A rare draw portion of Draw and Shoot…I posted an unfinished version of this previously but I think I’ve finally finished fussing with it.
Moving Day oil & conté on Mylar, mounted on board
18″ x 36″ (2 panels)
© Karen McRae, 2012
art
Recurrence
I’ve been examining some of the natural objects I’ve picked up over the last few months and I am always amazed at the extraordinary things that can be observed when one stops to really look.
This is a collection of small but very different natural works of art, etched out by time and environment.
This worn shell from Cape Breton reminds me of a delicate piece of filigree china.
It also appears to have tiny articulated legs!? Perhaps the calcified legs of some other creature, or some sort of plant growth, I really don’t know. Or maybe it’s just the way it’s wearing away. Any ideas?
This small stick I picked up from the shore of the Ottawa River is heavily engraved with “drawings” made by insects. The first thing that comes to my mind, is that it looks like a little carved totem pole.
Below are images taken of fossil-bearing rocks from the Ottawa area. The first three contain beautifully patterned fossils of tetradiids, which were solely Ordovician lifeforms. These fossils are quite small and were photographed using a macro lens.
Fossils in the abstract.
All images © Karen McRae
Departure
Yesterday evening I returned home from more than two weeks in British Columbia. I was fortunate to have the window seat during the departing flight from Vancouver and managed a few quick shots of the rhythmic landscape of low tide.
If it seems as though I’m starting my journey at the end, I suppose I am. The last glimpses of land before a largely cloud-covered flight home. This departure is also a starting point. (Sometimes I read magazines backwards, too…)
All images © Karen McRae
A Little Reveal: A Comb Jelly
If you saw my last post you would have seen the above unexplained image. Most people knew it was some sort of sea jelly.
Although not a true jellyfish, it is a type of comb jelly, (perhaps Mnemiopsis?)
In the first image the jelly is inverted and at rest, sort of folding back on itself. I like how it’s so abstracted and looks somewhat like a drawing.
The following images show that same sea jelly in motion. This little Atlantic comb jelly is only about 1cm long. I photographed it with a macro lens, while it was temporarily captured in a bucket. (click on images for a larger view)
Thanks to everyone who “played” along. I love all the creative suggestions as to what it might be!
All images © Karen McRae
A Little Mystery
Any guesses?
Image © Karen McRae
Always Wear Your Rubber Boots
There are days where you head out to try to work on a specific idea, and then there are days where that doesn’t happen at all, and you have to just follow your intuition.
And when something in the back of your mind tells you to bring along your rubber boots, you listen. Because you never know what might call you into the water. What might be waiting there for you to come along.
And although, whoever might be waiting there, regards you with suspicion; they may make allowances for your curiosity. Probably just this once.
An early season, slow-moving snapping turtle, sunning himself almost unflinchingly, while I gently talked his ear off. I think we bonded.
I have had other encounters with snapping turtles that were quite different, you can see another post here.
I am extremely grateful to WordPress for selecting drawandshoot.me for their blog post: 8 Gorgeous Nature blogs for Earth Day Wow! I’m honoured. Thank you.
All images © Karen McRae
A Soft Place to Land: Part One
I’ve been thinking about the textures of spring. The things you slowly come to notice. Like the way the air sort of rushes through you instead of around you. The yellow-greens that hover at the tips of the trees like a dancing mist. The velvet carpets that slowly roll out under your feet. Some of them solid. Some of them shifting. How your senses heighten and make everything more absolute. But with this, a softness.
The temperate softening of the landscape. There is a beautiful energy to the spring; a measured growth and a bursting freshness.
All images © Karen McRae
Shell Games
There are several different kinds of mussel shells in the river each with their own subtleties that I find intriguing. (okay, I don’t get bored easily…) As the outer layers of the shells are abraded away over the seasons it’s as though tiny luminous landscapes develop on the surfaces. This is what catches my eye.
A bit of trickery: I’ve photographed some of these shells on a mirror while reflecting a white surface onto the mirror at the same time.
All images © Karen McRae
Ready for Release
I had a chance to visit with the wrapped trees today. I thought they might be released from their winter trappings, but no. Surely, it must be well past time. The little trees are trying to fight their way out with the aid of the prevailing winds. They are ready to feel the sun and the rain on their restrained boughs. There are bits of green popping out.
I brought a little sun-shower with me but it’s not enough. The earth is cracked and dry.
Some of them are looking rather defeated. Who will come and start the unraveling?
*All these trees are as I have found them, along the highway and wrapped for the harsh winter. I have been documenting them through the seasons and you can find the whole series here.
All images © Karen McRae
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