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While exploring the back roads of the Bonavista peninsula in Newfoundland last summer, we came across this gas pump on its concrete pad, smack in the middle of a field of grass. The price on the pump was 75 cents a gallon, and it probably made its last sale in the 1970’s, before the metric system was adopted in Canada.

On the shore beyond, a row of houses and fishing sheds have succumbed to wind and rain. There’s a story here about the folk who lived and worked in this beautiful place.

I love the atmospheric feeling of this scene. It’s a day for reminiscing about the glory days, when this was a thriving little settlement with a glorious view of the sea.

Whether she and her husband are exploring by RV, motorcycle, snowmobile, kayak, or on foot, professional artist Karen Richardson records memories with her camera and uses these images as reference for watercolour paintings. Having grown up in a rural village near Algonquin Park in northern Ontario, Canada, it is no wonder that Karen loves to paint dramatic, rock-filled scenery and intimate studies of nature. Her art captures realistic moments, to encourage viewers to pause and reflect on the astonishing but fragile beauty of our world. Since she began selling her artwork in 1986, more than 700 paintings have been acquired by private and corporate art collectors in 20 countries, and currently her work is represented by four galleries...