hands
studying hands
reading about hands
inspired by hands
pressing hands into medium
scanning hand
(Later: See the hand prints that followed)
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by Marja-Leena by Marja-Leena mentors please
We’ve just spent a pleasant Sunday at the apartment of our daughter, Erika, and her boyfriend. Her father tried to help her with some computer problems, while Erika and I chatted about possible layouts for the artist’s website that she is designing for me. I’ve been eagerly looking forward to this, as I feel that I need a more professional site as a supplement to this blog. I trust Erika’s eye for design and her skill with web design work, the latter of which eludes me.
Then we talked about the grad project she is working on in this, her final semester, of the Communication Design degree program at Emily Carr Institute, here in Vancouver. I’m rather tickled and proud that she has chosen to explore the Finnish half of her ancestry! I’ve passed on to her many books and links to websites and now I’m sharing some information about her project with you, my dear readers, because she is asking for a little help.
Erika is calling her design project Coffee and Pulla, and is asking for mentors (family not allowed):
I’m designing a book about Finland, explored through family stories and comparisons to Canada. As a requirement, I need a mentor. Very little contact is expected by my instructor — 2 or 3 times over the semester, which ends in mid-April — so it may only require an hour or two of your time over the course of a couple months.
I’m looking for any combination of:
a) a Finn who immigrated to Canada (or at least lived here for some length of time) OR
b) a Canadian who immigrated to Finland (or at least lived there for some length of time)
c) a (graphic) designer, particularly if one of the above
d) a writer
e) a photographer
Read more about it on her blog, and if you are interested in helping her out, please contact her directly. Thank you!
by Marja-Leena THREE!
ONE, TWO, now THREE years of blogging!
I’ve surprised myself, when I recall my very tentative beginnings with this “art” project, as I like to think of it.
Thank you all for your inspiration, encouragement and warm friendship.
UPDATE: Oh, a blog birthday gift! A photo of mine has been posted over at qarrtsiluni. Go have a look and check out the other work, too! Comments are welcome and appreciated. Should you be a first time visitor to this online journal of creative writing and visual art, please consider submitting a piece. The current theme (which changes about every two months) is “Come Outside”.
by Marja-Leena January/Janus
Janus – etching, 40 x 37.5 cm.
Good grief, it’s already the end of January! Christmas was only yesterday. I’ve meant to write this all month because my thoughts have been frequently circling around the notion of looking back and looking ahead while standing over a gate like a moment in time. This made me think of Janus and of this etching, one of a small series of prints I made on the Janus theme over two decades ago. (They can be found in the archives under “Older Works”.)
Janus is the Roman god of gates and doors (ianua), beginnings and endings, and hence represented with a double-faced head, each looking in opposite directions. He was worshipped at the beginning of the harvest time, planting, marriage, birth, and other types of beginnings, especially the beginnings of important events in a person’s life. Janus also represents the transition between primitive life and civilization, between the countryside and the city, peace and war, and the growing-up of young people.
Still seems pretty relevant, doesn’t it?
Janus is also the sixth satellite of Saturn. I wonder if that has any astrological or other significance on us earthly subjects?
by Marja-Leena Ancient British Columbia
We’ve lived in British Columbia well over three decades and have seen many many areas but still not all of this beautiful province. We’re now inspired anew to go exploring those yet unknown corners with the recent arrival into our hands of a beautiful new book: In Search of Ancient British Columbia, by Barbara Huck, with Philip Torrens and Heidi Henderson.
Here’s the blurb on the back:
Once, parts of British Columbia lay on the far side of the Pacific. Once, its ancient seacoasts were inhabited by creatures on the threshold of evolution. Once it was populated by some of Canada’s first peoples.
Today, B.C. is one of the world’s most geographically varied places. But clues to its ancient past are everywhere, in its mountains and arid valleys, along its lakeshores and seacoasts. For the first time, the geological, paleontological and archaeological wonders of southern B.C. are gathered in one place. With hundreds of color photographs, maps and drawings, In Search of Ancient British Columbia presents an accessible, route-oriented approach for today’s time travellers, creating an indispensable guide to the forces that have shaped the spirit of the land.
Heartland Books is a Winnipeg-based publisher of history, heritage, travel and non-fiction. I look forward to Volume II covering the northern regions.
