Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Trees In Plain View

This is my favorite time of year. I love it when the small leaves on the trees create that soft green veil around the branches. Each tree looks like a primavera goddess – a true spring bride.
These lissome beings dance in the wind all along my riverbank, their limbs clothed in transparent green gauze.
It isn’t difficult to understand why the ancients believed that trees were inhabited by supernatural beings.
I have lots of trees in my yard. In fact I often say that I live in a small forest on Wolseley Ave. 

Four years ago, I had to have my favorite tree cut down. It nearly broke my heart.
It was a huge basswood, towering over my house – taller than any other tree in Winnipeg, I think.
It had five large boles, each as great around as the trunks of individual elm trees growing along Wolseley. They all branched off from a huge trunk that must have been about 30 feet in circumference.
When the tree-cutters came I asked them to leave a high stump. So there it stands, an altar to treedom – 6 feet high and 25 feet around.

The wonderful thing is that it is still alive! It has produced several young trees from suckers, ringing it round and two of them have reached a height of 20 feet or more. Last year they managed to produce flowers and I look forward to even more this spring. I have missed the heavenly smell of basswood flowers in my back yard since the big one was cut down. I will enjoy them again, as well as the low hum of bees in the branches, They probably travelled miles to harvest the nectar.
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And here is an invitation from Medea Gallery.
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This is a painting by our newest member - Jane Gateson. She says of her work:  "Paintings are visual words, and each person can read them in a unique way. My visual words arise from a longing to understand the mystery of the link between the human and the divine. The hours of the day, the ordinary things, always bring colors, shapes and textures...often an unexpected and holy beauty, often a gift of understanding which though impossible to capture, compels me to try.
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                                Nancy Blokland invites you to the
Spring Craft Market

May 6 and 7th from 11 am -1:30 pm both days
Portage Place Shopping Center
Edmonton Court (under the clock)

Vases, bowls, mugs and many other items
perfect for Mother's Day etc...

204-799-3792 e-mail nancyblokland@msn.com    
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Wayne Arthur Gallery

186 Provencher Blvd
Invites you to
Minis, Not Quite Miniatures: From the Drawer and New Small Works
Mixed media and acrylic by
 H. RogueRaiders
May 2 to June 2, 2010
Opening Sunday, May 2, 1 to 4 PM
Hours: Tuesday to Saturday 11AM to 5PM
Web site: http://www.waynearthurgallery.com
For more information
Call Bev at 477-5249

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3 Beautiful Weimeraner Dogs Looking For a Home
A friend of a friend is looking for a home for these three beautiful dogs (weimeraners). She's moving west and isn't able to take them with her and if she can't find homes for them, will be forced to consider euthanasia. It is breaking her heart and I want to do all that I can to help.

The three dogs are:
3 year old female (blue)
9 month old male (blue)
4 year old male (grey)
All are neutered/spayed and have been well cared for. The three dogs are all crate/house trained, well mannered. She takes them to the dog park and walks them all together - in one hand! :)
If you are looking for a dog or know someone who is, please let me know and I will pass along the contact information.
e-mail Jo'Anne at j.kelly@shaw.ca.
        
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All artists In Plain View are gearing up to get ready for our next tour.
This will take place on June 5 & 6, all over the city. It's a self-guided tour of Winnipeg artist studios and galleries and you can go to our website to get more information about us and our tour: http://www.inplainviewwinnipeg.com/.



Monday, April 5, 2010

Spring is here in plain view


This evening I walked my dogs wearing only a sweater over my clothes. This in early Aptil - mirabile dictu!.
A benign, mellow evening worthy of early June.
Later on tonight, I'll continue to imbibe the soft spring air,  sitting out on the deck behind my studio and listening to the dark, swollen Assiniboine River rush by. Last night I heard the small tinkling bells of the breaking ice as it jostled and pushed its way eastwards. Tonight the river waters are free of ice and flow swiftly and purposefully onwards.
I might be joined by some curious but cautious racoons. I have seen them luxuriously reclining on the lounge chair on my studio deck. And a couple of nights ago I spotted a couple in amorous foreplay.
Perhaps even the local red fox might prowl by, if I am quiet enough. He came into the yard about three weeks ago, presaged by his otherworldly cry - sounding like a lost soul, searching for its mate. Perhaps he was.

There was an ice jam on the river this past weekend, and it left fascinating piles of ice which remain on the bank. They remind me of Jolanta Sokalska's glass work.

I visited Jolanta and her husband Zbigniew in their studio this past week and found them working on a commissioned stained glass project which was a collaboration with students in a school in South Winnipeg and will grace the halls of that school.
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Katherine Bruce has offered new work for out delectation. She will also be offering all day workshops in May. Go to her page in the In Plain View Winnipeg website to access her website information.













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Kathleen Black sent along an invitation to (W)rites of Spring where a piece of hers is being auctioned. This info is as follows:


A fundraiser for the League of Cdn Poets
Day: April 9, Friday

Time: 7 pm -10 pm
Place: Cre8ery Gallery
Upstairs at 125 Adelaide (across from Cdn Footwear)
Free admission, Cash bar, Cupcakes by Finales
Win: Fine art Pate de Verre piece by Kathleen Black, glass artist. ($250.00)
Win: One League of Canadian Poets membership (Associate, or eqivalent, 1 year)

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Wayne Arthur Gallery

186 Provencher Blvd
Presents
Grandma Jean Paints Animals and Other People
Paintings by Jean McCormack
Opening Saturday, April 3, 1 to 5
And continues to Wednesday, April 28
Gallery hours: Tuesday to Saturday 11 to 5 PM
Web site: http://www.waynearthurgallery.com
For more information call Bev 477-5249






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And inside Jo'Anne Kelly's studio on the swollen riverbank, a number of paintings have recently been birthed. Here are a couple of them -
 
 
 
 

To find out more about us go to our website: http://www.inplainviewwinnipeg.com/.