by Marja-Leena 
I have been going through this year’s photos and even some from years past. I found many that did not get posted on this blog and some that I ended up playing with just for fun such as this one.
I still have to decide on an image for the annual Christmas card. The other possibility is to make something from the print proofs in that pile in the studio… hmmm…
by Marja-Leena 
On November 1st at 4:35 to 4:36 pm looking south, southwest from our rear deck.
A bright new view since the removal of many tall trees next door,
but for this one magestic maple looking like a silhouette paper cut.
…each slow dusk a drawing-down of blinds – Wilfred Owen
by Marja-Leena 
This fall’s rainy days and dark evenings have been perfect to cosy up with some good books. Here’s a short list of some that I have been enjoying:
1. Broken for You by Stephanie Kallos – this review says it all for me, though perhaps reveals too much of the story. Chapter 25 was most compelling for me with its vivid description of the creative process of breaking and remaking. This book was recommended by a reader in a comment to one of my many posts on broken china. The image above is a reposting of one such “break”.
2. How Many Roads? by Jonathan Sa’adah is a gorgeous book of his stunning sepia photographs taken in the late 60s and early 70s. My husband and I enjoyed revisiting that time from our youth when from a distance we read and heard about what was happening below the border from us in Canada. Wonderful essays too. We highly recommend it. Order from Phoenicia Publishing. We are very pleased to support our friends Jonathan and Beth Adams and to have this treasure to remember them by.
3. I wrote about Emily Carr recently and felt inspired to reread, afer many decades, her books Klee Wyck and The House of All Sorts – such sweet pleasures still underway.
by Marja-Leena 
Novem means nine in Latin
November is the ninth month in the Roman calendar
November is about weather from wind and rainstorms to sunny skies,
about garden cleanup, trimming trees, sweeping and raking leaves,
bringing in tender plants with possible frosty nights ahead
by Marja-Leena 
British Columbia’s own beloved artist Emily Carr (1871-1945) is well known in Canada but not so much in England. Now a large body of her work is on exhibition there for the first time, at the Dulwich Picture Gallery in London.
Our Vancouver Art Gallery has a large collection of her work, some of which is in the London exhibition along with collections from other Canadian institutions. They have a website on Emily with link to a timeline and images of her work:
Emily Carr, born in Victoria, British Columbia, is one of Canada’s most renowned artists, significant as a landscape painter and a modernist. The most important BC artist of her generation, she is best known for her attention to the totemic carvings of the First Nations people of British Columbia and the rain forests of Vancouver Island.
I have been very fortunate in seeing so much of her work here and in Victoria. The Vancouver Art Gallery always has some of her work on display for the pleasure of revisits, sometimes along with a contemporary artist with the aim of provoking discussion about differences and similarities in approach or spirit. I love most her late period works of our magestic trees painted in a free expressionist fashion.
A Guardian review of the Dulwich exhibit calls Emily Carr Canada’s very own Van Gogh. Some images to be enjoyed here as well.
This 2006 review in the Vancouver Sun might also be of interest.
I am now recalling a superb exhibition in 2002 called Carr, O’Keeffe, Kahlo: Places of Their Own accompanied by a wonderful book by Sharyn Rohlfsen Udall which I recommend highly, if it is still available and you are interested.
Above image: Emily Carr: Corner of Kitwancool Village, c. 1930 – Oil on Canvas
© McMichael Canadian Art Collection, scanned from a card
Later: just found this in today’s Vancouver Sun newspaper
by Marja-Leena 
Whether you call it Hallowe’en, All Hallow’s Eve, Samhain, Day of the Dead or Kekri, may it be a spine-tingling, fun and safe one. Our heavy heavy rains have finally stopped just now and it might be a dry night for the little ghosts and goblins.
If you fancy a visit through my past Hallowee’en posts to put you in the spirit, click here. As you will notice, the image above is a reworking of a favourite one used before.
by Marja-Leena 
the house on our south side was demolished last week, not so long since the January 2012 demolition on our north side
it feels so disturbing, so sad to see this happening everywhere; this was a good home for one single family since the 1950’s
the yard had some lovely rhododendrons though overgrown with too many trees and invasive ivy, all now cut and ripped out
including two giant cedars, here with some interesting icicle like rips on the stumps
how many tree rings can you count on this twenty-six inch diameter stump?
our home feels a bit exposed but there is now so much light and views for us neighbours around the property
(all photos taken by my husband with his iPhone)
Added later: Oh, how could I forget: the noise and the pounding? As I sit at this computer in this room on the south side, right next to the ‘zone’, I suddenly notice all the art work on this wall has gone higgeldy-piggeldy. A mini-earthquake.
by Marja-Leena Last night husband, daughter Erika and I attended a wonderful opening of Robert Young’s stunning exhibition at the beautiful Gordon Smith Gallery in North Vancouver. It was the occasion of a release of his new print Bebop for the Artists for Kids, along with an exhibition with the theme of Spatial Understanding which included a number of his older prints, paintings and drawings plus a recently completed new painting.
It was a heartwarming evening! I was touched to receive a warm hug from Bob as I congratulated him on his show. We were also pleased to see many artist friends there from our former print studio, the Art Institute. How we have missed each other. (I was a bit watery eyed thinking of the evening later.) I’m sorry I was too busy to take many photos, most of which came out very yellow under the lights but for this of Robert as he spoke about his work to the gallery visitors:
The exhibition continues to January 3rd, 2015. Check here and here for more information about this unusual Gallery and its work. If you are in the area, it is well worth a visit to see this master’s impeccable work.
Some readers may recall a couple of posts I had previously written about Robert Young here and here, where some images of his work may be seen as well as at the links for more.
by Marja-Leena 
inspired by the season
a little play with scissors and a print proof on paper
by Marja-Leena running right now which I dearly wish I could visit:
1. Anselm Kiefer at the Royal Academy in London. I have long loved his work and follow it online. I was so very lucky to see one of his shows in Munich in yr. 2000 – wow! Be sure to also visit the link to Kiefer’s astonishing 200-acre art studio! I always appreciate Jonathan Jones’ comprehensive reviews.
2. The late and great Canadian artist Alex Colville at the Art Gallery of Ontario. There is even a link to a wonderful website in his name that seems to show most of his long life’s work.
3. Hokusai at the Grand Palais in Paris, thanks to a post by Charles T. Downey of Ionarts. You know how I love printmaking and the Japanese masters.
Because I don’t travel far these days, the internet does compensate a bit. I’d love to see photos and reports from any readers that do visit any or all of these shows.
Added November 3rd, 2014: My good blog friend, artist Olga Norris went to see the Anselm Kiefer exhibition and found it monumentally visceral.
And the very next day, artist and friend Natalie d’Arbeloff wrote a superb review of Kiefer’s work along with some excellent links!
I am sooo envious.
Added November 26th, 2014: In a comment at a later post, Olga Norris mentioned an excellent and powerful review of the Kiefer exhibition, the best I’ve read about this artist. It’s by a blogger new to me and whose blog That’s How the Light Gets In looks rich in material so I have bookmarked it for further reading.