www.markpenneygallery.com

Three Fishers, Hoping by Ken Kirkby
40″x60″ Oils on canvas, c1980
$8000

Two Fishers, One Fish by Ken Kirkby
40″x60″ Oils on canvas. c1980
$8000

Fish of Nile Creek Series by Ken Kirkby
24″x48″ Oils on canvas
$4000 each

Ken has been hard at work painting many of the fish represented in the Nile Creek, his goal is to share with you the wonderful diversity of fish, and just how beautiful they really are. These paintings as well as prints will serve to promote this awareness and to support the stream restoration work of the Nile Creek Salmon Enhancement Society.

Lakeside Tranquility by Ken Kirkby
36″x36″ Oils on Canvas
$3000
Tranquility is the quality of calm experienced in places with mainly natural features and activities, free from disturbance from man-made areas.

At Peace, Spider Lake by Ken Kirkby
60″x30″ Oils on Canvas
$4000
This tall painting has all of the signature elements of a Kirkby’s lake-side paintings, grass, rocks, the tranquil reflection of the lake, but in this example Ken has rendered the detail on the tree trunk where the light strikes it, establishing a level of detail that keeps me staring out over the water and at the subtle details of this painting.

The Story of Nile Creek Salmon Enhancement Society, and their work restoring Vancouver Island streams, narrated by artist, Ken Kirkby.

The Nile Creek Salmon Enhancement Society has an official website of their own to raise awareness, but I’ve uploaded this from a DVD that the group has produced. YouTube requirements called for 10 minute clips, so it’s posted here in 2 parts.

More…

Island Farm by Ken Kirkby
30″x60″ Oil on Canvas
$4500
A number of farms on the inside of Vancouver Island were abandoned during the 2nd world war, many of the owners did not return to their homesteads. This painting references this with a fence line in the foreground. The reefs and the vista of mainland mountains might well have been enough subject for the painting but Kirkby’s attention to the grass eludes to the farm and it’s history.

Yellowbelly Trout by Ken Kirbky
30″x40″ Oil on Canvas
$4000
Yellowbelly trout were once thought to be extinct in the Nile Creek. They have been making a resurgence in the island streams; thanks in part to the salmon restoration work of the Nile Creek Salmon Enhancement Society. The re-introduction of Pink Salmon and the stream rebuilding practices of this group have made an incredible impact on the level of fish of all species in the Nile Creek and surrounding areas.

Sea-Run Cutthroat Trout by Ken Kirkby
24″ x48″ Oil on Canvas
$4000

A Sea-Run Cutthroat Trout is a beautiful fish, they spend time at sea, the brackish intertidal waters as well as the cold fresh streams of Vancouver Island.
They’re very pretty, with a distinct couple of orange/red lines in the skin folds of each side of the lower jaw. Cuttys are colored dark olive-green on their back, with flashy silvery sides and numerous black spots head to tail.

In this series of paintings, Ken Kirkby shows he is a passionate fisherman, you cannot paint a fish like this unless you have spent a great deal of time observing them ~ he has, and it shows.

Still Reflections by Ken Kirkby
30″x30″ Oil on Canvas
$2500
Tranquility, reflection, simplicity and balance; all equally describe this Kirkby painting. A little smaller than most of Ken’s work, this piece masterfully depicts a scene with sparse detail and a minimalist approach to realism.

Pacific Meadow by Ken Kirkby
24″x30″ Oil on Canvas
$2000

A subtly colored painting, but very much in Kirkby’s signature realist style; staccato grass, evenly textured rocks, simplified trees silhouetted in graceful warm tones that fall off into the distance. This is a man who paints with total confidence, he paints what he observes and he feels what he sees.

Artist Ken Kirkby’s recently released biography, Ken Kirkby – A Painter’s Quest for Canada, has been garnering a lot of attention, a book signing in Calgary had just shy of 5000 people in attendance.
Ken says the book has sold out of the 1st printing, that it’s a best seller and that they’ve begun selling the second edition.
I had Ken bring by a few copies, he signed them here at the gallery.

Sea Shore Series (4) – Ken Kirkby
20″x30″ Oil on Canvas
$1000

Sea Shore Series (2) – Ken Kirkby
20″x30″ Oil on Canvas
$1000

Sea Shore Series (1) – Ken Kirkby
20″x24″ Oil on Canvas
sold (private collection)

Sea Shore Series (3) – Ken Kirkby
20″x24″ Oil on Canvas
$750

Lakeview (Taylor Arm) by Ken Kirkby

30″x60″ Oil on Canvas

sold (private collection)

Still waters; a lakeside view of Taylor Arm in a graphic panorama. Kirkby observes the lakes of Vancouver island in the stillness of the early evening, when the wind has slackened.

Old Paint by Ken Kirkby
36″x48″ Oil on Canvas
$3700
This painting is of a gillnet boat out of water, in the cradle of the ‘ways’. It looks like she’s about to receive the care she’s badly in need of. Well rendered, it still retains the simplistic graphic character of Kirkby’s realism.

A Painter’s Quest for Canada – Ken Kirkby

At this stage of my life all I wanted to do was go and live at my favourite place, a small village near a stream on the east coast of Vancouver Island. Most of all, I wanted to live an ordinary sort of life which had so far eluded me, a life where I could sleep when tired, eat when hungry, fly-fish whenever it pleased me and paint all those paintings that had become stored up in me like water behind a dam constructed by the events told in this book.”

Ken Kirkby has published a biographical account of his travels across the north, and of painting the largest canvas known; 12 foot x 153 foot long , Isumataq. Launch of the book will take place at Englishman River Gallery, in Parksville on Saturday September 12th  2009, noon ’til 4pm. I’ll extend my personal invitation to all of you.

Ken is a remarkable speaker, and a formidable painter. Ken’s works are represented here at Mark Penney Gallery, Ucluelet and at Englishman River Gallery, Parksville. The book is currently available online through it’s independent canadian publisher; Libros Libertad. I’ll be sure to bring in a few signed copies.

Pacific Breeze by Ken Kirkby
30″x60″ Oil on Canvas
sold (private collection)
Kirkby’s paintings are very often large scale, and this lends itself to the grand coastal views he portrays. The wind is a key feature in this particular peace and it’s impact is seen interacting with each element, the trees, water, sky … even the grass is bent in response to the wind’s presence.