Grateful

I’ve been genuinely surprised and thrilled by the amount of interest in the wrapped trees series and I wanted to thank the following blogs and bloggers for featuring the images and re-posting them. Their sites are well worth exploring so please check them out.

Cath at Blanket and Bone has the following description for her blog “Celebrating the handmade, the artisanal, and the unique”  She asked me a few questions about my work in general and the series specifically which you can find here.

Writer and artist David Halliday from the powerofh blog did a post on the first series of wrapped trees here . I love David’s description of why he started blogging “… to offset my muttering in public places.” He has several blogs on the go and creates some fascinating stories and collages along with featuring many other artists.

As a writer he added an interesting perspective on his impression of the series. These are David’s words: “It as if we have seen these images a million times. Peasants in Van Gogh’s paintings. Women at mass. Mourners at a funeral. Victims waiting to be executed. They seem to have the weight of the moment on their shoulders. As if they bare the sadness of the world”

Many thanks to you both Cath and David. Also thanks to WordPress who featured my blog on Freshly Pressed I have connected with many creative and interesting new blogs and bloggers. I’m trying to keep up with everything!

A Quiet Storm

More Pictures from Friday’s perfect storm. I warned you we liked to talk about the weather…








The sailboat docks in the frozen harbour.

I brought along an umbrella to protect my camera from the snow somewhat, it was an umbrella failure in the swirling winds. Sharp umbrella skeleton bits poking out every which way. I have yet to find a decent umbrella that can stand up to a bit of wind.
(Click on images to enlarge)
All images © Karen McRae

Winter Wrapped Trees


For some reason, this image just breaks my heart. The harshness of Winter.

I have been here in the past. It was before the snow fell, before the cold really settled in. If you missed the first visit you can find it here. I’m fascinated by the figurative nature of these wrapped trees and how they can be interpreted in different ways. The way they relate to each other. The changes taking place through the seasons. The conversations.










All images © Karen McRae

Glassy-Eyed: Tiny Sculptures in the Landscape

As difficult as it can be when Mother Nature throws abhorrent weather at us there is usually an up-side. A magical beauty that can’t be achieved in any other way. If you take the time to look around carefully you might be surprised. And if you put on your woolies and come wading through the crunchy topped snow , bruising your shins as you break through and bending your body to the crust you might see something like this. And you will be charmed. The spell will be broken only by the numbness creeping through your limbs.










All images © Karen McRae

Frozen Regrets

This morning was very cold. The last few days have been in fact and yesterday when we went for a long ski it was so chilly (-15° c)  I didn’t bother taking my camera. But I completely regretted it because the Escarpment was a wonderland like never before. The higher part of the park was completely frosted. There were places where every branch of every tree was sparkling with ice and snow. And the sun was shining. Breathtaking.

Something like these frosted branches below which I took pictures of this morning. Complete cheater pictures. There is only one small tree in my yard that looks like this and it’s frosted because the furnace is pumping out toxic steam onto it. Sorry. It was still kind of pretty in the morning light. Lesson learned

Ice With Teeth

All images © Karen McRae