This 40 by 40 inch acrylic canvas painting is of Standing Man Rock, or Slhx̱í7lsh in the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) language. Upon researching to write about this special iconic landmark in Stanley Park (Vancouver, BC) I learned that it’s common name “Siwash Rock” can be seen as derogatory because “Siwash” comes from ‘sauvage’ in French or ‘savage’ in English.

Standing Man Rock (formerly Siwash Rock) is outlined in chalk on a large acrylic blue and orange abstract canvas in my Victoria, BC art studio. This is an exiting time for a painting, when a subject is added to a pure abstract artwork.

The legend of Slhx̱í7lsh or Standing Man Rock says this historically significant site in Stanley Park was actually “Skalsh the Unselfish.” As this man was getting ready for fatherhood and pledging his love to a beautiful northern woman he was turned to stone by Xáays the Transformer Brothers: a monument to the cleanliness of fatherhood.

A small resident Douglas fir tree is painted in a warm shadow on top of Standing Man Rock in this acrylic Stanley Park landscape sunset. Thick textured green acrylic paint was used on the branches and foliage.

A blue heron stands in the orange sunset lit waters at Stanley Park beside Slhx̱í7lsh or Standing Man Rock overlooking the sea wall. This landscape painting shows a distant blue shoreline which is actually North Vancouver.

I spontaneously splashed and dripped an orange glaze of paint onto this Stanley Park landscape canvas before turning these splashes into into miniature pour paintings by adding white and yellow paint. The transparency of the orange sunset passing through the rock suggests the supernatural event of turning a man into stone.

As a Vancouver Island, BC landscape painter I will often paint dozens of layers over top of each other to create wall art. Here I’m adding an orange glaze onto Standing Man rock and the sea wall to make this famous Vancouver landscape illuminated by sunset.