Blog Post - December 29, 2019 - Colouring My World

Our three family gatherings over Christmas this year were wonderfully warm and enjoyable. Each gathering had its own energy and rhythm; each left me feeling blessed beyond measure. And each was an opportunity for profound gratitude.

The gatherings took place in three different locations: the first at Chris and Jenny’s place in Toronto; the second at our place here in Belleville; and the third at Kate and Tim’s place in nearby Stirling. Each of the three homes has its own sense of warmth and welcome. 

However...it was the gathering in Toronto that was most interesting for my camera, primarily because of the dynamic decor. Wonderfully wild and invigorating...an eclectic visual feast...and my camera loved it! 

The photos that follow, all made in Chris and Jenny’s east-end Toronto home, give you a flavour of what greets you when you enter their front door. Thank you to Chris and Jenny for allowing me to photograph their home and to post the photos online. 

These photos provide a fine way to close out 2019 and to prepare the way for 2020. They are stimulating, energizing, and life-affirming. May these qualities transfer over to the year ahead. 

With every best wish for a happy, healthy new year.

Blog Post - December 21, 2019 - "Celebrating Joan Reive"

This is a time of the year to celebrate and reflect. Whatever holiday traditions bring you joy – Chanukah, Christmas, Festivus, Hogmanay, Kwanzaa, New Years, Solstice, plus your own private celebrations – may your year ahead be filled with love, health, and justice.

To help you celebrate, here is a series of close-up photos of work by the Belleville-area artist Joan Reive. Joan is a gifted quilter, painter, and human being. There is a wondrous exhibit of her quilts currently featured at the Belleville Public Library’s John M. Parrott Art Gallery, 254 Pinnacle Street, Belleville. The exhibit is called “The Fabric of the Land: A Retrospective of Art Quilts by Joan Reive.” (link) The exhibit runs until Thursday, January 2.

My photographs – made and posted with Joan’s kind permission – do not do her quilts justice. They focus only on intimate details. To fully appreciate the magnificence of Joan’s work, please visit the Parrott Gallery yourself.

With every best wish for the season – from my home to yours. Enjoy.

Thousand Islands (Detail), 1989

Sailing Series #1 (Detail), 1994

Prairie Series #6 (Detail), 1994

Bridgewater (Detail), 1998

Still Waters (Detail), 2015

Spires (Detail), 2015

Rocks (Detail), 2015

A Hint of Autumn (Detail), 2015

Lake Vistas #2 (Detail), 2016

Laurentian Lake (Detail), 2016

The Spirit of the Land #2 (Detail), 2018

Spirit of the Land (Detail), 2018

Shades of Grey #1 (Detail), 2018

The Lonely Land (Detail), Undated

A Fall Day In Westport (Detail), 2015

Blog Post - December 15, 2019 - "There Goes Santa Claus"

I have always enjoyed Christmas. When I was a kid, it seemed that the entire autumn was spent preparing for the holiday at our house. For weeks, my sister and I practised tiptoeing down the stairs to our living room – not an easy task, given the creakiness of the stairs – so we could check out the glories under The Tree early on Christmas morning without waking up our parents.

Then there were the Christmas Eve rituals: we sang carols around the untuned piano in the dining room; I read the Christmas story in the Bible, checking out the front window occasionally for any bright stars; mom prepared a small plate with two cookies and a glass of eggnog for Santa; and, most importantly, my sister and I stayed on our very best behaviour just in case ‘You Know Who’ was checking to see if we were being naughty (my sister) or nice (pious me). 

And all of this over sixty years ago, on a distant galaxy, far, far away...

Today’s Christmas-themed photos: most come from the Bloomfield and Belleville evening Santa Claus parades. Precious little Christougenniatikophobia 

(fear of Christmas) here, although the photos of Santa Claus are a tad creepy. Maybe even Clausophobic?. 

Enjoy, even if Christmas is not one of your traditions.