Lou A. McKee was born in Vancouver and spent her childhood summers on Texada Island and the Sechelt Peninsula, where she learned to swim, row a boat and explore lush BC forests. She attended Western Washington University, where she studied fine arts, becoming both a watercolour and an oil pastel painter. She then worked in the commercial field as an illustrator and designer. Loving the outdoors, she bought an ocean-going kayak that allowed her to explore wilderness found only by sea. Combining her art and love of the sea led her to write and illustrate her new book Klee Wyck Journal: The Making of a Wilderness Retreat. McKee and her husband David live in downtown Bellingham.
What is your connection to the Sunshine Coast?
I spent summers on Texada Island as a small child, staying with grandparents there, and later, at Wilson Creek at my parent's log cabin on the sea. I still have family living permanently in Sechelt. These special places inspired the rest of my life choices.
What is your background as an artist and writer?
I have no background in writing. A publisher saw a few copies of my original hand-lettered journal and asked me to write the story for a book form with the illustrations I had created. My life work has been in the commercial-art field as a designer and illustrator. I also continued to paint with watercolours and oil pastels in my private life, having exhibits at various galleries.
What inspired the idea for your book?
Many members of my family and friends, who were also kayakers, helped with the building of a remote cabin built mainly to seek shelter from torrential rains that could last a full week. The idea for a journal came from wanting to record our experiences to pass along to our families.
McKee will read from Klee Wyck Journal: The Making of a Wilderness Retreat at 7 pm on Friday, March 16, at Powell River Public Library. For more information, go to loumckee.com.
