website issues...

My portfolio site is redirecting to this blog for the moment, while I take care of some technical difficulties with the site. Hopefully I will have it back up and running soon! If you are here as a result of this redirection, and are looking for images of my work, there are paintings scattered throughout the archives of the blog, or you can visit my page at Narwhal Art Project's site for a selection of works and information.

beautiful science

Hello! I'm sorry for my long absence here. I've been keeping busy, trying to dig myself out of a slump. A big part of this process has been finally fixing up my studio space (in our dining room). I'll post before/after photos once it's all finished, but for now here's a peek at what it looks like today, as I spend some quality time with my new microscope(!). As far as the previously mentioned slump goes, things are looking up. I think I may have made a small breakthrough today. I have been finding it really difficult to loosen up and be experimental in my art-making, but to approach it from more of a 'science experiment' angle is opening up some really exciting possibilities.

Fallingwater

Endless Caverns

The second cavern site we visited in Virginia was Endless Caverns. It was a perfect contrast to the spectacular but super-touristy Luray Caverns. These caverns were off the beaten path, a bit smaller and less developed. We only had two other people on our tour, and our tour guide was fantastic - really knowledgeable and relaxed. It felt more like we were actually exploring a natural site, rather than being herded through a theme park.

Our guide would turn on lights as we went along, and then turn off the lights in the passages we had just come through. At one point he turned off all the lights and let us experience the most complete darkness I have ever felt. We entered the caverns down through a stairway locked with iron gates in a little stone building, and exited up a different stairway into the basement of the main building. The entering and exiting was one of my favourite parts of the experience. It is just so surreal to feel that transition from everyday reality to the strange and magical world underground.

 (I think it's kind of hilarious how much this picture looks like it should be in a brochure)

 

Luray Caverns

This was the real impetus for our trip. I've been pretty obsessed with caverns for a while now, and when I realized that some of the best show caverns in North America are clustered in an area of Virginia only a day's drive from here, we decided to plan our summer camping trip around going there.

We visited two caverns on our short trip. The first was Luray Caverns; the largest and most popular site in the region. It was kind of a crazy tourist trap, but completely spectacular nonetheless. We were part of a huge tour group (somewhere between 50-100 people?), which made its way through at a pretty reasonable pace, stopping at major features along the way, where a teenager would give us a short canned spiel about that feature. Surprisingly, I didn't feel very rushed or crowded. The caverns are enormous, and once people spread out, we could lag behind at our own pace. I think by the end we had assimilated into the tour group that was after ours. Most of my pictures are pretty blurry, because it was so dark, but I hope some might work for potential art-making purposes. Here are just a few of the hundreds of shots I took.

And, a couple more shots with people, to show scale:

P.S. Does anyone remember my cavern plate? That was from Luray! I think this trip may have inspired me to keep building on my vintage cavern souvenir collection (the contemporary souvenirs were absolutely horrid).

shenandoah

Back from an amazing trip to Shenandoah National Park in Virginia. This photo was taken from an overlook on Skyline Drive, the road that winds along the crest of the Blue Ridge Mountains, down through the whole length of the park. There are 75 overlooks like this along the 105 mile drive. 

Lots of photos to come: more misty vistas, a detour to Fallingwater, and caverns!

cube

pyrite ~ 10" x 10"

(from a small series done earlier this summer for a hotel commission)

lately

...playing with pencil crayons, thinking about caverns, visiting Thunder Bay...

from the garden

giant poppy

Amethyst Mountain

Amethyst Mountain  ~  Oil on panel  ~  14" x 11"

getting friendly

One of the melon seedlings by my window has been making friends with my paint brushes. It's pretty sweet to see my two loves getting along so well!