Almost a full month since I last posted. Sorry folks! I've been busy running around in circles these last couple of weeks, and almost nothing to show for it...hehe....
So maybe you should just look at some pretty photos that I took with my NEW CAMERA! My Secret-Agent-Lover-Man gave me a late-birthday present the other day: a Sapphire-blue SONY Cyber-shot, with the Carl Zeiss lens.
Now I don't know anything about photography really, let alone cameras. So my observations are strictly anecdotal. But I just LOVE it so far! It's very easy to just 'point-and-shoot', and I haven't taken a bad photo with it yet.
Here are some shots of my backyard, and the glorious Campbell Valley Park that I walk regularly with friends. Enjoy!
Some lovely Crab-Apple blossoms......
A forest Cathedral.......
Some Wild Trillium......
A gorgeous canopy of Vine Maples.......
Solomon's Seal (above), and 'Turkey Tail' fungus under a log.
This weekend, I spent some time with my parents up in their hometown, Hope BC. It's a funny little town situated at the mouth of the Fraser Canyon. It's got stunning natural beauty, backed up against the snowy-peaked mountains, a rushing Fraser river, and has that mysterious 'Twin Peaks' appeal of small towns in the wilderness.
Mostly, I just hung out with my mum and dad, eating my mum's amazing home-baked goodies and enjoying my dad's weird humour. It's always a good battery-charge for me to head up there, and just be in their presence. They are the salt of the earth, and extremely special people to me.
We went on a nice walk into town, and visited their friends, John and Erika. They are Mennonite folks, really nice and have this great little apartment above the main street. They have a stunning view of the mountains, and it's the perfect place to watch all the 'action' of the town, as they look down on the post office, and one of the only large liquor stores in town! While we were there, John showed me his work-space that he had in the apartment. It was a place where he liked to do upholstery with an ancient Singer sewing machine that looked like it could probably sew through anything. John is a retired teacher, but was an upholsterer as well, professionally. I saw the interior of his washroom, and gasped! It was full of whimsical junk everywhere, and I had to take a few photos of it. Hehe....so here are my photos of a guy's workshop washroom....heheh, sorry! But it was just great! John's in the right side of the last picture.
Then we went to a beautiful trail near Kawkawa Lake, called the Canada Trail. Supposedly it links up with many, many other trails and you can hike across to the other side of Canada via this system! Amazing. I'm going to have to do a little more research about these trails, but it sounded intriguing.
Along the trail, we ran across an old 50's car of some sort that had been driven off the side into the forest. There were all sorts of trees and moss growing out of it-amazing. I had to take a photo of it. It was really peaceful, and there were tons of turtles sunning themselves on logs in the boggy lake next to one side of the trail. So cute. :^)
I stayed over Friday night, and then on Saturday we all went over to some good friend's house for an Easter Mexican feast! There were lots of kids running around, and GREAT stories flowing about our friends growing up in Cache Creek and living on ranches, riding horses, hosting real cowboys during the rodeos, and floating downstream on inner tubes during the summer months. So cool.
Hope everyone had a wonderful time with family & friends, for Ostara.
I went down to the Monroe Motorcycle swap meet this past Sunday with my fiancée and a couple of friends. It's a bigger swap meet, for vintage motorcycle enthusiasts. I basically went along for the ride, because I was sort of itching for a road trip. You know when you just crave a long and open road ahead of you, a hot coffee in your travel mug, and some good tunes? Anyways, I didn't particularly go down because of anything at the Swap Meet, per se.
So imagine my complete and utter delight when I found a lady at her booth, selling piles and piles of old black and white photos, and weird old jewelry! She had big huge bowls of mixed junk, that you had to rake through to find anything, boxes of old photos, lots of them from the early 1900's....letters, weird old patches you sew on to things....
Here are a few of my finds. I'm so excited! The coolest thing was a stack of letters, written on hotel stationary from 1936. There were 10 pages in all, and they were written to someone's sweetheart. It was a heart-wrenching letter, trying to explain the reasons he hadn't been in touch with her, and telling her that he just found out that she was having their baby, and that he was excited and was worried that she wouldn't respond. I sat in my studio the next day, just absorbed with the passionate words scribbled hastily by this person I didn't know, on paper now over 7 decades old. Crazy!
I also got some old black and white photographs, clearly VERY old as well. A couple of 'cowboys' leaning up against a 30's car, and some crazily-dressed fellows standing in front of a very pioneer-type cabin covered in Honeysuckle, with corn cob pipes in their mouths. Wonderful.
I just love old things. Particularly old things that were once treasured, but went forgotten for a long time until you discover them under a pile of old discarded metal bits. It just makes me feel like I've stumbled upon some family secret, covered in dust, waiting to be unearthed again. Who knows what secrets these pieces could tell, if they could talk? Whose locket was it, with the tiny little paste ruby in the centre? What photos did it hold? Who's pocket watch did I find, the one that has the gold rubbed off the front, and still tells time perfectly all these years later? I'll never know. But they intrigue me to no end.
I work at a Heritage site; a Museum made of an old 1894 farmhouse and property that was a significant pioneer settlement in my local town. This year, Spring Break for the kids ran for 2 weeks, for the first time. Our facility offers Spring Break Literature camps for kids, and this year our camps were based on 4 classics written 100 years (or so) ago:
♦ Anne of Green Gables
♦ Treasure Island
♦ The Secret Garden
♦The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
The magic of all the books has captured my imagination for the last couple of weeks, and I got inspired to read "The Secret Garden" by Frances Hodgson Burnett again, as it has been probably 20 years since I last read it.
