river and sky

a walk along the river today

a dark day

sun low in the sky

glimmers of light skim the water's surface, as fleeting as the patterns of the current

swirling and whirling, the water silently flows swiftly by

sky and water,  light and shadow

the ageing pilings of the shipyard docks line the riverbank

 sentinels of history,  of a time, of a place

like the images of people waiting at the docks for the paddle wheelers to arrive 

huddled in groups, they wait... or watch?

I am drawn to them, their weather-worn exterior, jagged tops and leaning stature - how long have they been there? 

at least 100 years or more

and below, a meandering view that is new to me, opened up by the growth of the city and an extension of the walking path along the river

a delightful back channel meandering along the main one, the river dotted with small islands for a while

no sketchbook but thankfully my camera

catching up with old friends this week left little time for creative pursuits but I've been experimenting with ways of depicting the mountains 

folded white Japanese paper for a background, mountains cut from an old photograph, painted cloth, painted paper and coloured pastel paper

I like the image of the trees cut into a mountain shape and want to expand on that idea

 clean lines, especially in the folded paper...  I'm liking the graphic nature of them and imaging a larger version with even more folds to use as a base for other work

figuring out how to do that is a whole different thing though and will likely involve several trials using plain newsprint and a few choice words

tramping the trails

settled in, and feeling like the past seven months have fallen away, that I've always been here

just here

the weather the past few days has been a gift - a warm uplifting breeze  with whiffs of pine and woodsmoke, the air freshened by newly fallen snow that has been melting in the warmth of the midday sun

the sun stays low in the sky during these winter months, slanting across the landscape at an angle that makes much of the day feel like a painter's "magic hour", though the shadows are long and the blues more intense... perhaps it's a northern version of it, the magic and blue hours mixed together in the way of a painter

today I walked in the woods, taking the old pathways,  one that used to lead me to a friend's house, then another that was a shortcut to the store

the wooden plank over the stream has been replaced with a proper bridge but otherwise the shortcut is unchanged

large boulders dot the landscape in this area and there are several found along the banks here

I remember sitting on them often, chatting with a friend, listening to the creek flow by, now hearing the echoes of our laughter in the gurgle of the water

the trees are taller and there are some I can no longer encircle with my arms, their bark deeply lined, many leaning

leaning trees are common here... casualties of the permafrost

I've taken several photographs of the flowing water; the swirling marks make for interesting textures - something interesting to play with as transparent overlays

today I began a colour study - other than acrylic paints all I have with me are coloured charcoal pencils but I love the soft texture of their marks

there is a gentle subtlety to their colours but as I think of this landscape in memory more than see it in life it's maybe as it should be

the memories from years gone by have provided their own filter which colours how I see things today

sight seeing

whitehorse, last winter, the morning sun finally rising, sometime around 11:00 am 

some find the darkness difficult but I have always loved it... dark, cozy mornings where you can take your time to face the day

on my way there again, tomorrow

a settled feeling drapes over me as I step on Yukon soil and look out at a landscape I know in my bones 

and I am home again

there's a long list of places I want to be

 things to think about

photos to take

there's a hankering to spend time by the river, watching the current swirl across the surface

and another to think about the flotilla that set sail from Lake Bennett to Dawson City in late May of 1898

I'm completely taken with the sails, the shape of them, the varying sizes, the mast down the centre line - some were made out of cotton duck, many were patched together from whatever fabric could be obtained

most of all I'm looking forward to the trees

I want to draw trees this time, the tall skinny trees that captivate me 

it's their scrubby resilience that inspires me, the crooked and twisted forms that battle to live 

a true embodiment of the north

and then there are the ravens

I used to think they were the peskiest of birds but now I rather like their antics

so trees and ravens, perhaps a raven in a tree, though that's a rather uncommon sight up there if I remember correctly - you usually see them on the ground

and something with the sails...

making and knowing

it's interesting to me that whilst a piece of work may tell a story I am usually most interested in the story of how the work itself was made

thinking that might be of interest to some of you as well... this is how something I made a few weeks back came to be

it begins with a photo of the side of the Klondike River Boat in Whitehorse taken last March

cropped slightly, contrast heavily edited - wanted to remove much of the substantive nature of the wood, reducing the strength of most of the lines and enhancing the marks of weathering

water at Marsh Lake taken July of 2019

I love the visual texture of the water and the sunlight glinting on the waves

the Yukon River, taken by my Grandfather in the 1940s... a view I know so well, the blocks of ice-jams created by the movement of the water during warm periods of the long winter... planes and shadows, texture on the river

caribou crossing the Yukon River, a still shot I captured from a National Film Board of Canada video compilation of films taken by Yukon Residents in the 1930s

the moving image of this scene is amazing - the water flowing swiftly, the caribou visibly battling the current, their backs and antlers adding a flowing element above the water

all of these images informed the collage below with the side of the boat and the water images printed and used along with strips of silk chiffon I painted with watercolour paint, burnt the edges and then waxed

I love doing this kind of work, looking for connections in colour, texture, form

layering, working to create the feel of something, somewhere

the transparency of this piece alludes to the transient time of the river boats and the gold rush, and that what seemed strong and substantial wasn't after all and when their days were through the river flowed on

I didn't go about planning this work to have this message rather, I gathered images and samples that appealed, that seemed to work well together and once it was completed and I spent time considering and reflecting on what I'd done I began to draw meanings and inferences from what I was seeing

making connections, gaining understandings

I don't think it makes the work any less meaningful, that it didn't start out with that consciousness and only came to it later

things can be known without knowing, the work bringing forth what was already there