Palouse Trip - day 5
Palouse trip - day 4
Here are some selected photos from today's adventure. It feels like the colour green is more dominant than where I live on Vancouver Island. Temperatures were in the high 20's today, blue blue sky, huge fluffy clouds. My favourite part was the canola field with its sweet scent. I also loved parking close to the wheat fields, so close I could touch it, sitting there with my window down watching the waving motion as the wind ran up one side like a xylophone and listening to the sound of the wind. I really feel alive in this landscape.
Day 3 Sketches
Palouse trip July 2013 - day 2 sketches
Saturday, Paul and I explored the surrounding area of Ellensburg, WA. One area was the Kittitas Valley Wind Farm, about 12 miles northeast of Ellensburg. This wind farm has 48 wind turbines, at 262 feet tall with each blade being 144 feet long. Quite the sight to see from a distance and up close.
We had lunch in Ellensburg at the Red Horse Diner that had 17 choices of hamburgers - of course we had fries; it was delicious. This diner was filled with gas station memorabilia. It was a neat neat place.
On our way to Colfax we took a side detour to see the Palouse Falls - 199 feet tall - this is the confluence of the Palouse and the Snake River. The canyon is 377 feet deep.
Red Horse Diner, photo by Paul B. Peters
Palouse Falls, photo by Paul B. Peters - To see Paul's pictures of our visits to the Paulouse: www.paulpeters.smugmug.com
Sketches on the move
Tidbits from our first day - little thumbnails that I drew as we drove along. Our final destination Friday was Ellensberg, WA. Which photo do you prefer - colour or black and white?
On the Road Again!
On board the 9 AM BC Ferries sailing. We are headed to the wheat lands of SE Washington for a 10 day artistic adventure.
Big Sky Easel
I recently purchased the Opus - Big Sky Multi-Angle Easel at Opus Framing and Art Supplies in Victoria BC. Web page for the easel: http://tinyurl.com/4x9s3tm
I like the idea that this easel can rotate to a horizontal position - this will be great for painting with washes, fluid acrylics, pours and other mixed-media processes that include a lot of water. Essentially another table top.
What Opus says about this easel:
Expand your horizons with the Big Sky Multi Angle Easel. It has a solid H-Frame design and a 4-point base giving you the stability and support to work on tall and wide canvas. Being made out of beech wood and having locking caster wheels make it not only sturdy but lightweight and easy to move. It features a large storage tray underneath to hold paints, brushes, mediums and other materials.
What makes the Big Sky Multi-Angle Easel diverse is its tilt-abled canvas holder that allows you to paint vertically or horizontally. This makes the Big Sky useful for multi-media work, priming canvas or painting watercolours. Simply tighten the screws at the rear to lock the canvas in place.
Need some more space in your studio? Once set in it’s horizontal position simply place a flat surface on top to make it into a table.
Click here for assembly instructions PDF.
Max canvas height: 84″
Max easel height: 88″
Base width/depth: 26″/31″
Weight: 50 lbs
Want to see the Big Sky in action? Click on this link to view on YouTube: http://youtu.be/JTnlUmi_zNs
Pathways through the rainforest
in Photography, Travel
One of my favourite things to do is walk through the forests at Long Beach. Here a couple of favourite areas.
Boardwalk through the rainforest at Pacific Sands Resort on Cox Bay near Tofino BC
Pathway in Rainforest near Tongquin Park, Tofino BC
Walking beside salal and ferns near Pacific Sands Resort on Cox Bay.
West Coast Trees
These trees are either near Tofino or Cathedral Grove near Port Alberni. Click on thumbnail to see larger image.
Tofino, BC
Recently I was on a Long Beach trip with my good friend Shirley who lives in my hometown of Calgary. We have known each other for 40 years. Shirley and I stayed at the Middle Beach Lodge about 2 miles from Tofino. Below are images of the lodge and surrounding area. That is a picture of Shirley just behind the globe.
Shirley and I enjoyed a whale watching cruise with "Marine Adventures". Wow, what a lot of fun. The covered boat holds 12 people but this day there were 9 of us on board We saw lots of gray whales fairly close to the boat, first you see a puff of steam coming from the blow hole and then a slow movement of their back just out of the water and slipping back into the water. Those on board who hadn't seen this before screamed in glee each time! At times we sped along really fast and slammed down and up and down and up, into and against the waves, I really enjoyed it and found it thrilling. On our way back we stopped by a small island with an outcropping of rocks where sea lions, puffins and many other sea life and birds inhabit.
