frost ferns
7:30 a.m. this morning, on the solarium skylights
then later a little playing with photoshop….
compare with frost fractals and first frost
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by Marja-Leena by Marja-Leena November’s end
As usual here on the ‘wetcoast’, November has been very rainy and often very windy, with above average precipitation but maybe not quite record-breaking except for early snow on the mountains. Some days the darkness has felt a bit heavy but one just has to keep busy, as I have with printmaking and holiday cards. Later, after all the Christmas preparations and the big days are over, I’ll have to start documenting and posting some of the work here to show you all.
Yesterday we had our first taste of the coming holiday season. Erika, husband and I went out to the annual Christmas craft fair put on by the Finns at the Scandinavian Centre. We went early to join the line-up to buy some home-made karjalanpiirakkas and braided loaves of pulla (both almost as good as my mother’s!). I resisted buying any more Christmas decorations after so many years of collecting but found a few good books for the granddaughters, plus some Danish marzipan that I always use when I bake the stollen. One of the books was written by an old friend and former neighbour, a Norwegian, who had a table there – it was a very pleasant surprise to see him there!
As we often do when we are in the area, we stopped afterwards at the Burnaby Art Gallery to see Robert Young’s exhibition** on it’s last day (naughty me). I’ve seen much of his work before but it was still great to see it all together in this lovely old building. I’ve written about Young here before and here’s a review of the exhibition.
As it was not raining for a change we went for a stroll around the gallery’s lovely gardens… yes, lovely even in November. I love the shapes of the bare old trees, some covered in moss, the pond with all it’s subtle colours and reflections and the soft pale mist over the lake beyond. I’m glad I remembered to take the camera, though I forgot to use it at the craft fair.
Since we were more than halfway there, we then went to that famous Swedish home furnishings store where Erika and I picked up some frames for some of our artworks. So you can say we had our Scandinavian fix mixed with some art and gardens, followed by delicious goodies with our afternoon coffee back at home.
Today the sun came out for a while after the morning showers. The forecast calls for more of that pale yellow ball in the sky this week along with colder temperatures. I can see an almost full moon out there too! I hope we’ll have a dry day next weekend to put up our outside LED Christmas lights. Some of the neighbours got theirs out yesterday and today so it’s slowly becoming festive and bright outdoors to chase away some of those Scandinavian Christmas trolls hiding in the dark!
** Edited March 2nd, 2013: Link has expired and has been removed.
by Marja-Leena bursting
I slept deeply after the ‘night scribblings’ and woke up late and refreshed. The creative binge of ideas and energy continued all weekend. I wonder what I ate or drank or what phase of moon affected me so strongly – I love it!
Saturday was a calm, dry but chilly day here, a pause in the waves of November storms we endure most years, so I felt motivated to get outside and finish planting the last of my spring-flowering bulbs into a bed full of still lush but fading pelargoniums that I always wait as long as I can to toss out (after taking many cuttings earlier this fall). I then repotted my collection of amaryllis bulbs, ever hopeful that some of them will bloom again this winter. Next came the paperwhite narcissi that I planted in various containers and placed into the cool bright solarium to slowly grow and then bloom hopefully just in time to bring inside for the holiday season. Then raking and more raking of heavy wet leaves…
Sunday was stormy again with heavy winds and rain, so dark as to need lights indoors, a good day to work in the studio and at this desk. I was bursting with ideas as I worked on plans for three projects:
1) the next Arkeo piece inspired further by those nocturnal ‘scribblings‘. I haven’t even editioned the last group of seven pieces that I’ve just finished proofing. It’s been a productive fall…
2) several Christmas card design ideas, finally settling on one to test print later this week
3) after some ambivalence, suddenly bursting with ideas for a proposal I may submit for a conference next spring – a new experience for me that I don’t want to reveal too much of as yet until I know if it happens – except to say that I’m thinking of including some kind of audiovisual presentation but I have to learn how to do this. I really don’t need more work and may need help doing this! Who could help? Will there be enough time? Still more questions than answers…
All these ideas bouncing around my head all day and scribbled on notes all over my desk meant that I had to force myself to wind down in the evening. We decided to watch a recorded segment of an archaeology series that’s been running on PBS TV networks… but that’s a whole other topic for another day that I really want to share!
by Marja-Leena night scribblings
above: a note to myself,
scribbled at 1:00 am, Saturday November 14th, 2009.
Below is the unedited text
beach, west coast
sound of waves
as I drift to sleep
misty – then
between dream back
to awake
images of steps, paths
twisting winding
own shadow or
Louhi, owl-woman
out of focus
ephemeral, shifty
hard to grasp
moving pictures in
mind
must get up & capture
on paper somehow
idea(s) for next ARKEO(s)?
connections with earlier
Arkeo – paths towards
the next ones w. London
underfoot images.
Hornby rocks…?
slide show of the mind…
state of half sleep, half awake…
may make no sense in the light of day…
yet…yet…is this a creative vision…
a guiding light to the next work?
