elf academy
Have you ever wanted to be an elf?
The Elf academy is being set up in Rovaniemi, Lapland where you can become a certified elf.
This is the right place, after all it is the land of Santa and Santa tourism.
(Image: Helsingin Sanomat)
by Marja-Leena
by Marja-Leena ship in the fog
Spooky sights lingering after last week’s witching
Thick morning fog parting, revealing
Haunting glimpses of a ship, shifting shape
Like Coleridge’s death ship in The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.
Then sun burning away the last wispings of fog
My world shifting back to normal.
by Marja-Leena work in progress
Like many artists, I don’t usually like to show my work before it is finished. Perhaps it’s the blog medium and the interest of you faithful readers that has made me more willing to show-and-tell some of my work as it unfolds?
A little while ago I showed you the collagraph of a handprint that I wanted to print over an archival inkjet print. This is the first trial print, done on inexpensive proofing paper and very much a work-in-progress. Upon studying the real print, I know I want to do more tweaking of the digital images and their placement, as well as more color trial prints of the collagraph of the hand in the middle which needs to stand out a bit more. More hands, maybe? Textured paper? Questions, decisions…
by Marja-Leena November/Marraskuu
Ah, the calendar page turns to November. This morning’s too-brief sunshine drew me outdoors. I could not resist taking the camera to capture some of the last of fall’s beauty in our garden.
Curious about the source of the name, I learned that in Latin, ‘novem’ means nine. November was the ninth month in the Roman calendar.
I also learned, to my great surprise, that ‘marraskuu’, the Finnish name for this month, means ‘month of the dead’. But wait, it may not be like Día de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead as celebrated in Mexico. It’s thought to come from the earth being ‘martaana’ or in a state of death. Yet, coming right after Halloween and on or near All Saints’ Day, a Christian holiday in many countries in Europe, I can’t help wondering if it might be referring to the ancient traditions of honouring one’s ancestors at the same time. Curious, isn’t it?
by Marja-Leena frights and feasts
As you are out tonight chasing ghosts and goblins, watch out for what may be underfoot.
Or when the lawn
Is pressed by unseen feet, and ghosts return
Gently at twilight, gently go at dawn,
The sad intangible who grieve and yearn….
– T.S. Eliot
Looking up, Windy Willlow writes:
A howling welcome to all you tree lovers… this is the Halloween edition of The Festival of Trees’. What spooky trees and snippets of poetry to put us into the spirit of Samhain! If you need a little calming after all this, go down to part two and see ‘the breathtaking colors of leaves and fruit in this colorful season.
Fright to feast, have a Happy Halloween.
(Thanks, Amy, for reminding me of Eliot’s words.)
by Marja-Leena Sagrada Família in danger
I still remember well my art school days and the many hours of Art History classes, viewing thousands of slides of art and architecture, sometimes sleepily but often excited. The courses were taken by students of art, architecture and interior design. Architecture has always interested me and Antoni Gaudi’s fantastic creations fascinated me. I still have only seen them in pictures.
La Sagrada Família, a basilica in Barcelona, Spain is one of those incredible projects. The building is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Still unfinished after 40 years, it is now in danger of being destroyed by the construction of a tunnel for a high speed train going underneath!
I find it incredibly shocking and disheartening to hear about developers destroying art works. I think of the vast area of incredible aborigine rock art of the Burrup peninsula in Australia currently threatened by gas developers as another example.
There’s a campaign to stop the construction and even a YouTube film of what the potential disaster may look like.
Thanks to Viides Rooli (in Finnish) for the link.
by Marja-Leena more witchiness
Thinking about witchy trees has been making me see even witchy seeds.
Last Thursday at dusk, before it was fully dark we were stunned by a huge bright full moon and it’s sparkling reflection over the water. Was it that bright moon that woke me about 3 am and had me wandering through the house spellbound by the bands of moonlight shining across the floors? Outside was bright with a cool light and a sparkle of a light frost on the deck railings… the first frost. What spirits kept me awake?
Making yet another cup of herbal tea in the kitchen still later, a very bright light in the eastern sky caught my eye. At first I thought it was an airplane coming in, but it did not move and was non-twinkling and too big to be a star, so it had to be a planet. Yes, the net told me it’s Venus and this full moon was actually the Hunter’s Moon!
What witchiness to keep me awake to watch the moonlight and planet light merging into the slow return of daylight and a spooky fog rolling in.
by Marja-Leena witchy trees
Come, my dearies, for a tour of my woods
See, here is the witches’ castle
Meet Witch Hazel
and Witch Rowana
Here’s Raven
There’s our resident treehugger witch.
If you’d like to join in the Samhain edition of the Festival of Trees being hosted at Windy Willow, please email your links by midnight October 26th to silviasalix (at) yahoo (dot) co (dot) uk, with “Festival of the Trees” in the subject line.
(PS – Apologies for the artistic liberty with the witches’ names. They are not the names of the trees illustrated.)
by Marja-Leena moved by beauty
We had a warm sunny day today, almost blindingly bright after a long spell of gloomy rain. The beauty of the fall colours in the trees lining many of Vancouver’s older streets gave me great pleasure as I headed for an appointment. Back to rain tomorrow, but then it looks like we’ll have several sunny days so maybe I’ll get some of my fall gardening jobs done after all.
Along with today’s sunshine, I’ve been deeply moved by some exceptionally beautiful writing and images:
– Dave Bonta thinks profound thoughts while out walking
– Another glorious cycle of sonnets in the Handbook for Explorers written by Joe Hyam with photographs by Lucy Kempton
– Beth’s rich descriptions of a day in Montreal when she realizes “I was home”.
– The rich jewel-like colours in Tracy Helgeson’s paintings.
– Sadness that the Giornale Nuovo is quitting after five years of blogging. Thank you for giving us so much beauty and knowledge, misteraitch.
by Marja-Leena sonnenstein, sunstone
Rain, never ending rain
south Pacific winds
November-like storms,
skipping autumn
With ancient sonnenstein
beseech the sun’s return