silhouettes
November 28, 2013 in Nature, Photoworks
cross-eyed from chasing and fixing broken links on this blog
step outside to look far away (good exercise for the eyes)
notice the gathering clouds above
trees like sentinels in silhouette
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schlumbergera
November 27, 2013 in Nature, Photoworks
still beautiful withering flowers of Thanksgiving cactus
A Happy Thanksgiving to our American family and friends!
untitled
November 26, 2013 in Being an Artist, Digital printmaking
Another found image, not a photo this time but a small inkjet print. It was tucked amidst some Christmas card tests from my early digital printing days. I don’t remember what this is about, probably just some playing around while learning. I now find it rather intriguing to look at some fifteen years or so years after making it. Sort of like looking at one’s old drawings from art school days.
stones on the shore
November 25, 2013 in Photoworks, Rocks
More found photos… how I have always loved the patterns of stones by the water, the colours of wet and dry
Suddenly recalling a few lines from a sonnet by the old Bard:
Like as the waves make towards the pebbl’d shore, so do our minutes hasten to their end;
each changing place with that which goes before, in sequent toil all forwards do contend.
– Wm Shakespeare
rainforest walk
November 24, 2013 in Canada and BC, Nature, Photoworks
As hinted in the previous post, I came across several forgetten envelopes of miscellaneous photos from many years ago. I don’t remember if these were originally of a yellow cast or if time’s hand had changed them that way so I thought I’d have fun and make them into sepia images. I quite like the result – the atmosphere of mystery, of wondering what is around the corner of that path and beyond those moss covered trees.
These, I remember well, were taken in Pacific Rim National Park, on the wild west coast of Vancouver Island. If the date is correct on the envelope it was in May 1999. This walkway was located near the Wickaninnish Centre and led down to Long Beach. On subsequent visits over the years, that boardwalk slowly disintegrated and disappeared into the earth.
Seeing these photos has brought back many wonderful memories and a desire for another visit to this very beloved place.
a petroglyph photo
November 23, 2013 in Canada and BC, Photography, Rock Art & Archaeology
possibly a petroglyph on Hornby Island?
found amidst photos from another place where we’ve not seen petroglyphs
(evidence of non-existent photo filing in pre-digital days)
two weavings
November 22, 2013 in Being an Artist, Culture, Finland, Estonia & Finno-Ugric, Home
Today I have thinking again about possible designs for this year’s Christmas cards. I usually like something red and something that has a bit of a story and is a bit personal. We have many weavings in our home, many were gifts to us or inherited from my mother. I thought I’d play with some scans of sections from a few of them. Above is one that came from Switzerland, I think. It is a reversible table runner. The other side has the red colour dominant.
This one is a section from an old Finnish weaving that had been in my parents’ home as long as I can remember but I don’t recall who made it and gifted it. I would not be surprised if it came from a great-aunt who was an amazing weaver, but there are others in the family as well. This is a small wall-hanging, also reversible, but with two layers, a very old traditional technique I believe. The design areas are woven together while the top edge is sewn together. The bottom edge has a fringe.
To me, both of these are like children’s storybook illustrations. So, I then became inspired to try a card design with one of them – can you guess which one?
frost
November 21, 2013 in Blogging, Nature, Photoworks
Cold moonlit nights, bright days with barely warming sunshine. The frost is growing fur!
I have posted numerous similar photos of frost (fractals, flowers, ferns, and maybe even fur) over the years. This has become extremely evident to me as I laboriously go over each post (over 1800!) fixing missing line breaks and inbound links that were damaged in this blog’s recent transition to WordPress. Am I so self-absorbed that I keep linking back to my own previous posts? Well, not this time.
toying with ideas
November 20, 2013 in Being an Artist, Printmaking
Being a long-time printmaker and one who does not like to throw away anything that might be useful, I have a huge number of proofs even after throwing away the worst of them over the years for lack of space. I wish I could organize them in some way in my small home studio.
I have long been toying with ideas for recycling these printmaking elements. Sure, I have made some cards from small collages now and then. I once even took inspiration from artist Clive Hicks-Jenkins to make an owl-woman maquette from cut out pieces of proofs. Larger mixed media works with some new-to-me techniques like encaustics might be exciting to try.
And of course this is the time of year to make Christmas cards.
I need motivation.
November colours
November 19, 2013 in Nature, Photoworks
Clear and cold, brilliant blue sky and ocean, white capped waves and mountaintops
red and yellow peppers in the solarium
mauve petals of hydrangea fading to grays
golden leaves amongst evergreen