rusty can

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Another exciting unearthing in the garden! From the same area as the roots, this rusty and disintegrating metal object (a paint can?) is the kind of find that I love. It is a delight, as well as a challenge to photograph well since I’ve not done any macro shots for a while. I plan to do more of these.

I know, I know, rust objects do occupy a huge place in my photo collection. Here are just a couple amongst many favourites: a rust circle and treasure hunt. And of course, my Fragments series of prints consist of several rusty objects.

found art (2)

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spotted on my messy potting table outdoors
folded paper, damp, stained, one of the ‘paper tears
escaped, blown here and weathered,
art by nature, like a soft dyed silk scarf

Related: the first “found art”

fossil hunting 4

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These are the final group of photos taken in the Royal Tyrrell Musum. Now I hope they will bubble and stir and come forth in some future work. Some have already done so in the past.

Should you have missed them, information and more images can be seen in part 1, part 2 and part 3.

fossil hunting 3

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Pareiasaurs: reptile, herbivore, possibly an early relation to turtles

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Alligator: Alberta, Canada

A few more photos from that most memorable long ago visit to the Royal Tyrrell Museum in Alberta. If you missed them, please see Part 1 and Part 2 for the background.

fossil hunting 2

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More photos from that long ago visit to the Royal Tyrrell Museum in Alberta. Unlike most of the photos I’d taken there, two here captured some information – the third photo shows a nothosaur, and the last one a part of a bobastrania. I will have to look them up.

For me, the shapes, lines and textures of these fossils, most fossils, are visually very entrancing and intriguing. The knowledge that these are the remains of very ancient living creatures captured forever in rock touches something in my soul and makes me feel very small.

Added a few hours later: Evidence of earliest animals found in Newfoundland – a fascinating discovery in an already amazing fossil site! There is also a mention of BC’s Burgess Shale fossil site. If I recall correctly the Newfoundland site was featured in one of the episodes of the Geologic Journey series shown on CBC.

fossil hunting

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I came across an envelope of photographs, yes, the print kind, taken in the amazing Royal Tyrrell Museum in Alberta in 1999. I had written about this exciting trip a few years ago, along with some photos – please visit. Except for the second one, these are ammonites. I’ll post a few more images in the days to come.

I loved revisiting the Museum’s site and you may too, including some information about the fossils in the Burgess Shale and the Devonian Reef. Did you know parts of Alberta used to be covered by a tropical sea?

I found this creepy photo from the visit here. And you may recall my series of photos taken at Vancouver’s Beaty Biodiversity Museum last year with these photos of fossils.

P.S. See a cross-section of an ammonite here and here. I picked this up as a souvenir in Prague ten years ago!

passion

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… as in passionflower or passiflora! Such a sweet scent too. From a little play break with the scanner in the midst of a busy day in home and garden.

You may like to revisit the macro photos taken in 2010.

roots

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We are renovating a section of our garden next to the new wall/fence put up by the builders of the new home next door. With much sweat and brawn, husband dug up several stumps of trees that were cut down years ago but hidden under our laurel hedge which had just been removed by the workers next door.

I became interested in the photographic possibilties in the textures and shapes of the disintegrating wood and the roots. I’m glad I missed seeing the termites which quickly buried themselves deeper into the rotting wood as they emerged into daylight. I did see our resident crows investigating them with keen interest but unfortunately too late for a tasty meal.

Added Sunday, June 24th:
Today, as I was cutting up a dead shrub which had not survived a move last fall, I was struck by its gorgeous root formation. Then I recalled the beautiful filigrees of blood vessels and nerves in bodies, as I wrote some years ago about an exhibition called Body Worlds. Isn’t that an amazing similarity between humans and plants?! (Sorry, no photo as I was too busy to come in for the camera.)

paper tears (2)

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Another peek at what has been happening in the studio with some of the ink drawings….

paper tears

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June is often a cool wet month here on the Pacific Coast but this year it seems worse than usual, and has been cheekily renamed in the media as Junuary! Frustrated at being unable to garden, today I decided to tackle some more of the rolls of drawings from decades ago. As before, I took photos of some and proceeded to tear up the rest for composting. Beguiled by the images of the torn paper – what lovely edges – I turned my camera on these. I’m quite excited how these turned out.