Just this past June, the people I work with set up an office pool for the FIFA World Cup. I was asked if I would like to participate and I said "Sure", not thinking very much about it. I don't watch sports and know nothing about Soccer (or Football, or Hockey, or Basketball, or anything like that). So I put in my money and made my picks and didn't pay attention after that. Well - lo and behold - I WON! I got the highest score! Wow! People in my office were as surprised as I was. Just last week, they took me out to a victory lunch and gave me my winnings. They also presented me with this fabulous little whistle, shaped like a soccer ball.
So here I am, holding my victory whistle!
A couple of blasts and everyone pays attention. This is going to be fun!
I decided to try it out on one of my colleagues - Alex. I told Alex that he should work harder or I am going to blow the whistle on him! As you can see, he took it very seriously!
Last Saturday, my friends Holly, Fran and I went for a walk in the woods in Voyageur Park. We planned to make an installation out of found materials somewhere along the walk.
Our route took us along the edge of the river. It was very lovely in places.
We found a nice spot where there was an opening to the river and a tree that was leaning over. Holly wedged some branches upright at the base of this leaning tree using rocks and placing one of the branches in a crack in the tree. I found a piece of red plastic and placed it between the branches.
We added various found materials to the branches. I found some tin foil from an empty cigarette package that someone had tossed in the woods, and wrapped it around the branches. We also made paper loops from the package and hung them here and there.
Holly and Fran foraged for more materials by the water. There was a lot of litter - pieces of broken glass, bottle caps, a fish hook... Everything got added to our installation. Happily, the sun came out while we were working (it had been such a dull grey day until then!).
We kept adding our bits and bobs, placing more rocks, hanging, weaving things together.
As we worked, a beautiful pale white dragonfly landed on one the branches in our installation. It was like a living addition to the work. It also felt like nature sending us a sign of approval!
The final installation had a lot of colour!
Anyone walking along the path would be able to see it. We are hoping that other people will add to it.
Finally, we signed our work. F(ran) E(vlyn) H(olly). So we decided our little group was called FEH, which could stand for all sorts of things (some rather funny!)
It was a really interesting, mind-stretching and fun way to create something. We hope to be able to do this again.
The National Art Gallery in Ottawa just opened a new exhibition of the work of Gustave Dore, one of my favourite illustrators. I visited the show this evening and really enjoyed it. These very large posters hang outside the building on a wall near the entrance.
I always enjoy going into the National. Last year they underwent some major renovations but they are all finished now. It is nice to see all the windows again - they were covered over completely last summer.
I was not able to take any photographs of the work while I was inside the Dore exhibition. I will just have to recommend seeing the show, if you can. It was interesting because I always had thought of Dore as an illustrator, but this show demonstrates that he was much more. He was also a very good painter and sculptor. There were also some fascinating photographs and videos that showed his influence on film makers. Worthwhile seeing.
Anyway, although I couldn't take photos inside the show, I could take photos in the foyer and had lots of fun getting these really abstract-looking shots of the ceiling. Aren't these great patterns?
Here is another pic of the ceiling. I think the light was just perfect for taking this picture. The weather was cloudy and overcast so although this picture is in colour, it looks like it is in black-and-white. It looks like a geometric pattern - and also has this lofty, cathedral look. So I enjoyed a feast for the eyes both inside the Dore show and outside in the foyer, looking up at the ceiling.
Last Sunday, May 25, I went to the opening of the Second Annual Sculpture Garden exhibit at the Skelly Gallery in St. Eugene, Ontario. One of the first works of art I saw was this fabulous snake by my friend Holly Kelleher. It was wound around a tree a looked very biblical.
The face was great - lots of personality. Holly made him using recycled plastic bags and chicken wire. Isn't he wonderful?
Next, I saw a totem pole. This piece was begun by an artist named Joann Brown who, unfortunately, died several years ago. The sculpture was completed by another artist, my friend Lis Skelly. It is a lovely story and a beautiful piece.
Up the hill from the totem, this beautiful sculpture by my deceased husband, Peter MacElwain, sits in a great spot, practically right in the middle of the sculpture garden. The piece is called "Homage". I took a picture of my friend, artist and fellow-blogger Ronna sitting on the Homage.
Following the path, one comes across this fun piece by Susan Jephcott among the trees.
Here is the other side of Susan's piece.
At the farthest point in the walk around the sculpture garden, this celestial piece, by Philippa Lesniak, is perched high up on a very tall tree trunk.
On the walk back, I discovered two wonderful little sculptures hanging in a tree. This was one of them......
...and this is the other. They were made by 2 artists called Two Barn Owls. I loved these pieces - they were so whimsical.
This piece by Adele Reeves is especially interesting because the heads turn on the poles and can be rearranged to face in different ways. Also, there are holes in the top with those peephole things that are put in apartment doors so one can see who is at the door (they probably have a name but I don't know what it is). So you can look through the peepholes in the heads and view the other sculptures in the garden.
Almost at the end of my walk, I enjoyed this beautiful tile water-fountain fish by my friend, Dody Dines.
This piece hangs on the outside wall of the Skelly Gallery. Isn't it great?
The Sculpture Garden is really worth a visit and will run all spring and summer until Friday, October 31st 2014.
The other evening, as I was driving along the road to my home in the country, I saw this strange light phenomenon in the distance. I came to a screeching halt, jumped out of my car, and took some pictures.
I guess it was some sort of rainbow effect, but it looked like a pillar of light against the blue-grey clouds. Quite amazing - and beautiful!
Back in mid-March, I went on a trip to the Mayan peninsula of Mexico. I posted some pictures from my trip in an earlier post, so I thought I would show more photos from this wonderful trip. These were taken when my sister and I went on a guided visit to a Mayan village. This is one of the homes we visited. It was very simple - only a few rooms inside and no electricity or running water.
We were welcomed to the village by this man - who was the head, or chief - and his wife. We were told how many children they had and it was a very large number - more than a dozen (I have forgotten now). I guess no birth control.
The Mayan are not a very tall people. In this picture they are standing beside our guide, who was himself not a tall man - about as tall as I am.
The village comprised about a dozen houses, all made of wood with thatch roofs. We did not visit them all but we walked around the village and looked at how it was laid out. It was much like any small village anywhere.
We were invited inside this home and our guide talked to these two women, who were cooking food. No stove - just a charcoal fire. They invited us to eat with them but our guide explained that we had already had lunch earlier.
Outside the house there were a number of beautifully-coloured birds in cages, including this one. There was also a pet monkey but he was too fast for me and I couldn't get a good picture of him.
When we left the village, these children came to say goodbye. Aren't they beautiful?
The first week of March, my sister Marilyn and I went on vacation to the Mayan Riviera area of Mexico. While we were there, we went on an expedition to Coba, which is the site of some spectacular Mayan ruins. The highlight of the visit was seeing Ixmoja, which is the tallest pyramid in the Yucatan peninsula. Here is yours truly standing in front of this pyramid prior to trying to climb it.
It really is steep. There was a rope to hold on to, for climbing up or down.
I wanted to climb all the way to the top but made it up only about a quarter of the way. Then I experienced vertigo and decided to be sensible and climbed down - very, very carefully. My sister took this picture of me coming down. That's me, circled in red.
There were a number of other beautiful temples that we saw, such as this one, which is called La Iglesia.
At the end of our visit as we were walking back, we saw this lovely temple. I enjoyed the whole experience very much.
