art

Current Events

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In the same way the wind carves out the snowdrifts the current is carving away at the belly of the river ice. I wonder how it would look turned upside down. Would it be etched full of channels and rippled ridges or glassy and smooth? I imagine running my hand over the cold surface. Connecting with the texture. Perhaps I need to pick up my paintbrush. Do something more tactile.

This seems to be my visual response to reading the news today. Thinking quietly “out loud”. That feeling of helplessness like a small current of energy vibrating inside that you’re not sure what to do with.
My initial response is to throw some beauty to the wind and hope it lands on someone who needs it…a thin lifeline.

All images © Karen McRae

Drifting

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March is, indeed, “In like a lion…” effectively reshaping and carving out new snow sculptures as I write.

(Images from last week – its windy out there!)

All images © Karen McRae

Pursuading Order

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There are times when I really notice order. I admit it’s not usually when I’m looking around my house.
It becomes particularly apparent when I’m looking through the camera lens. In a sense I’m always drawn to order even though I don’t always practice it. I like looking at it, I appreciate carefulness and am also drawn to certain repetition and routine. I relish the quiet rhythms of movement in yoga and climbing or cycling and even walking across the earth. I suppose these kinds of order are like a meditation. A way of centreing oneself in an often uncontrollable world. I realize making images is part of this for me. You might be surprised at the number of times I rearrange them on these pages. Thinking about how one image flows to the next or how your eye is drawn through the series.
It makes me think about the sense of order demonstrated by others when I happen across it. Perfectly lined up trees, immaculate summer lawns, thoughtful gardens or carefully placed tools of industry. And then there are natures own brilliant repetitions of shapes, showing up over and over again. There is a comfort in that order.
I like to think I tread lightly on the earth. It may not be so, but when I tread I am always appreciating the natural order that is underfoot, and trying myself to persuade just a little into existence.








White on White

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We were gifted with a significant amount of snow yesterday, perhaps more at once than other snowfalls this winter. It’s been a bit of a lean year so far.
You can tell it hasn’t snowed for a while when some of your neighbours appear genuinely excited to be shoveling their driveways. I was also happy to be out in the falling snow. It was warm enough to stick to you thoroughly as you trudged along. All the gritty greyness covered up.

I should, in fact be out skiing right now but I am nursing a knee injury from skiing in less than ideal conditions. Cross country skiing in the hilly back country of Gatineau Park can be pretty challenging and when you are somewhat limited in skill (clumsy) it can mean a lot of…crashing.
In truth, I am not unlike George of the Jungle in my abilities. Where he is swinging along on a rope, I am careening (or plodding) along with 2 boards strapped to my feet. We are both watching out for that tree…

Back to yesterday. Towards the end of the day I was making pictures in low light. They are underexposed and nothing special but somehow they captured that feeling of intimacy that fresh snow seems to evoke. When I looked at them I could picture that snow-covered girl, the one kneeling in the softness trying to steal the last bit of light. Sinking into the fading white on white, pink cheeked, and for a moment, almost graceful.

All images © Karen McRae

Character Development

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Caveat lector: More Wrapped Trees

I‘ve come to think of them affectionately as the “Sad Sacks”. It appears there are other emotions at play but I think overall they are finding the winter long. It’s definitely been character building.

It seems these characters are now starting to regard me with a bit suspicion, I wonder what they are thinking…






A young Treeannosaurus Rex perhaps?




Previous wrapped trees can be found here and here.

All images © Karen McRae

Deconstructing Architecture: The Canadian War Museum

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The Canadian War Museum in Ottawa is sustainably designed with the notion of regeneration. At the back it rises gently  out of the landscape in some places barely visible. In the summer its green roof sways with approx 10,684 square metres of native grasses further integrating the building into the surroundings. In the winter I love how minimalist it appears from different angles, how the materials used and the cement in particular, soften against the snow. Every angle intriguing.








While nature may be ravaged by human acts of war, it inevitably survives, regenerates and renews itself. – Raymond Moriyama, Architect

All images © Karen McRae