Lac Sakami

I'd never been to a place as lonely and beautiful as Lake Sakami in Northern Quebec. It's located near the end of the James Bay Road, and rests amongst vast Boreal forests, bogs, and raging rivers.

The Cree natives hunt caribou there seasonally. I remember seeing a Cree hunting cabin by Lake Sakami when we arrived, and remains of dead caribou around it. The scene was eerie. There were no sounds, other than the occasional wind blowing against the spruce trees.

The piece "Sunrise on Lac Sakami" expresses my memory of the place. I spent some time rendering the spruce trees on the middle ground. They're such a common sight up north and have very interesting shapes. Silhouetted against a colorful early morning sky, they look haunting.

I try to express the natural beauty of these places, but also their loneliness and isolation from the modern world. This dynamic is what inspires me about Lac Sakami and other places in Northern Quebec - they're beautiful yet untouched by society.

Pictured above: "Sakami River" by Rudy_P licensed under CC Attribution 3.0 Unported License.