the days go by and time here is winding down... just two weeks left before i head home and winter is only now starting to ease it's grip, the ice of the river breaking up in earnest
i've been feeling less inspired of late - ideas are percolating but without my art supplies here things are in limbo
there has been research on the river and work done on my collaged and painted backgrounds but that's about it
one thing i came across online was a hand-drawn map of the yukon river from the latter half of the 1800s
i do love old maps
i also stumbled on a video compiled by the national film board of canada - i couldn't access it through the film board but it is on youtube
it was wonderful seeing the riverboats in action on the river after only seeing them either dry-docked or perched on the riverbank
watching it, i noticed imagery that seemed to echo my shipboard papers-in-making
the ice broke up on the river long before it did on the lakes so lines of lampblack (seen below) were laid out on the lake ice to encourage melting
the sternwheelers also pushed barges up river in early spring, using them as ice breakers on the lakes
and four parallel lines on the roof of the wheelhouse
here is a link to the video if you are interested, or search "In the Days of the Riverboats":
below is the first ship board paper piece with many coats of watercolour and acrylic paint, sanded often between coats
the next two images are of the second piece - this one was done mostly with plain strips of paper from the book with a few pieces here and there with map markings - watercolour and gesso but no acrylic paint this time
the map markings don't show through very much though they do in real life though if you click on the images they will enlarge and you can see the detail better
the film and resulting still shots are quite grainy but i suppose that's understandable considering the footage is pre-1937, 86 years ago
and interestingly enough, today would have been my grandparents 86 wedding anniversary, married here in whitehorse on the evening of thursday march 25 in the old log church
i've felt somewhat adrift these past two months - home, yet not home but it's lovely to be toasting their memory in the place i remember them best
3 comments:
I think there has been so much percolating through your head, when you get back to your stuff you'll get a real boost!
Interesting post. I will have a look at those videos later for sure. I think Rachel is right. You may think you are in limbo but you have been stocking up on ideas and cultivating those thoughts. Good things going round in your head, sorting and maturing in preparation for your return to your supplies. Perhaps the delay button is a positive thing.
I wonder how much environmental impact spreading lampblack onto the lake ice would have done.
I like how you're utilizing the wonderful old maps in your work. Somehow I think they would translate into wonderful stitching experiments too.
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