“In this same interlude it doth befall
That I, one Changing Palette by name, present a wall.”
With apologies to Tom Snout the tinker and the Bard.
Month: February 2021
from pencil to paint
From days of pencilling a return to painting in the studio this afternoon with this Pacific Spirit Park study – acrylic on paper.
105 and 506 leaves
First the good news as reported in a new court filing by Julia Ainsley and Jacob Soboroff, author of “Separated” a book that should be read by all: the parents of 105 of the children separated at the border by the previous criminal administration have been found. Unfortunately, the filing goes on to report that the parents of 506 of the remaining children have yet to be reached; 322 of them are being looked for in their countries of origin; 168 are attempted to being located in the United States; for the remaining 16 there no contact numbers available.
In the words of Winston Churchill, “Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.”
P.S. My apologies to those of you looking for my promised story behind the leaf drawings, this has taken on a life of its own and has now become a work in progress. Stay tuned.
Families Belong Together
pink shirt day
Today’s moment in the park for Canada’s Pink Shirt Day, with Canadians across the country taking a stand against bullying. Let’s lift each other up and spread a little love and kindness so that every day becomes Pink Shirt Day 🇨🇦
lightening the spirit
Moment of the day in the Pacific Spirit Park today.
a day for remembrance
On September 22nd last year I posted the centre part of this image on the day that 200,000 American lives were reported to have been so tragically lost to the ravages of COVID-19. Today, one year since the beginning of the pandemic we learn that the number has now reached 511,133. In Brazil it is 246,560; in India 156,418; in the UK 120,580; here in Canada 21,715; and worldwide the number is 2.47 million.
Each one of those lives lost, both young and old, leaves families and friends in mourning; today we mourn with them too. We also think about all of our healthcare and frontline heroes who cared for them all, often the last ones to be by their sides as they took their last breaths. Today is a day once again to say thank you to each and every one of them, for they too are also always in our thoughts.
In a memorial ceremony tonight at the White House President Biden spoke so movingly to the nation, but his words I felt were also to a grieving world:
“While we have been fighting this pandemic for so long we have to resist becoming numb to the sorrow. We have to resist viewing each life as a statistic or blur. We must do so to honor the dead but equally important to care for the living, those loved ones left behind.”
How fortunate we are to have President Biden in the White House at this moment in history.
the golden couple
After posting my painting of Canada’s bobsleigh gold medalists from the 2018 Winter Olympics yesterday how could I not re-post these little paintings of Canada’s golden couple Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir to re-celebrate today’s third anniversary of their Gold Medal Ice Dance performance to Moulin Rouge at the 2018 games; four never-to-be-forgotten magical minutes of dance, athleticism and sublime artistry.
🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦
a golden anniversary
Three years ago today I posted this watercolor to celebrate the Gold Medal win for Team Canada in the Two-Man Bobsleigh at the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang by Alexander Kopacz and Justin Kripps. Today I couldn’t be happier to report that the painting has found the perfect home 😊.
On this two year anniversary of their great achievement congratulations once again to our two great Canadian Olympians Alexander Kopacz and Justin Kripps.
🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦
“embraced, enriched, alive”
The anonymous poet of the park has inspired us once again capturing so perfectly the magic and beauty of this special place, the Pacific Spirit Park here in Vancouver. Hopefully my photos from yesterday do justice to his/her beautiful words. Thank you to whomever you are and keep inspiring us with your poetry.
Pacific Spirit Park.
We enter into
A pact
As we leave cars
And concrete behind.
Walk or run or bike
Into a spirit world.
Of water abundant
At this time of year.
Light diminished,
Or the bending rays of
Occasional winter sun.
I see you.
I know you’re here.
I move and listen,
Take such joy
In watching our dog
Run free.
Nodding or briefly chatting
To others,
Clad in rain gear,
Mud splattered shoes.
We join with the forest’s
spirit.
The constancy of movement.
Of air and trees,
Light and water.
Shape shifting through days,
Seasons.
Being one with
All that is here.
A companion guides us.
Embraced, enriched,
Alive.
journey’s end
666+186 Day LIV – Journey’s End.
Thank you to all of you who have joined me over the past few months. Knowing you have been “looking over my shoulder” and sharing my concern for the children has been a great support. Over the next day or two I will be writing the story of my journey, which I will post once it is completed.
I thought I would add today my words from that first day, October 22nd as a reminder of the reason why my journey began:
I have begun this drawing of the 546 leaves I collected today from the Pacific Spirit Park to represent the 546 children separated from their parents. As a parent and grandparent who loves his children and grandchildren so much this is my way of representing the heartbreak and the anguish being felt by so many families suffering in this tragic story of state supported kidnapping of children. As the drawings continue I will post their progress and will be thinking of each child as I draw every one of these fragile leaves.
thechangingpalette 