Pacific Spirit Canopy 3.8.15
With our daily walks in the Pacific Spirit Park it seems like a good time to look back to some of the paintings that walking in the Park inspired five years ago.
Studio 365: Day 216
Pacific Spirit Park Variations I – IV 4.8.15
For National Dance day
Inspired by the always sublime Maria Khoreva, first soloist of the Mariinsky Ballet.
Also an opportunity to revisit a post from three years ago
Dance Studio July 25 2017
for the love of dance continued in the studio this afternoon
“Dance is the hidden language of the soul” Martha Graham
Since it continues to be National Park Week and in follow up to yesterday’s revisit to Bryce Canyon how could I not post the second day of our visit when we hiked into the Amphitheatre. What a day that was.
But first, today’s painting from the studio: Pacific Spirit III with continuing thoughts of those grieving in Nova Scotia; also today in Toronto on the second anniversary of the attack on Yonge Street; and of course all who are mourning loved ones lost to Covid-19.
The heartache continues as our brave healthcare workers and volunteers are there for us each and every day and we thank them all.
Studio 365: Day 113 April 23, 2015
The Navajo Loop Trail from Sunset point descending into the Bryce Canyon Amphitheatre.
The perfect finish to our visit to Bryce Canyon hiking the Navajo Trail into the Amphitheatre, connecting with the Queens Garden Trail and returning to the canyon rim at Sunrise Point. Look for Queen Victoria in the photo gallery.
One final view before leaving this precious jewel of a place and a thank you to the National Park Service for maintaining it so perfectly for us all to enjoy.
Written in chalk beneath a rainbow on the entrance to Tatlow Park here in Vancouver these words are perhaps the perfect way to recognize this 50th Anniversary of Earth Day. We are indeed all in this together.
Since this is also National Park Week, and following my look back to Antelope Canyon, I thought I would re-post our visit to magnificent Bryce Canyon five years ago today together with the painting that it inspired.
Studio 365: Day 112 April 22, 2015
From the wonder and awe of the magic of Antelope Canyon to the breathtaking majesty of the vistas of Bryce Canyon. It has been another unforgettable day and once again I will let the pictures do all the talking…
…the final shot at the end of a perfect day.
Five years ago today we visited Antelope Canyon in Arizona. My paintings and photographs from that never-to-be-forgotten visit have taken on new meaning today, as we continue to grieve for Nova Scotia.
Here is the original post from 5 years ago. Enjoy our visit to Owl Canyon
and learn about the feather on my studio wall.
A treasure in Owl Canyon
Who would have thought it could get any better, but today was another magical day with unforgettable visits to Owl, Rattlesnake and Upper Antelope Canyons. Here are a selection of more amazing images to share with you, and many thanks for all your comments and visits.
The feather from a great horned owl from our visit to Owl Canyon will indeed be the treasure of the trip. It will take pride of place in the studio back home and I can’t wait to use it for more pen and ink drawings. I did ask our Navajo guide Kim, from Adventurous Antelope Canyon Tours, if I could keep the feather and she very graciously gave her permission. Thank you Kim for a day we will never forget.
On to Bryce Canyon tomorrow.
Nova Scotia Strong
Our camellias are more abundant than ever this year and some of you will know that whilst they are blooming I can’t deny my camilliaddiction.
Here is one of many camellia posts from four years ago entitled:
camelliaspectives
For this week’s Discover Challenge: Perspective Ben states “We each inhabit a specific vantage point from which we blog” and asks What’s yours? As those of you who follow my blog will know my vantage point is always both visual and written, so in response to Ben’s question I thought I would express my camelliaddiction once again today with pen, ink, watercolor and photography, with one final image that is clearly very much about perspective.
camellia studies 31.3.16
Yesterday Kitsilano Beach was deserted as we are all staying home except for short walks. It is such a special place so I thought I would re-post “backdrop to a life” which was in response to a Discover Challenge from the Daily Post in December 2016. It will show you why it is so special. Re-reading the dedication in the last paragraph seems particularly poignant today as you will read, and it is why I would like to dedicate today’s post to the memory of all those who have lost their lives, and continue to lose their lives every day to the corona virus the world over. May they all rest in peace.
Backdrop to a Life, December 14, 2016
Yesterday was one of those perfect days in Vancouver that needs to be shared.
The North Shore mountains, the West End skyline and the shadowed sands of Kitsilano Beach.
Looking out above the logs to English Bay and the snow-covered peaks beyond.
