Heartbroken for the families and community of Uvalde Texas where nineteen beautiful children and two of their wonderful teachers will not be returning to their classroom. May they all Rest In Peace.
Remembrance
From Spirit Park revisited
We walked in the Pacific Spirit Park today after listening to President Zelenskyy’s impassioned address to the Canadian Parliament in which we learnt that ninety seven children have been tragically killed in his beloved country together with so many of the country’s brave men and women and now including three brave journalists. Our condolences and thoughts are with all the families, friends and colleagues grieving today.
This drawing is from a larger piece from 2017 drawn in protest at that time to an event that had produced the same sense of heartbreak and outrage that I know we all feel today. Some of you may remember the full piece can be seen here: “From Spirit Park to Spirit Dark”
These sunflowers are a message of love and support as we continue to Stand with Ukraine.
💙💛
“They died by a bridge…”
This beautiful family killed so cruelly by a Russian mortar in Mariupol from my post two days ago for International Women’s Day are anonymous no longer thanks to an article in yesterday’s New York Times. The photographs of Tetiana Perebyinis and her two children Mykyta, 18 and Alisa, 9 are being carried by their grieving husband and father Serhiy to whom we send our truly heartfelt condolences on his unbearable loss. Please read Andrew Kramer’article, “They died by a bridge in Ukraine. This is their story” so that the lives of the Perebyinis family can never be forgotten and are made as real for you as they now are for me, a heartbreaking story that becomes symbolic of countless thousands of others that sadly we may never know. 💙💛
sixteen sunflowers
Sixteen beautiful children have been killed in Ukraine according to the Ukraine Minister of Health with heartbreaking images that are hard to see. These sixteen sunflowers painted today are in their memory as we grieve the loss of their young lives together with all those who have lost their lives in these senseless crimes against humanity.
#StandWithUkraine
remembrance and protest
On this anniversary of the Quebec mosque attack on a day when we remember the six worshippers murdered and the nineteen injured five years ago I show our Canadian flag proudly because I refuse to display the images of hate and racism that are being seen not only in Ottawa today but around the country and the world.
To see the flag carried upside down adorned with a swastika or being flown next to a swastika flag on the back of a pickup truck, and to see people wearing the yellow Star of David stamped with the words “not vaxxed,” and “non vaccin,” it is all beyond comprehension. This is not free speech. These are symbols of hate speech and racism and look back to the worst of humanity. Who are these people? They do not belong in a Canada that I recognize. To equate the efforts of our caring society that is interested in ensuring the health and safety of all of its citizens with the criminality of the Nazi regime, demonstrates a level of ignorance that is beyond belief. I can only assume that they belong to the same rabble of unworthy citizenry that protested our healthcare heroes outside our hospitals not that long ago.
Whatever the outcome of the demonstrations in Ottawa, which for the most part seem peaceful enough, these despicable actions must be called out and protested, as I do now, in the strongest possible terms wherever and whenever they occur.
a remembrance bouquet
This morning I enjoyed my new Winsor & Newton pro marker brush and blender from Opus Art Supplies. The Xmas bouquet was from dear friends and is displayed in a treasured vase that was a wedding present of my wonderful late parents from their marriage in 1936.
As I remembered mum and dad today my thoughts were also of the parents in Australia grieving the loss of their beautiful children who died so tragically as their bouncy castle was blown up into the clear blue sky. My heart breaks for them all as I know yours does too.
Yesterday Canada recorded its 30,000th Covid19 death so today is very much a day of remembrance, and as always a day to express our heartfelt thanks to all of our frontline and health care heroes.
We Remember
“In Memory Of Those Who Lost Their Lives So That We May Live In Peace”
Lest We Forget
On this 1st National Day for Truth and Reconciliation our thoughts all day have been of the generations of children who died alone, away from their families whilst attending Indian Reservation Schools here in BC and across the country, together with thoughts of their families, those who survived, and all the communities still grieving this unbearable legacy every day.
We began the day walking the trails of the Pacific Spirit Park, the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territory of the hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ speaking xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) people. The orange shirts we wore were designed by the Tsimshian artist Morgan Asoyuf. Thank you Morgan.
From the trails we joined so many others at the Vancouver Art Gallery and were moved by the powerful and heartbreaking display on the Gallery steps together with the sight of 6,128 orange ribbons placed in the gardens opposite by the Haida artist Tamara Bell to honour and remember the lives of all the children lost at the residential schools. We then joined many hundreds of others in the Gallery Square and hope the love and support shown by us all will help in the healing and ease so much of the pain we witnessed today.
From the Gallery to the studio and a painting to honor this special day.
In Remembrance – on the 20th Anniversary of 9.11
#OurLondonFamily
Today I grieve with my treasured Muslim friends and colleagues mourning the loss of such a beautiful family in London, Ontario who were just out for an evening walk, and thinking of their 9 year old son in hospital, orphaned by such a despicable crime of terrorism and hate. I will always stand with you against Islamophobia, hatred and racism of any kind. My heart breaks with yours as I send my deepest condolences to all of their family and friends in mourning tonight.
thechangingpalette 