Our first stop was lunch at the Flying Black Dog, a small food caravan serving freshly made delicious food which we sat in the sunshine to devour. Christian suggested a hike up Mount Galiano as our next activity, since the weather was good and we had time to kill before checking into the B&B. So off we went through mossy cedar forest along overgrown trails that wound up and up to the very top with a magnificent view of the surrounding Gulf Islands. We saw many birds up there, small ones in the trees and large ravens and an eagle riding the wind above. Not far from the bottom of the trail is the original cemetery with gravestones dating back to the mid-eighteen hundreds. The cemetery has a lovely view out over the water and not far off was a small island covered in a colony of seals basking in the late afternoon sun.

The Bed and Breakfast we stayed in, Sands of Morning Beach, was a lovely spot to wake up to. The front of the house looks out onto Morning Beach and the morning light shining on the water was just stunning. The owners of the B & B have multiple feeders set up in the trees to feed a multitude of birds so the view is also filled with non-stop bird watching. I saw at least five or six hummingbirds zooming around at high speed, plus goldfinches, crows, sparrows, juncos, chickadees, and many more I’m not sure what to identify as. On the inside of the house there is a pet Senegal Parrot named Mango, and two energetic small dogs named Howie and Pogo.

Saturday we spent our day driving around the island exploring whatever we came across. Galiano Island Books is one stop in town I highly recommend. They have an excellent selection of books, and one very demanding cat that commands customers for attention with a loud yowl. My favorite part of the day was having a picnic in sunny Spotlight Cove, with me exploring the tide pools looking for tiny crab while Boris sat on a log reading a book.

I also enjoyed our stop at Stone World, a fantastic Bodega Ridge landscape of standing stones and ritually decorated rocks created by stone carver Steve Ocsko. His wife Barbara gave us a tour of the indoor studio explaining the evolution of Steve’s carving work, which led to a fascinating and inspiring conversation about geology, art, and using the internet. Along with the stone sculptures the studio had many lovely found natural objects, such as a wasp’s nest, a hummingbird nest, the largest barnacle shell I’ve ever seen, and much more. It was a fascinating visit and Boris and I really hit it off with Barbara. Stone World seems to have an odd reputation with locals, or at least that’s the impression I have from talking to people. Lots of people know of it but have strange ideas because of the standing stones, and so they haven’t visited themselves. Our friends were surprised when we told them about our visit and what we found there (nothing weird, that is).

Our hosts for the weekend, Christian and Martine, invited us for dinner with friends at their place on Saturday evening. It was a cozy time spent laughing, talking, eating and playing games. Martine runs a catering business on Galiano and as you can imagine, she makes delicious food. Part of the meal was a dish of lentils cooked with bacon, which is something I’d be happy to revisit again since I love both lentils and bacon. Boris was hijacked by Lili, Martine’s six year old daughter, shortly after our arrival and she had him bouncing around on the trampoline which was fun to watch.

Our final day on Galiano was a rainy one, but we went out exploring anyway. A walk around Morning Beach with Howie the dog revealed interesting formations in the sandstone and a large water-carved cave to take shelter in when the rain came down hard. There were tiny gardens of succulent plants on the top of large boulders which were very colourful and beautiful. Our last stop before departing the island was a drive on Bodega Beach Road which led to a hike down a slug covered trail and then to a view overlooking the Strait of Georgia with rainy Vancouver across the way.

It was a lovely weekend away, and much needed for Boris and I. We managed to cover a lot of ground on our short trip, but I’d be happy to go again and see more.

Ariane is in San Francisco this week, and last night her tweet about Alamo Square had me revisiting my photos on Flickr taken in SF on a trip there a few years ago. The trip down memory lane reminded me of these shots taken in the deYoung Museum of three sculptures by Ruth Asawa.

She’s a San Francisco based artist best known for her sculptures created by crocheting or tying wire. The work is delicate and beautiful, and captures organic forms that remind me of micro-organisms or seedpods. Ruth is also a painter and has numerous large scale public art installations located around San Francisco.

I’m really glad to have this reminder of her because it’s very much in line with the more craft oriented work I’m interested in at the moment. It’s also the perfect inspiration for a thread-based piece I keep wanting to experiment with.

Visit Ruth Asawa’s website for more information about her work.

I like traveling on my own because I am much more relaxed about meeting and talking to new people. I stayed in a dorm room with three other women – Michelle from Texas, Jamie from Atlanta, and Cathy from Edmonton. I also met Emily from Portland during dinner on the first evening and she was lovely to hang out with as well. There were nice people in all the workshops I took, but I tend to get so focused on what I’m working on I don’t talk very much in class.