I’m thrilled and proud to have two of my photographs of Hornby Island petroglyphs, shown above, included in this fascinating and well-designed publication on a subject of great interest to me. We’re going to be doing some wonderful armchair travelling for the next while and start planning a few trips around our own backyard this summer!
by Marja-Leena five things
I’ve been tagged for a meme called Five Things You May Not Know About Me, thanks to Jean at This Too.
My, I had to think long and hard on this since I’ve already revealed much about myself on this blog. My life has not been very exotic and I don’t harbour any dreadful secrets, but here’s what I’ve come up with.
1. This is the first time on this blog that I show a photo of myself as a child, at 5 years of age, taken just before we emigrated to Canada.
2. I had my first and only artist’s garret around the age of eight. I spent hours there drawing, writing, reading and day-dreaming.
3. I was good in math in high school with marks in the low 90’s. My math teacher wanted me to pursue it in university. I told her I wasn’t a natural at it, only that she was an excellent teacher. That point was proven in Grade 12 when I almost failed it due to an incompetent teacher. Instead, I wanted to become an architect, interior designer or an artist.
4. I have (or had) more than 50 cousins, having lost count after that.
5. I have an international family with birth or ancestry from Finland mostly, Karelia, Russia, Germany, England, Greece, Ukraine and USA, and probably others that I don’t know about. We all came from Africa, you know.
I’m supposed to tag five others. I invite anyone who’s interested.
by Marja-Leena January rain
It’s back to normal January weather in the rainforest zone.
I think about how to capture rain on pixels.
I try it from the indoors looking out through rain spattered windows.
I acknowledge the beauty of this manifestation of nature.
I overcome the downer of greyness and dimness indoors.
by Marja-Leena ephemeral
just before sunrise…
at sunrise…
by Marja-Leena our New Year’s weekend
As I mentioned in a comment in the previous post, we went away for the New Year’s weekend – to the city of Victoria on Vancouver Island. Once there, we first had a wonderful visit with my elderly uncle and aunt, joined by a cousin (from another branch) and his lady friend.
Then we went to the home of very good long-time friends with whom we have spent many a New Year’s eve when we lived in the same neighbourhood. Since they moved to Victoria in retirement, we had them as house guests last New Year’s, and this time it was our turn. We truly enjoyed their cosy old seaside home and our many walks – around a bog the first evening, along the beach on a sunny and warm New Year’s Eve morning, and up Little Douglas Mountain in rain and wind on New Year’s Day.
The highlight was our magical early New Year’s evening walk through The Butchart Gardens, all lit up with thousands of lights and decorations for the holiday season. Special displays on the theme of “Twelve Days of Christmas” are tucked away in the huge gardens and we’d be challenged to guess each as we tried to remember the song. We particularly loved the more subtle garden displays using uplighting to highlight the gorgeous branches of eucalyptus, Japanese and vine maples and of course the giant evergreens in the background. The deep quarry lake with its fountains in changing colours were mesmerizing. The men had their cameras and took numerous photographs but without tripods, it was challenging to capture the more subtle displays in the dark. Here are a few of my favourites, plus there are a few more images on the Garden’s website.
Back at the house, we were warmed by delicious hot soup and dinner, followed by our Christmas gift exchange, a little TV to watch a Canadian New Year’s Eve comedy show, then a board game, snacks, chocolates, Christmas baking and finally champagne and kisses at midnight. I think we were up until 1:30 in the morning on a sugar high! A wonderful end to the year, and a happy beginning to the new one! We are grateful and blessed by such good friends.
by Marja-Leena another year
Tomorrow is New Year’s Eve and the sixth day of Christmas. We are readying ourselves for our favourite way of celebrating, a quiet evening with close friends over good food and interesting games, rather than parties or clubs, with a bottle of champagne ready at countdown. I suddenly wish I could take up an old Finnish tradition I remember from childhood – pouring molten tin into snow and reading our fortunes from the shapes.
Some brave folks may be even going for a Polar Bear Swim on New Year’s Day, though not us! Or maybe we would if we had a sauna by the lake, like many Finns.
To be honest, I always feel sad New Year’s Eve because another year passes, how quickly time passes. Yet I appreciate that we celebrate surviving another year and live with the hope that a fresh new year will bring a better world. And here in the north, we also celebrate the passing of the darkest days of the year and await the slow return of lighter and warmer days.
A big thank you for your support to everyone reading this. I wish you many new successes, new joys, good health, peace and contentment, and abundant creativity. Hauskaa Uutta Vuotta! Bonne année! Allen ein frohes Neues Jahr! Happy New Year!