
On the second anniversary of the invasion of Ukraine by Russia on February 24, 2022, this painting was inspired by Prayer for the Fallen danced so movingly by members of the National Ballet of Ukraine, which we were privileged to see during their Vancouver visit earlier this month. Today, our thoughts, as they are everyday, are very much with the brave people of Ukraine together with the memory of so many of their children, women and men who are no longer with us. We can only hope that there will not be a third anniversary.
How fortunate we are that the National Ballet of Ukraine has made Prayer for the Fallen available on YouTube for us all to be moved and inspired by.
Slava Ukraini
clouds illusion I recall
I thought I would use my response to Egidio’s Lens Artist-Challenge #285: Warm Colors, to also celebrate Joni Mitchell’s Grammy award and my memory of hearing that wonderful voice and song for the first time.
For this weeks Lens Artist Challenge by Sofia, Day and Night, I looked back to one of my early blog posts from 2014, Nighttime is the Lighttime and my first attempts at Light Painting Photography.
As you will read if you open the link this was in response to a Weekly Photo Challenge, which I know many of you who enjoy contributing to the Lens Artists challenges were part of in those days. This one was titled Nighttime, and in the spirit of the challenge I quietly got out of bed and took this photo of the sunflowers on our deck at 3:30 in the morning using a technique that I eventually became more proficient at. ( I should add that I wasn’t quite quiet enough it seemed as both my wife and the cat were not very impressed at being disturbed in the middle of the night.)

The following morning I took this photo of the sunflowers in the morning sunshine, and even added a voting link to my post for visitors to choose their preference; the light painting won out.
A couple of light paintings with which to finish and a link to the process by which they were created:

Hagia Sophia, Istanbul – 19.10.2023
This photograph of a seagull soaring high above the Hagia Sophia taken last October on our visit to Istanbul is in response to my dear friend Tina’s Lens-Artists Challenge #281 – Favourite Images of 2023, and is in follow up to my New Year’s post as a visual expression of the desperate need for peace for all those women, men and especially children whose suffering and despair breaks all of our hearts each and every day.
Spirit of the Park
Inspired by the beauty and majesty of the Pacific Spirit Park, Vancouver
After over three months it is finally finished and ready for its new home.
For our National Day of Truth and Reconciliation
Every child matters

In response to Ann-Christine’s challenge, Work in Progress, and with the encouragement of my dear friend Tina Schell I thought I would post this image of me working in my studio. To see the final painting completed after three and a half months, and to read the story behind the painting I invite you to visit my post War Child.