…the essence…work from the heart rather
than the overly self-critical, analytical mind…
occasional benefits of insomnia? – overactive mind – ideas
in between these jottings, sleepily reading
few more passages of book
about the geology of Hornby Island…
by Marja-Leena on this day
This morning in the printmaking studio was somewhat frustrating for me. Lucy, our trusty and faithful wide-format printer was not happy. I’ve been trying to print a trial proof of a template image for my next series of prints. (I’ll tell you soon about the ones just finished.) I need to be sure the layout is right before I start placing the images on the page so I don’t have to redo them all. But Lucy now has a fancy new computer with the latest new OS and she’s making strange. Our fab technician and the IT person have been working on it the past few days but it still wasn’t working for me.
Somewhat dejected as I bussed home this afternoon, I paused along the path home to admire the fall colours hanging over a weathered leaning fence. Being without a camera, I impulsively picked a few small branches to scan at home. I haven’t posted any fall colours or done any scanning for a while so that made me feel better!
I also had a wonderful surprise awaiting when I opened my computer. Today Qarrtsiluni posted my ARKEO #4 along with a fabulous podcast by the editors Beth Adams and Dave Bonta. I think they made interesting observations, including the comment about emerging language. It’s always heartwarming to feel that one’s work is meaningful to others. I felt inspired by the current theme, Words of Power, so I’m very honoured to have my work included in qarrtsiluni again. Founding editors Beth and Dave have done such a fantastic job of this amazing online magazine and deserve a round of applause! If you don’t know it, do please check it out.
UPDATE Nov. 6th: I must tell you more about Lucy’s naming! This morning Bonnie, our technician, was showing me the small changes that had been made yesterday to restore Lucy’s operation. As I prepared to print, I told her about how amused some of you readers were concerning the fact that we have a name for this printer. Bonnie said she got the name from her brother’s old grey car. And get this: her brother is very interested in history and old things, so my thoughts of the early hominid Lucy were right on the mark!! Thankfully Lucy the printer is not that old and has lots of life left in her as long as the printer drivers are being updated. She is after all a commercial level printer used in many service bureaus and these folks don’t like to have to change their printers every three years! Oh, and I had great success with my prints today, the colour management is much improved in this version!
by Marja-Leena more Hornby rocks
a few more photos of Hornby Island’s rocks
a busy week but in a good way, despite continuing insomnia
fall gardening, housework and much art making
a most heartwarming time with a friend here for dinner and breakfast
life is good
by Marja-Leena transitions
Detail of a totem in Thunderbird Park, Victoria
Though there have been many exhilarating days, I’ve often been feeling exhausted this month due to sleeping poorly. I realize that’s because I’m going through a time of transition in many ways, mostly good but still changes in my very quiet life of the past eight months (not counting the trip to London and Paris earlier in the year).
We’ve had a lot of wonderful visitors over the past month or more, almost weekly: Miguel and Mika, our eldest daughter, husband’s older sister from Idaho, and his cousin and husband from Germany. Our middle daughter and granddaughters who will have been here for a lovely two months will be going back home to London in a few days so it will become very quiet here. Good thing youngest daughter is still living at home. My husband has been dealing with extra pressures at work and with changes concerning his late mother’s estate so those concerns have been rubbing off on me too.
Daily routines are changing now that I’m back to the printmaking studio. Being in a university setting, it feels like the annual back-to-school transition that has been a large part of my life, first as a student, then a high-school art teacher and then a mother as well as a practising artist. I’m now bussing instead of driving because of the mandatory U-pass and increase in campus parking costs. It’s reminding me of my early university days of long bus trips to and fro the University of Manitoba campus. Thankfully this is much shorter and I’m getting used to it.
After a longer absence than usual from the studio, it’s been an adjustment in routines but it’s also been an exciting start having an exhibition with my artist friends on Bowen Island and meeting another artist/blogger there. Happily I’ve made a good start on a series of small prints (I don’t usually do small!) as a way of getting the juices flowing before tackling larger and more demanding work. It feels good, very good.
A changing season in the garden means extra work bringing tender tropicals back into the solarium for the winter, taking cuttings of my collection of pelargoniums and other plants for next year’s garden, and the never-ending repotting of plants for they do keep growing! Guess who has too many plants?
September has been mostly gloriously sunny and warm, continuing the pattern of drought since spring. Now cooler, longer nights, heavy dews and a forecast of rain are signalling another transition into October and Autumn here on the southwest coast of British Columbia. Life is returning to a steady and satisfying rhythm of work.
Addendum Sept. 27th: A few people have been asking about the printmaking studio I work in. Please see this post I wrote several years ago, though it is now called Capilano University.
by Marja-Leena island hopping
Last weekend we finally, after many years since, revisited Hornby Island, one of our favourite places on BC’s west coast. Creating our own five-day long weekend beginning Friday morning (August 28th) we caught the ferry from Horseshoe Bay to Nanaimo on Vancouver Island, always a lovely ride over the Georgia Strait (or Salish Sea). From Nanaimo we drove north on the Island Highway to Buckley Bay to catch another but much smaller ferry to Denman Island, followed by a pleasant drive across that to catch the ferry to Hornby Island.
