“To change in appearance or form, especially strangely or grotesquely; transform.”
Happy Halloween

I rescued this majestic branch whilst walking home one day last summer and brought it back to the studio. It was about to be pulverized in a wood chipper but like the photinia that you will remember from my yard work to art work story, it became my model.

Finally, as I completed the painting today with the brushes from the Gift of the Four Treasures, the spirit of the branch filled the studio once again and its story was complete.
the secret path
Today’s painting was inspired by last night’s broadcast on CBC television of Gord Downie’s film, The Secret Path. The film acknowledges a dark part of Canada’s history – the long-suppressed mistreatment of indigenous children and families by the residential school system and tells the story of twelve year old Chanie Wenjack who died alone beside the train tracks fifty years ago on October 22, 1966 whilst trying to walk home to his family from whom he was taken over 400 miles away
If you can find an hour take the time and see the film, and be as moved as I was. Learn Chanie Wenjack’s heartbreaking story, listen to Gord Downie’s unforgettable songs and music and be inspired by award-winning cartoonist Jeff Lemire’s illustrations. You can find the film here on the CBC website: The Secret Path.
Dedicated to the memory of Chanie Wenjack
Those of you who follow The Changing Palette will know where I am this weekend.
Whatever the weather
it’s always shining around our beautiful granddaughter.
For this week’s photo challenge Jen asks us to
“share what “local” means to you, and show us where your heart is.”
What could be more local than the pub and sport’s bar across the street from
Kitsilano Beach Park down the road here in Vancouver.
I described Kitsilano Beach as my “Muse” in my Canada Day post in 2015.
Take a look and you’ll see why my heart is so often there.
For this week’s Discover Challenge: Mixing Media, Michelle asks us to “publish a post containing the kind of work you’d normally publish — but mix it with a second type of media, either digital or analog.”
This seemed to be the perfect opportunity to revisit some of the paintings that many of you will have seen on The Changing Palette over the past year. Using iMovie on my MacBook Air I have pulled them together in a short video and added the sublime accompaniment of Glen Gould playing one of Bach’s Goldberg Variations. I hope you enjoy it.