SeaRose Studio Summer Newsletter

June 21, 2003

Hello, hello and a good summers day to you. So suddenly the solstice is upon us, the longest day of the year is past and now begins the gradual shortening of the days and the long slow slide down the curve of summer. It has been my great joy and delight to spend most of the luscious month of June painting and gardening. I think this has been one of the most enjoyable months of my entire life. With the Engineering Genius off fishing the prawns every day, I am home alone from 6 a.m. when I run him over to Pierre’s Bay until 7 or 8 p.m. when he gets home. That is a lot of hours in which to occupy myself with creating and enough to include some housework too.

The garden, as gardeners will know, is coming into the joyous and fragrant blooming time of the peony, the honeysuckle and the rose. We are grazing on strawberries every day, peas are starting to fill out and it looks to be a bumper crop of raspberries this year. In the pond, waterstriders, frogs, toads and the goldfish dally amongst the waterlilies. I have a porch now, a porch off the kitchen door and a lovely, lovely kitchen and living room. Every day as I walk down the hall from the bedroom into the kitchen I enjoy the cool feel of the beautiful fir floor E.G. laid. A few days ago when the afternoon westerly, for once, was not blowing, I sat in the sun on the sundeck overlooking the sea, with a glass of wine and a book. I thought, ten years of work clearing this land, building a house and garden, just so I could sit here and do this, enjoy it all. It was worth it.

In the studio I am still painting the great ‘what is’, the landscape in which I live and its myriad expressions. I am working on a series of birds from reference collected on the monthly bird count tours with Bill. Guillemots perched on steep rocky slopes displaying their bright red feet was the first one and harlequin ducks is next. We saw over 35 of these beautiful birds the second Sunday in June as well as a pair of nesting common loons. This was a great treat as we don't see them very often, nor hear their haunting call for a full five minutes. I also spotted what I believe to be a juvenile osprey early one morning but have not had a second sighting. As well I am exploring ways to express or describe my ideas about life and the complexity of the universe. Just completed a 24 x 30 canvas that you can view on the gallery page. At the base of the painting lies a baby, cradled on feathers in a geode, or ‘thunder egg’, which is enfolded in the roots of a tree (tree of life) that grows up against a star studded sky. A sea rolls in from the western ocean lit by the setting sun. The baby is sentient, expressing our dependency in this amazing cosmic matrix and the gift of consciousness. All the elements are present, earth, air, fire and water and the fifth sacred thing, spirit. The patterns of the macrocosm are reflected in the microcosm, as above, so below. I have a few more ideas to explore around these themes and am having an excellent time painting them as well as completing several commission pieces. July will bring me the first of several visitors and I look forward to them all.
 

Click here to order a copy of this book
The most exciting news I have to share is about the imminent release of the book Bill Proctor and I have been working on for several years. We were just about to self publish with a ‘vanity press’ when Harbour Publishing phoned and said they would like to publish it. I was so thrilled. Naturally there turned out to be a great pile of more work to do to get the thing ready but Harbour is committed to getting the book to us by mid to late July. It is entitled “Full Moon, Flood Tide” and is kind of a compendium of what Bill knows about the Broughton Archipelago. He tells stories about the pioneer days and hooks them onto local geography, plus provides access information about some interesting places to explore. It’s a little like sitting with him and listening to stories. The book features my art on the cover and drawings throughout as well as lots of photos. The price, including shipping is $36.00, and we will be having a book launch party at Billy’s Museum at Bill and Yvonne Proctors place in Echo Bay, just as soon as we get the books. We are taking orders so if you are interested in purchasing a copy of this book you can e-mail me, searosestudio@hotmail.com, phone me at 250-974-8134 or write to me or Bill Proctor at Echo Bay, Simoom Sound, B.C.