"Seeds of Inspiration" Show

    I love to have my paintings shown, so I was overjoyed a year ago when I was told that there was going to be a show at the McBride Library featuring the works of painters who sold at the WhistleStop Gallery.   Then about 4 months later I was told that the show was suddenly not about the works of the painters, but about a “theme”.  The theme was “Seeds of Inspiration” which was supposed to help celebrate the 100th anniversary of McBride’s Farmer’s Institute, an organization for local farmers.

    I shook my head in dismay.  Themed shows are so false, and force the artist try to give meaning to their paintings that the paintings really don’t have.

    Since the theme was agriculture and I certainly didn’t have the time (or desire) to paint something new about farming, I was forced to look through my existing works and try to see if I could make any of them fit the theme.  I did have “Sunflower” (you can see it in the photo), “Morning Cloud” (featuring cows in a pasture), and “Peppers”, all older works.

    I was already peeved at the fact that the show was now supposed to celebrate the Farmer’s Institute, when I read in the local paper that member’s of the Institute were upset that the BC government had proposed making the Ancient Forest (an area of giant old cedars, in a very rare inland rainforest) a Class A Provincial Park.  When I heard about their opposition, I was ready to just withdraw from the show, since I didn’t want to celebrate that type of rural conservative mentality.

    I did come up with a compromise.  Since I was told during my initial complaining about having a themed show that “Seeds of Inspiration” could be stretched to mean anything (“Whatever inspires you”), I put my painting “Pillar of the Earth” (or “Cedar”) whose subject is one of the giant cedars growing in the Ancient Forest, into the show.  It was an honest response since the ancient old gnarled cedar did inspire me.  

    We had a nice turnout at the opening on Friday and the show will remain on display at the McBride Library though December.

You can see all of my paintings at:  www.davidmarchant.ca

Our Own Personal Speed Bump

    Just when I thought winter had been established, our weather has done a 180 and the cold clear stuff has been replaced with wind, melting temperatures, and rain.   The snow in the yard is sagging and the snow on our metal roof is melting and slowly sliding off.  As the snow comes off of the carport roof it has created a speed bump, keeping us from driving too fast as we pull in.

You can view my paintings at:  www.davidmarchant.ca

Windy McBride

    This overturned mobile sign (complete with solar panel) gives evidence of the strong winds that McBride often experiences during the fall.  It has been sitting in this position for a couple of days now.

You can see my paintings at:  www.davidmarchant.ca

Frost on Weeds

    The frost and the cold clear weather that created the frost in these photos has now disappeared.  Yesterday we had lots of wind with rain and today’s sky is gray so since I have not been very inspired to take photos, I thought I would show these two.

You can see my paintings at:  www.davidmarchant.ca

The Dresser

    I have often mentioned the scary winter drive from McBride to Prince George.  One of the many hills along the route is the one that climbs up from Slim Creek.  When I am driving that incline, I often think about an episode that happened to our old neighbors Kjell and Celine on one of their trips to Prince George.  

    The story actually starts with Bob and Mary, some other neighbors.  They were getting ready to move to Australia, and had to get rid of a lot of possessions before the move.  Among the items they were going to give away was an antique dresser.  Mary had a friend who lives in Prince that wanted it, so they took it over to Kjell and Celine’s and asked them to take it along to Prince George sometime on one of their trips.

    Kjell and Celine put the dresser in storage in their basement and sort of forgot about it, until they had a bit of a flood in their basement and it came back to their attention and they decided it was time to deal with it.  One winter’s Friday evening after work, they loaded the dresser into the back of their station wagon and took off down an icy Highway 16 to Prince George.  

    It was probably around this time of year, and they didn’t have good tires on their station wagon.  When they began to climb the hill at Slim Creek, the icy conditions caused the rear of the station wagon to fishtail back and forth.  It swerved toward the side of the road, slamming against the rim of snow on the curb.  The resulting “Bump” caused the back door of the station wagon, which didn’t close properly, to swing open, ejecting the dresser, which rolled over the bank and down the hill.

    Kjell stopped the car and walked back to where the incident took place then slogged down through the deep snow to where the pieces of the dresser were scattered.  I assume it took him several trips up and down the deep snow on the slope to collect all the pieces, but he gathered them all, piled them into the back of the station wagon, and then they resumed their trip to Prince George.

    Once they arrived in Prince, they drove over to the address Mary had provided where they were to deliver the dresser.   Unfortunately, they discovered that no one was home, and not knowing what else to do, Kjell just unloaded all the pieces of the dresser from the car and put them into a pile on the carport, then drove away.

    I always wonder what the recipient of that dresser thought when she discovered the pile of wooden pieces on her carport.

Take a look at my paintings:  www.davidmarchant.ca

    

    

Blankets of Snow

    Here are a couple of photos of the snow that is blanketing our the lower part of our property.  Both shots were taken less than a minute apart.  The difference in color is due to the light.  The top photo was taken with the camera shooting almost directly into the sun.  Because the camera had to restrict the intense light, it caused the shadowed areas to become very dark, which took out most of the color.          

    The same effect occurs when you “squint” your eyes.

    In the lower photo the sunlight was not as intense so the photo shows more of the subtle coloring in the scene.

    There is about 10 inches (25 cm) of snow on the ground.

You can view my paintings:  www.davidmarchant.ca

Blue Shadows

    Yesterday on our walk, as usual, I was looking around for something to photograph when I noticed  the blue arc of the ditch on the side of the road.  The shadow created by the ditch was an intense blue color created by the snow reflecting the color from the sky, and I thought the curve of the road gave the scene a dynamic feel to the scene.

You can see my paintings at:  www.davidmarchant.ca