Our dearest friends have a lovely treed property with a cosy one room cedar rondavel (eight-sided cottage) which they always so generously give to their guests while they sleep in a tent trailer. Otherwise we spent all our time outdoors with an outdoor kitchen and picnic table where we lingered over many meals with much conversation. Across the road is the path to one of the rocky beaches. The roads and paths are lined with bushes heavy with blackberries.
Hornby Island belongs to the northern group of Gulf Islands but I believe they are all noted for their sandstone formations.
We took numerous photos that I’ve barely sorted through yet, including the petroglyphs that we’d seen long ago and I’d used in some of my work. It’s amazing that we even saw a beach we’d not seen before with dramatic cave and hoodoo formations that were wonderful to photograph. As some readers know, my photos from past visits to Hornby have appeared here as well as in many art works, see some links below. I hope to be posting some of these new ones in the near future.
Too soon, Monday morning we packed up, took the two ferries back to Vancouver Island, then drove south to Victoria, then north to Saanich to visit my sister-in-law. The next day we drove back south to Victoria to visit with a cousin and his partner over coffee at the Royal BC Museum‘s cafe. We had planned to see the exhibition from the British Museum but with only a bit more than an hour left the $27.50 per person seemed too steep.
Instead we walked around Victoria Harbour, had a bit of lunch, then went to visit my 81 year-old aunt. That was heart warming for we hadn’t seen her since my uncle’s funeral nearly two years ago. Back to sister-in-law’s for a bit then onto the ferry line up and the journey home. All that driving left us tired and happy to be home again in our own bed. It’s taken all week to recover from the holiday, what with catching up with chores, getting my prints together for an upcoming group show and attending a memorial service for a departed friend.
This Labour Day long weekend our eldest daughter is here to visit her sister and nieces one more time before they return to England. We have been worried about the forest fires raging in BC, especially near their home east of Kamloops. Her partner stayed home to keep watch in case of an evacuation call if it gets too close. The good news now is that rains have helped to reduce the dangers, and some families that had evacuated another area have been able to return home. Yes, it’s a rainy long weekend here, much needed, so we were very lucky taking our mini-vacation last weekend. Anyway, it’s a busy happy family time…
Related links:
my favourite rock, now gone
my petroglyph photos in a book
a petroglyph
Hornby rocks
another rock photo
and another
by Marja-Leena August 12th
Today I’m struggling to write about an artist exhibition I saw in London three months ago – oh, that long ago, no wonder! My mind wanders about as I read about the artist and visit some blogs. This one about the dead walking and talking must have triggered a thought and a reminder, maybe even an answer to my current restlessness, that today is a special day for me.
It’s also timed with the Perseids meteor showers last night though I was not lucky to see anything at bedtime, probably because there were too many lights around. All these vague feelings make me want to repost part of something that I wrote two years ago:
I have more than one good wish and remembrance on this auspicious day:
Happy anniversary to our daughter E and son-in-law J
Remembering both their late grandfathers’ birthdays that serendipitiously fell on the same day
Happy Birthday to nephew N, living and working in faraway South Korea
Remembering the serendipity of my father’s name and birthday month
by Marja-Leena London: blogger meetups
(left to right: Jean, Lady Penelope, yours truly, Stuart, Natalie and Dick)
I was very excited to meet a few blogger friends while visiting the UK. The very first meeting, only two days after arriving in London, was with the amazing Natalie d’Arbeloff whose alter ego is Blaugustine. Natalie kindly invited me to her apartment, or flat as the English say, which turned out to be only a short bus ride away. Daughter, granddaughters and husband accompanied me, making sure I would not get lost, and after introductions went off to nearby Hampstead Heath in the meantime.
I felt awed to be there, yet right at home with Natalie chatting about our lives, our artmaking and printmaking, just picking up from our online friendship. It was fabulous to see her work on her walls, some of it so familiar from her blog, and to see her spacious attic studio above her flat, a romantic garrett studio, can you imagine!? I so enjoyed looking and touching the many artist books that Natalie has created, for nothing can compare to experiencing the real thing. Thank you, Natalie, for this time with you!
Two days later, Natalie and I met again at a charming tavern nearby for lunch, joined by several other mutual blogger-friends. How amazing to meet in person the beautiful Jean (Tasting Rhubarb) and Lady Penelope (twisted rib) plus Stuart (Hydragenic) and Dick (Patteran Pages). Such warm and wonderful people, even better in real life! Thank you all for coming to meet me, especially Dick who had to come from out of town and Jean who had to take time off from work just before a long business trip to China.
Meeting online friends is like meeting penpals in the olden days, hmm? More to come about some other bloggers that we met later on…