I fell in love with the tangled networks of seaweeds.
I was in total awe by the tidal pools and all the sea life. I am so inspired that my next series will be based on the tangled networks above and the sea life below. I have already started my initial drawings. Stay tuned for sneak peeks along the way.
Tanta DeStaffany Pennington
Infinite Reality -- In Search of Memory
Tanta is currently the Artist in Residence, at the Oswego Hotel. 500 Oswego Street, Victoria, BC Canada. In Search of Memory will be exhibited throughout 2013.
The five paintings in the show "Infinite Reality -- In Search of Memory" are heavily inspired by memory. Using a combination of painted ethereal cloud formations, delicate lace drawings and hard-edge industrial forms, Tanta creates a visual vocabulary of family memories, real and imagined. In this series, the threads of past recollections are woven into a future of possibilities.
Tanta Pennington is a contemporoary artist based in Victoria BC.
Past exhibitions include the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, Victoria Internatinal Airport, The Victoria Conference Centre and various galleries throughout Victoria, BC. Tanta participated in the international 2011 Florence Biennale and her work is in collections in Western Canada, California, Hawaii, and Italy.
David Blackwood Prints of Newfoundland
Art Gallery of Greater Victoria
Date: May 3, 2013 - September 8, 2013
Curated by Katharine Lochnan and organized by the Art Gallery of Ontario
David Blackwood is one of Canada’s leading printmakers and most popular artists. He has been telling stories about Newfoundland in the form of epic visual narratives for over 30 years.
This exhibition showcases many of his iconic works, revealing the richness of Blackwood’s imagination and his working methods. It also includes historical artifacts and archival material from the artist's own collection, creating an experience thatdraws on childhood memories, dreams, superstitions, legends, the oral tradition, and the political realities of the Wesleyville community on Bonavista Bay where Blackwood was born and raised.
Black Ice situates Blackwood's distinctive visual narratives within the context of the history of Newfoundland and Labrador, drawing attention to his examination of the grand theme of survival in an inhospitable landscape. In his consideration of a centuries-old way of life that is now quickly disappearing, he incorporates issues of class, gender, immigration, settlement, intergenerational struggle, and religious & political tensions that introduce his viewers to the specifics of Newfoundland's situation while offering points of entry that are universal in their appeal.
Although we live in a very different time and geography than Blackwood’s Newfoundland, there is, perhaps, something in our island experience and maritime history that makes his work resonate very deeply here.
David Blackwood, Fire down on the Labrador, 1980, etching and aquatint on wove paper, 87.9 x 61.9, Gift of David and Anita Blackwood | Art Gallery of Ontario
Impulse - Diploma Graduation Exhibition 2013
Vancouver Island School of Art (VISA) presents their 2013 Graduation Exhibition
Slide Room Gallery
2549 Quadra Street, Victoria, BC
Monday to Friday 9:00-5:00
Sandra Cinto
During our spring break to Seattle we were fortunate to view this beautiful site-specific installation by Sandra Cinto. Cinto worked with a team of volunteers to draw thousands of silver paint lines on the wall. Watch this video to see a great collaboration between this visiting artist and local Seattleites.
Detail of Encontro das Águas
Photo Credit - Jill Ehlert
Encontro das Águas [Encounter of Waters}
Seattle Art Museum's Olympic Sculpture Park April 14, 2012 - April 14, 2013.
Sandra Cinto a São Paulo--based artist created Encontro das Águas as
a site-specific installation for the Olympic Sculpture Park's PACCAR Pavilion in Seattle Washington.
Cinto's Encontro das Águas is a large but intricate wall drawing that conveys a view of an expansive waterscape.
"Cinto works directly on the wall and transforms a single line, repeated at different angles and lengths, into a titanic image of water that expresses both renewal and risk. As a counterpoint to this unbridled seascape, Cinto incorporates stories about individuals who were rescued at sea, to show the endurance of the human spirit in difficult circumstances."
–Marisa C. Sánchez, Associate Curator, Modern & Contemporary Art