Oh Canada, they’re back; these beautiful young maple leaves illuminated by the morning sunshine in the Pacific Spirit Park yesterday. I hope they will lift your spirits as much as they did ours
Month: April 2021
world art day
On World Art Day, a little plein air drawing of our glorious camellias…
…inspired by “a bramble,” circa 1505, by Leonardo da Vinci whose birthday it is today.
“Where the spirit does not work with the hand, there is no art.”
― Leonardo da Vinci
may they both rest in peace
It was a heartbreaking morning seeing the flag-draped casket of slain Capitol Police Office William Evans carried up the steps of the US Capitol watched by his mother, his wife and his two beautiful children, Logan and Abigail clutching their stuffed animals. The moving service that followed honored him as the true hero that he is; in the words of President Biden to the family,”Your son, your husband, your brother, your dad was a hero.”
May they both Rest In Peace.
the meeting point installed
I was honored to join my General Surgery colleagues virtually this morning after the recent installation of my charcoal/pencil drawing “The Meeting Point” in the ICU at Vancouver General Hospital. It was also an opportunity to recognize and congratulate the unit’s ECMO team on their recently receiving B.C. Health Care’s Gold Apple Award for their collaborate approach to life-saving patient care.
The drawing was made one year ago to thank our frontline healthcare workers and was donated to the Hospital Foundation. Here is the description that accompanies the piece:
When the Science of Medicine meets the Art of Medicine to save lives in the COVID unit at Vancouver General Hospital. I would like to suggest that ECMO, which stands for Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation, could also stand for Ever Compassionate Medical Optimism, thanks to the dedication and bravery of our frontline healthcare workers epitomized by the caring nurse-specialist portrayed in my drawing.
With my gratitude to Katharine Knowles and the VGH and UBC Hospital Foundation for accepting my gift and for so thoughtfully hanging it in the Unit, and to Dr Adam Thomas for his photograph which was the inspiration for my drawing.
Enjoy BC Health Care Awards presentation of the inspiring work of the VGH ECMO Unit:
Vimy Ridge Day 2021
Commemorating the Battle of Vimy Ridge, which began at 5:30 am on Easter Monday the 9th of April 1917. The battle continued until nightfall of the 12th of April when the Canadian Corps of four divisions gained firm control of the ridge. They suffered 10,602 casualties: 3,598 killed and 7,004 wounded. Four members of the Corps received Victoria Crosses for their actions during the battle:
- Private William Johnstone Milne of the 16th (Canadian Scottish) Battalion.
- Lance-Sergeant Ellis Wellwood Sifton of the 18th (Western Ontarion) Battalion
- Private John George Pattison of the 50th (Calgary) Battalion.
- Captain Thain Wendell MacDowell of the 38th (Ottawa) Battalion.
To view more images of the Canadian National Vimy Memorial I invite you to visit Remembrance Day
The haunting Flowers of the Forest is played by Pipe Major Angus MacDonald of the Scots Guards who for several years was the personal piper to Her Majesty the Queen, and described as one of the finest bagpipe players in the world.
Lest we forget 🇨🇦
never again
Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day, a day to honor the six million Jews, men women and children murdered by the Nazis. My ink drawing from today is of the Holocaust Memorial in Berlin which we visited in 2007, as we remember and say, “Never Again.”
Humbolt Strong
In remembrance in my studio today on the third anniversary of the Humbolt Broncos tragedy.
#HumboltStrong 🇨🇦
remember her
Our beautiful camelias are back and with it my annual cameliaddiction; with a little bouquet of thanks for our healthcare frontline heroes on this Easter Monday. They are very much in our thoughts as our numbers are sadly going in the wrong direction.
I would like to dedicate today’s post to the memory of beautiful 10 year old Aye Myat Thu, who was so cruelly murdered by a military sniper in Myanmar on March 27th. Her story in yesterday’s New York Times under the title, “She Just Fell Down. And Died,” is heartbreaking. Please read it so that her short precious life can be remembered by us all.
spirit park easter spirit
A moving anonymous installation for Easter Sunday in the Pacific Spirit Park Vancouver, today as always an uplifting place of sanctuary and peace.
Good Friday
A good Friday afternoon on Good Friday in the studio. Wishing everyone a happy and safe Easter weekend as our thoughts are once again of those in Washington on yet another sad day in the American capital.
thechangingpalette 