A perfect afternoon for bicycling through the park.
Who wouldn’t want to stroll in the afternoon sunshine on such a day?
No surprise to those of you who follow The Changing Palette that I would choose this special place to write about in response to this week’s Discover Challenge from the Daily Post: Finding Your Place, in which we are asked by Cheri to bring a place alive that means something to us. But more than that, Cheri writes, “the heart of this challenge is to go further and show how or why this place is particularly special”.
I have shared so many photos from Kitsilano Beach and English Bay over my nearly four years of blogging that the “how” is really self evident. But what about the “why”? Well, here is my answer. In 1975, on our first wedding anniversary, my wife and I came to Vancouver from England. We moved into a one bedroom apartment in Kitsilano just a few hundred yards from Kitsilano Beach Park. The following March, on one of our regular walks along the path you see in all of the photos, my wife went into labor and a few hours later our beautiful daughter was born. The beach was the perfect place to walk with the pram or stroller whatever the time of year, and soon a little brother joined our daughter on those same walks. It soon became a place to stomp in puddles, to take training wheels off bicycles, to bury dad in the sand, to laugh on the swings and slides, to walk with my wonderful late parents whenever they visited, to enjoy the four seasons with the changing colours of autumn, the few days of frost and snow in winter to be followed by the warmth of spring and the heat of summer filled with magnificent skies and those unforgettable sunsets creating silhouettes of lovers sitting on logs or people playing beach volley ball in the dying light. I could go on and on but I’m beginning to sound like Dylan Thomas. I think you can understand why this place is so special, so meaningful to me, as it has been and continues to be, the beautiful backdrop to our lives over these past forty years. Yesterday’s walk, as it always does, lifted my spirits at a time when they are being crushed by the daily news and pictures of new atrocities a world away to the people of Aleppo, particularly to the children; and also as we remember the tragedy of the murdered children of Sandy Hook Elementary School four years ago today. I know you feel as I do that these moments must never be forgotten and so it is with a heavy heart that I pause and dedicate today’s post to the memory of all of these precious lost souls.“Art is that which despite all gives hope” Frederick Franck 1981
Anemones 31.3.20
Since the 100 anemone bulbs I planted have yet to appear I used a bouquet that five years ago was the subject of Day 90 of my daily posts during 2015. I had been re-reading one of my favourite books The Zen of Seeing by Fredrick Franck that week. Here is the original bouquet together with my pen and ink drawing at the time, and if you would like to see the rest of the post and learn a little more about Frederick Franck why not visit Studio 365: Day 90
Anemones 31.3.15
Today is Vincent van Gogh’s Birthday. He was born on March 30, 1853. I thought I would celebrate the occasion by reposting Vincent’s Room which I originally posted on The Changing Palette in June 2014. During these difficult days taking a moment to look back on the life of someone who had to “suffer for his sanity” but was still able to show us the beauty that surrounded him in his own wonderfully iconic way should inspire us all.
Who can look at a sunflower and at the same time not think of Vincent? Let us celebrate his memory together, and please listen to Don Maclean’s “Vincent” imbedded in the post. I promise you will it will be the highlight of your day.
“What would life be if we had no courage to attempt anything.” Vincent van Gogh
Can there be a more iconic room than Vincent Van Gogh’s bedroom at the Saint-Paul Asylum, Saint-Remy, France where Van Gogh entered voluntarily as a patient on May 8, 1889 and remained until May the following year. During this time he painted the gardens, with their wheat fields, olives groves, irises and sunflowers, all of which he could see from his bedroom window.
Continue reading
I posted this photograph six years ago today in response to The Weekly Photo Challenge that so many of us used to be part of. Given how we are all supporting each other in the blogosphere, the world’s safest place to practice social distancing during these challenging times, my thanks today are for all the heroes and heroines working so hard to save us all.
The photo was taken early one summer’s evening from the Youth Hostel in Cortona, Italy and shows the bells of the Chiesa del Torreone reflected in our bedroom window with Lake Trasimeno seen shimmering in the distance; a moment of pure magic.
My little watercolour shows reflections in the window of another Italian youth hostel in Finale Ligure, the magnificent Castello Vuillerman, recorded in my Journal on July 2, 1999. We’ll never forget climbing the more than three hundred steps, with packs on our backs, to the Castello where the view of the city, seen in this window reflection, was well worth the climb.
I hope this raises your spirits just a little. Be well and stay safe.
thechangingpalette 