It has all the makings of a good story; an unlikely heroine, a jolly wise-cracking boy who she meets on the Moors, a delightful selection of animals, a hidden door, and a mysterious garden hidden behind it, the key to it long buried by a heart-broken cranky old man living in a dark and foreboding mansion.
Anyways, if you haven't read this classic, I highly recommend that you do. It is surprising me, in many ways.
It's such a simple story, and it will appeal to the curious, adventuresome, lonely little girl in yourself.
The creative juices are most certainly starting to rise in me, with the lovely imagery my mind has conjured up while reading myself to bed with it, each night.
Don't be surprised if you recognize some of the storyline in my future works~
Ahh, the world is a wonderful place! So many things to be inspired by....never enough time. :^)
I was in the tub tonight, feeling kind of under the weather. A busy, weird day at work and I felt like I needed a bit of comfort.
But whenever I get into the tub, I get these weird thoughts of inspiration come at me. I start to get visions of jewelry, and wacky clothes....hats I'd like to make (even though I don't know a thing about millinery!)....
I got to thinking of Isabella Blow, the muse of the late Alexander McQueen. I recently just watched "The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou" and she plays a cameo wearing one of her infamous wacky hats in it. It's tragic, because supposedly Isabella took her own life after suffering from cancer and depression, and Alexander McQueen who was very close to her suffered almost the same fate in the end.
Now they are both up in Fashion Heaven, wearing outrageous clothes and hats together and laughing at the silliness of people on Earth, I guess....
Anyways, this post is dedicated to Isabella. I always admired her 'chutzpah' when it came to her image, and have great aspirations to one day start designing and constructing fascinators and hats that she might like. It just seems like it would be so much fun!
Ok. I'm not necessarily a fan of OK Go. I'm not necessarily opposed to them either. It's just that I haven't listened much to any of their music (as I simply cannot seem to get past the '60's, as you may have gathered from my last blog post!)
Of all people, my FATHER-IN-LAW recommended that I watch this video just tonight! He's a pretty cool dude, though so I shouldn't be too surprised......
This is a really great video! Just watch it. Ok? GO!
Well, friends. Another week gone by, and Spring is at our doorstep here in Surrey, British Columbia. As I mentioned in my previous post, the atmosphere is charged with life, and new blossoms appear daily almost.
This week, I've been overwhelmed by inspiration in its many forms. I can only keep track of a few things that inspire me, before they leave my head like downy seeds on the wind. I'm not sure what it is about how my brain processes information, but retention doesn't seem to be in my make-up! I did succeed, however, to remember 3 things that really shaped my thoughts this week:
♠Luzern, Switzerland:
This was my favourite place in Europe visited over 10 years ago now. I went to Europe and travelled to 4 different countries with Langara College for their "Art History & English Classics Tour of Europe". This was a 2-month long sojourn, primarily by bus with about 50 other art history students, 2 teachers, and many many papers and theses written on the road. Yes, I got credits for it, all of 18! A glorious semester on the road, if you will.
We hit England, France, Switzerland, and Italy. The cosmopolitan, but old-World charm of Luzern, Switzerland was the town that hit me the hardest. I can't completely explain why because I think the best way to know is to just GO, but some outstanding reasons were: the clean cold drinking water, the views of the Alps, the 'german' charm of the little public squares and pedestrian-only cobbled streets, the little Picasso museum I visited in a converted-shingled 2-storey home with no one else in it, and the abundantly delicious chocolate!
This last photo is of my charming hostel that I called home, "TouristHotel", the middle building. It was right on the waterfront, and I had a stunning view of a gondola that crept slowly up an impossibly steep, craggy mountain, complete with snowy peaks even in September.
Whenever I am feeling like the world is a bit too small, or a bit too large, I travel back in time and am back in a particular public square within walking distance of my hostel, eating an apple in the bright Autumn sun, and watching families while away the afternoon in front of a wonderful little fountain splashing merrily away. Inspiration.
♠Toller Cranston:
Toller Cranston was an Olympic Figure Skater way back in the 1980's, but also happens to be an amazing artist and painter. He was born in Canada, and is represented by Jenkins Showler Gallery in White Rock, BC which is my hometown. I just saw a spread in a magazine of his home and artwork recently, and it totally blew my mind! Quite eccentrically decorated, and very rich with texture and colour. This guy doesn't shy away from bold, bright bohemian colours in his home or art, which I LOVE.
These images aren't ideal, but if you ever get the chance to see his work in person, I highly recommend it. It's warm, and folk-ey and I just feel happy when I look at it. Inspiration.
♠The Sounds of Silence: Simon & Garfunkel (specifically, on vinyl):
I love listening to music when I do artwork. When I paint, I listen to music. When I am printing, I listen to music. Hell, when I vacuum....I listen to music!
Nine times out of 10, it's on vinyl. I was lucky enough to inherit my parents' vast collection of records when they down-sized years ago, and still haven't touched even a fraction of what they owned. Quite frequently, I get stuck on certain albums and play them over, and over....until my fiancée threatens to kill himself with a butter knife if I don't start playing something DIFFERENT! Haha....just kidding, he is very stoked on vinyl and has his own collection too. I am very lucky.
So lately it has been The Sounds of Silence. SUCH a fantastic album. It is infinitely hummable, and totally funky, not to mention masterfully crafted by two of the music world's superstars. Not only that, they don't really speak to each other anymore. Which, for some perverse reason, makes this record all the more precious to me. Check out "Richard Corey", and tell me what you think. You know what I think.
