Robert Chouinard is feeling the pull of the sea. Whether it is the tides or the sea breezes, Chouinard hears the call and is stretching his artistic reach to the local coast.

As a boy he spent happy times along the St. Lawrence River, below the Plains of Abraham where his father kept a yacht. Having access to the local waters, Chouinard, a Sooke resident for the past 10 years, has begun exploring the coastline by raft, long boat and sailing kayak drinking in the images and presenting them as oil and pastel paintings. Once he masters the fine art of sailing his kayak, he plans to set out with this paint box and brushes to explore and capture his impressions plein air.

Chouinard is well-known for his negative-space landscape paintings usually adorning the walls at the South Shore Gallery. Those shadowy paintings where the light disappears forcing one to focus on the backgrounds rather than the obvious subject have proven to be extremely popular with art lovers.

This year his show, “West Coast Journey,” at the South Shore Gallery consists of coastal scenes as well as his more familiar sun and shadow paintings of the woods and rivers in the Sooke area.

“It is a new perspective, viewing the shore from the kayak and finding the dazzling beauty of water and reflected light,” says Chouinard. “There are lots of small oil paintings and pastels of coastal scenes.”

West Coast Journey runs to June 14. The South Shore Gallery is located at 2046 Otter Point Road.