Exhibit inspired by artist's road trip through B.C.

When artist Michael Hepherpacked his familyinto a 1971 Volkswagen Westfalia for a summer road trip, he knew he would need to soak in all that he would see. Hepherplanned to paint the sights that drew his interestalong the way.

One year later, the paintings inspired by the trip are part of an exhibitat the Fernie Museum.

The Hepher family, who live in Fernie,embarked on their journey in 2017, the year of Canada's 150th anniversary, to make memories and see new parts of their home province. Hepher, a musician, designer and graphic artist, was going to use those memories and sights as inspiration for the show.

Looking back to his own childhood, Hepher's fondest memories were of the times he spent camping in a Volkswagon van with his family.

"Our kids are getting to the age where we need to give them some strong memories like that,"he toldCBC'sNorth by Northwesthost SherylMacKay.

Buthe also wanted to spend timein the Canadian wilderness, painting the way the Group of Seven artists might have.

Trip of a lifetime

Thefamily drove from Fernie, norththrough the Kootenays, into Valemount and continued to northern coast to Prince Rupert. From there, they made their way to Vancouver Island to take in the landscapes of scenic Port Hardy,Telegraph Cove,UclueletandTofino.

They then crossed back to the mainland by ferry, and made their way to the Shuswap region, and through to Golden to finish up the journey.The trip took seven weeks.

"There's paintings I knew I wanted to paint after being in those places," he said.

"I'd take a picture or I'd paint a little study, and I knew those ones were going to be bigger parts in the show."

Hepheralso spenttimesitting in the woods plein-air painting painting the landscape while physically situated in the outdoors.

"Everytime I sat down the options were ... there's hundreds of them in any spot," he said. "We live in such a beautiful spot. There's so many different kinds of beauty."

Hepher took photos and created studies of certain areas that he would begin painting long after the trip was over. He painted 30 pieces after the trip ended.

In fact, one of the paintings was created the night before the exhibition opened.

The show, which runs until September 16 at the Fernie Museum, features not only Hepher's paintings, but also drawings his kids made, journal entries from the family during the trip, and information about the places they stopped.

With files from CBC's North by Northwest

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