My first workshop was Portable Shadowbox Shrines with Laurie Mika. She showed us how to create mixed media mosaic tiles from polymer clay (sculpy) using rubber stamps, acrylic paint, mica powders, and other random objects. Laurie had everyone raring to get started as she did her demo at the start of class because she made it look so easy. By the end of class everyone had a stunningly beautiful finished shadowbox shrine. I could barely take my eyes off my own.

The finished shrine with all of the little random objects I brought with me to use. The whole thing is finger painted rather than brush painted.

My workshop on the second day was Mystery Play Inside with Theo Ellsworth, a wonderful artist Boris and I came across when we were in Portland last July. I was excited to take a workshop with him because I really like his work, and admire his ability to recreate his own inner world through drawings. Theo provided everyone with a person-shaped piece of thick paper and did three different drawing exercises throughout the day to get us to “loosen up” our drawing skills. I found it difficult to sit and draw all day because I am more of a doodler these days, and it’s not my strongest ability.

The photo above are Theo’s examples to share with the class. The photo below are of Theo’s desk papers that he uses to test things on when drawing. These eventually become drawings of their own.

On the third and last day of class I took a metal working workshop with Richard Salley to make a Formfolded Copper Box. I loved playing with the metal, pounding it with hammers and folding into shapes. The lid of my box was much more bumpy and organic looking than everyone else’s work, and it made it difficult to attach to the hinge in the end. I was reminded of how much I hate soldering, but by the end of class I was much better at it.

Examples of copper boxes by Richard Salley to get us inspired.

My box with the crazy bumpy lid. I wasn’t happy with it when I finished but it has grown on me since then.

I am always amazed when pictures, like the one above, get far more attention than they deserve because they’ve made it into Explore on flickr. It was a beautiful place, but I’ve hardly done it justice with this shot. I guess it frustrates me because photography is my art of choice and I’ve put effort into developing my own sense of style and taste. A shot like this isn’t an indication of any of those things but it is the one getting all the favs and views. It reinforces to me how nice, but meaningless it all is.

On a completely unrelated note, thank you to everyone who left suggestions on the previous entry about blogs to read. I had to excavate a few comments after Kirsti pointed out hers was eaten by the spam catcher. Too many links in a comment equals bad says Akismet, even when there is no mention of viagra or casinos.

I was less impressed with the Saturday market in Portland on my latest visit than I was the previous time I was there. It seemed much more crafty and junky with fewer “gems” here and there. My favorite artist from the visit is Theo Ellsworth, a writer, illustrator and comic book artist. His drawings are intricately detailed and feature fantastical scenes, people and creatures from his own made up world. His style reminds me a bit of drawings I’ve seen by Clive Barker but without the dark twists. I bought one of Theo’s lovely prints (and wish I’d picked up more) as well as a copy of his book Capacity Number 7.

Both photos were taken in the J.F. Driscoll Family Stair of Wonders at the Royal Ontario Museum.

I was in Toronto to visit my family at the beginning of May. I hadn’t been home in almost two years, so I thought it was time to pay a visit. One of the things I was really looking forward to during my stay was checking out the brand new renovation at the Royal Ontario Museum.

It was wonderful to see some of my old favorites in new displays, especially the dinosaurs. The last time I saw them, the displays looked very dated with 60′s style murals and lots of dust everywhere. The old bones look much more impressive in their new home.

Taken with a Contax 35mm SLR, using crossprocessed Sensia film. The full set of my photos taken at Pitt Lake can be seen here. As my friend Neil commented, the weird colours make it seem like I visited a martian landscape.

If you are a toy camera shooter like me, you may want to submit to the latest call for submissions at Light Leaks magazine. The deadline is this Saturday April 26th.

Also coming up this weekend, on Sunday April 27th, the annual Worldwide Pinhole photography day. Just in case you needed an excuse to break out your pinhole camera, or pick one up for the first time.

I took many photos of graffiti and street art when I was in San Francisco back in October. I’d completely forgotten to upload them to flickr until now. A lot of these were taken in Clarion Alley in the Mission. I have made the rest of the set private but you can view them with this guest pass.

Taken near Porteau Cove, BC.

A few days ago I was looking through a set of shots taken with a pinhole camera back in the spring of 2007, and rediscovered this shot. I’m not sure why I didn’t scan and upload this at the time, but I absolutely love it now.

