textures in March
a bunch of seeds hanging on a wall
and seeds falling on a rail
a burlap bag – what is inside?
I watch paint peel
by Marja-Leena
by Marja-Leena Veils and Dreams
Veils and Dreams (1991)
mixed media on paper
90 x 97 cm. (35.5″ x 38″), irregular
As I continue to sort through slides and prints and post to my gallery, I am occasionally surprised by work that I have forgotten about. The above piece is one of those. It is a one of a kind piece with print elements, drawing and cheesecloth.
Other than the slide, which fortunately was labelled, I could find no records of it nor could I find the piece either. Perhaps there are some notes in an old sketchbook? Did I sell it or trade it or destroy it? This is not very professional of me!
I am happy to have found this image and am rather fascinated by it. It is for me a revisit of a period where I seem to have combined elements from two print series, the Veils Suite and Dreams.
by Marja-Leena seaside lichens
A few more photos from the rainforest by the Pacific —lots o’ lovely lichen!
I’m still busy uploading more images of my work to my ‘gallery’. It is slow going as I deal with the oldest printworks from early days before I started using documentation sheets for each piece. I have to pull out those from the flat files to measure them and note the techniques and the paper. I’m also discovering not all those early works were even captured on film. Those were the days we had to have them as slides, which were not all very good, needing much colour correction when scanning. It’s been on my long-running to-do list to catch up with those undocumented works so having this website is just the right incentive. Onward!
by Marja-Leena gallery update
Head Study III (1989) – monotype on Arches Cover paper, 34 x 28 cm. (13″ x 11″)
I am thrilled to announce that my gallery aka website is at last updated and online!
Longtime readers may recall that this blog was transferred from the Movable Type platform to WordPress back in the fall of 2013. Meanwhile my Gallery sat dormant as I did not wish to continue adding more images of my work as it too would be switched. At last my super designer daughter Erika found some time from her own business to custom design my site within WordPress. Still based on the previous ‘look’ which I liked so much, this is easier for me to use. Also, it is now viewable on today’s popular smaller devices. Thanks, Erika!
More printworks, especially some of my older pieces, will continue to appear on the site as I slowly go through my files, so please do visit from time to time by going to the Gallery link on the left top of this page. Of course many of you readers may have seen most of my work on the blog under Printworks, though the images are very small compared to my now larger images. The blog has notes about processes and the ideas behind certain works which may still be of interest.
by Marja-Leena at the lake
As I mentioned a while ago, in early March we went to visit our family in the Victoria area after our west coast retreat. They live in a cottage next to a lovely small lake where I always take pleasure in taking a few photos. Above is a rare-at-this-time-of-year lily pad and a view of the mirror-like lakeshore.
interesting details from the woodpile, sections of a recently felled tree….
a piece of twined willow….free-ranging chickens
… and a basket of lichens by the door
by Marja-Leena driftwood on Chesterman
Still on the westcoast of Vancouver Island, Chesterman Beach is the next one over from sheltered McKenzie Beach and is much wider and open to the wild sea storms that occur from time to time. Naturally it’s very popular with surfers – perhaps later I’ll post some images of them that my husband captured. I love this beach for the driftwood lining the shore next to the trees and private cottages. As always I’m particularly intrigued by close up details.
by Marja-Leena rocks, more rocks
A favourite subject – aren’t these beauties in that light? How many photos of rocks have I published in the eleven years of this blog, I ask myself?
by Marja-Leena beachcombing
On this visit “our” beach was almost bare of the usual fascinating stones and shells that I love to collect. I did find a few lovely arrangements of kelp and other sea plants to collect digitally.
Into my pocket went a small fragment of a shell which made me think of the top part of a pan flute, or an ancient comb. The scan shows it larger than life and rather surreal…
by Marja-Leena glimmerings
Having recently enjoyed reading Marly Youman‘s most magical tale Glimmerglass and while still feeling dreamy over it as I perused more of our recent westcoast travel photos, the above images seemed to call out their own glimmerings.
I love her phrase to describe an artist as ‘pursuer of mystery’ (page 35). She is a writer who understands artists! I also love the cover and illustrations by Clive Hicks-Jenkins. A highly recommended read!
by Marja-Leena rainforest creatures
Going backward a bit in time from our arrival on the west coast of Vancouver Island and my rusty sand, water and rock photos, I must share the amazing rainforest creatures we met at a rest stop within Little Qualicum Falls Provincial Park in the center of the Island. As it was raining we ate lunch in our car then managed between raindrops to capture a few of these wonderful characters.