for advertising trips on the water. This is based on the classic Jaws poster, with the iconic turquoise and red colour scheme, the hidden fish, the unsuspecting victims and the massive font.
25: Slide Over Transparent Depths. Some of the rivers we paddle on are often the colour of chocolate and carry a heavy load of silt, especially after rain on the hills, but some rivers and streams run transparent almost all the time. On shallow stream like the CĂŠlĂŠ you can very often look at the stones and rocks on the river-bed as you glide over. You can see the wraiths and shadows of fish too as they move suddenly from light to shadow. Very often you have to depend on the polarising effect of the sun to peer down into the depths. Just the right amount of sunshine and at just the right angle and all the life below you can come into focus. The Tarn river though is something else. For some unfathomable reason this river is so clear as to be invisible. Even when the canoe is gliding over deep pools between the shallower riffles the water is astonishingly transparent. The canoe seems to glide in space at the juncture of two worlds. You are between the blue and the glassy pellucid green.
This is a posterisation of a photograph. It shows the cliffs on the river Tarn somewhere below Malines. The green colour of the river is exaggerated in the image. The Tarn runs as clear as glass. The typeface and lettering are in the style of travel posters from the 1930s.
26: Avoid The Styx. The Styx is a river in Greek mythology that formed the boundary between Earth and the Underworld (often called Hades). The rivers Styx, Phlegethon, Acheron, and Cocytus all converge at the centre of the underworld on a great marsh, which is also sometimes called the Styx. The important rivers of the underworld are Lethe, Eridanos, and Alpheus. The gods were bound by the Styx and swore oaths on it. The reason for this is during the Titan war, Styx, the goddess of the river Styx, sided with Zeus. After the war, Zeus promised every oath be sworn upon her. Zeus swore to give Semele whatever she wanted and was then obliged to follow through when he realised to his horror that her request would lead to her death. Helios similarly promised his son Phaëton whatever he desired, also resulting in the boy's death. According to some versions, Styx had miraculous powers and could make someone invulnerable. According to one tradition, Achilles was dipped in it in his childhood, acquiring invulnerability, with the exception of his heel, by which his mother held him. The rule is if you find a river with any of these names I’d take a hike or paddle elsewhere.
This image is based on one I found in the style of German Expressionism. I’ve used the hill silhouettes from India again and made the shape of the canoe using cut-out shapes. The drowning man and the couple are supposed to tell a grim story. You can see the blood dribbling down the boat. The fonts and the bat and the colours where chosen for obvious reasons.
27: See The Light. When you are out on the water you are vulnerable to the sun and it is easy to get sun burn. So wear a hat and lather on the protection. But apart from that you can enjoy other types of light whilst you are paddling. One of my favourites is caustic light. This is light reflected from curved surfaces such as the waves in water. It’s those patterns reflected on the bottom of swimming-pools or on the walls of a cliff next to water. I like the way they dance and flicker like a mobile and transparent version of the shapes on the skin of a giraffe. When on the water you can seen many types of reflection including sometimes those underwater beams of light that resemble those light rays coming in through a window that seem to make the air solid and dancing with dust motes.
Jan Pienkowski is one of my favourite illustrators - Kingdom Under the Sea, being a book that I’ve always admired. He often uses this silhouette style and with backgrounds using the oil colours floating on water technique often seen in the endpapers of books.
28: Look Forward To That Next Beer. What is the point of exercise if you can’t look forward to a reward at the end of it? Without a doubt it is important to keep hydrated whilst canoeing and I’m not suggesting you should paddle with a case of beer along-side you. After all if you wanted to do this then you may as well go tubing in Texas. Which is not a bad idea except for the quality of beer. (OK OK I know you can find some lovely micro-brews in the USA these days). Ideally you want to be canoeing from Inn-to-Inn, and I mean this in the literal sense of river-side pub to river-side pub. So this wont be your outback kind of river, but more perhaps a small rural stream in the deepest Ardennes of Belgium. A place where you could make a start on exploring the varied tastes of some remarkable beers. Starting, of course, with the Trappist Beers which are still brewed by monks. It is very fortunate that the Semois river flows so close to the two featured on the poster: Rochefort and Orval. A good place to start.
This is Jack paddling on the White River in Vermont, USA. The background is of course drawn in Photoshop and of course I added the beers and the Trappist label.
29: Enter New Worlds. In the end I decided that 28 Reasons to go canoeing was enough and I ran the poster/blog campaign during february 2014.
I’ll post the unused posters here just to complete the set.
This is another using the Jan Pienkowski ideas: silhouettes and oil and water end-papers.
30: Frighten Yourself (a Little). Probably not wise to feature this film anyway.
This is from a film poster of ‘Deliverance’. I’m not sure it is an official poster though or a fan poster. This film is perhaps not the best to use for advertising canoe trips. I like the simple style of this though and the colours and the crumpled paper texture.
31: Until The Sun Goes Down. I had two similar to this.
Another image in the Art Deco style, with a font to match and a gold frame to accentuate the image within. The picture is from a photograph of the Ardeche River taken from the village Aigueze which sits high on a cliff above the river.
32: Experience The Serenity Of Silence. Who wouldn’t like to visit the Kashmir. Unfortunately we don’t run trips there.
This one is based on a travel poster for the Indian State Railways in the Kashmir. The silhouettes come from assorted places and the mountains were made by drawing polygons and filling in with a crumpled paper texture. The typeface is similar to that used by Led Zeppelin on some of their album covers: they had a song called Kashmir.
33: Glide Through Time. A beautiful chateau in the Belgium Ardennes.
This is a simple posterisation of a photograph of mine. It shows the Chateau Walzin on the Lesse river in the Belgium Ardennes. One has to be careful here because as you admire the chateau above you the river drops down a weir and you should be watching the river.
34: You Can Have It All. I may redo this one again as I’m not happy with the point of view of the canoe. I need a very low viewpoint.
This image is made in the style of a famous poster called ‘Normandie’, design by xxxxxx, which featured an Ocean Liner from a dramatic low perspective.
Original Inspirations