I’m up for the second time this morning after a very late night of going to bed at the magical hour when 2am becomes 1am again.
I was looking at my cell phone when it changed back.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen it happen before.
Neat.
And even though I went to bed THAT late my body clock still insisted I be awake for 6am.
Blergh…

I was in San Francisco for nine days at the beginning of October, and even though I was able to get my film back two days after my return I have still haven’t managed to upload many shots to Flickr. The above shot was taken in the Japanese Tea Garden, located in Golden Gate Park. It was a lovely place, but I think my favorite Japanese style garden is still the one I visited in Portland. The rest of the shots of this same location can be seen on flickr using this guest pass.

I’m trying to figure out the best way to upload the seventy-two shots of San Francisco graffiti without overwhelming myself or my audience…

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend. It looks like rain for us but I’ll think sunny thoughts.

I was in Seattle over the weekend to visit my friend Hendrik. The weather was gorgeous and we spent most of our time wandering different parts of the city in a zombie-like state because we were both feeling low on energy. I didn’t shoot as much film on this trip as I have on past visits to Seattle, but I think I will be satisfied with what I shot. We discovered a few giant inflatable animals shortly before I caught the bus back to Vancouver, and you know how excited I get about those when I have my holga in hand…

Today I have uploaded a new print for sale on Etsy. My shop has been sadly neglected over the last month because of my move to a new apartment, and the process of settling in. Gosh, it takes up a lot of time…

Yesterday evening I attended “The One that Got Away”, a play performed in the pool at the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver. It’s a site specific performance that requires the audience to move around to three different locations as the play progresses, beginning at the spiral staircase that leads down to the pool area, and then the pools themselves. The production makes creative use of the site, and the location definitely adds to the sometimes amusing, sometimes sad story of the play. Water is as significant an entity to the action as the characters themselves. The story centers around Hannah, her grandfather, and the five wives he never loved. It’s a discovery of a family history, and a side of her grandfather Hannah never knew, and how these past events closed both of their hearts from love.

There is so much about this play I found touching and powerful. It was a surprisingly emotional theatre going experience for me last night.

The play has a very short run in Vancouver, with the last performance on Saturday June 2nd. Tickets are $28 / $24 students and seniors, and can be purchased by calling the JCC at 604.257.5111.

VIRTUE will be genuine when one cultivates oneself.
VIRTUE will thrive when one cultivates oneself with her family.
VIRTUE will grow rich when one cultivates oneself with his village.
VIRTUE will abound when one cultivates oneself with her nation.
VIRTUE will flourish universally when one cultivates oneself with all people under Heaven.
Chapter 54, Tao Te Ching

My friend Amy sent me this quote as a follow up to a discussion we had shortly before I left Portland. We are thinking of doing a project together, that is if we can each make the time, and figure out how to do it…

Taken at the Saturday Market in Portland, Oregon, with an Olympus XA.

Rare is the day I encounter giant inflatable gorillas in my day-to-day life, so what fun to find not one, but two on a recent daytrip to Seattle. I’m not sure how exactly these were supposed to assist in increasing car sales at the dealership they were positioned by, but they definitely got MY attention.

I’ve begun making a few small tests of photos on metal prints I’m hoping to have in a show later this year. The results look go so far, and I would post them but metal prints don’t seem to scan very well…

After a very full day of wandering, shopping and eating, Mandy and I went to experience the Ghost Train in Stanley Park. We both loved it because it was such a festive occasion, with colourful lights everywhere making it feel like a carnival. The B-movies theme for the train ride was fun, and we rode slowly through the dark and foggy forest passing by giant killer bees and mad scientists. It was the perfect evening to go.

I was in Seattle last weekend and I fell in love with the eye candy that is the Central Branch Library.

Both photos were taken on the streets of Toronto.

Years ago I traveled to Florence, Italy to meet my cousin as she was there studying art for one year. At the time I’d hardly traveled at all and it was my first time in Europe. It was an amazing experience to wander through a city filled with history in every corner, and I took many photographs. I photographed this statue in one of the rooms of the Accademia Gallery where Michelangelo’s Famous David statue is housed.

I took these photos last summer while in Toronto on a graffiti walk with local flickrite Wacky Doodler. I didn’t realize at the time that this funny little character, named Lepos, is part of an international street art campaign. There have also been sightings of him in New York, Los Angeles, Stockholm, and Prague. There is an amusing article from the Wooster collective on How to plan a viral marketing campaign” using the Lepos street art as an example.

From my photo archive…

I was looking through my older photos for something to use in a digital image I’m currently working on and was reminded of this statue. I photographed her in a museum in Florence, Italy, when I was there in 1999. She was so beautiful I could’ve stared at her for hours. I’m very grateful the museum guards standing nearby didn’t mind me taking photos, or my cousin sitting down to sketch her.