the turning

the seasons are turning, summer slipping away seemingly overnight

the morning air, cooler than the water,  sends wispy tendrils of mist floating lightly over the river

a chance early morning drive turned into a beautiful experience in it's quiet presence

benches heavy with dew, the flat rocks that usually invited me to sit a while were icy cold to the touch

 instead, I stood quietly at the edge of the path and let my gaze follow the flow of the water along it's path

steely grey with a sheen, the surface texture seemed more richly textured than ever... the circles were still present but the space in-between was completely filled with marks... lines, dots, short dashes, some echoing others, some finding their own direction

I came home, got out the sewing machine, some white linen and began

this is actually the wrong side, a variegated blue thread in the bobbin that looks rather darker here than it actually is

a close-up below gives a better indication of how the blue actually looks

the other side was stitched with white thread but I haven't been able to get a decent photo of that yet

last week I did two blue versions... blue thread on blue linen

the above is stitched more densely

below, the stitching is less so

all of these need hand-stitching additions, building texture and enhancing the patterns... winter evening stitching

my time here in the north is over for now,  back to Salmon Arm tomorrow

I've taken dozens and dozens of photographs, collected bags of driftwood, interesting stones, earth pigments, raven feathers, rusted wire , drawings, written observations, charcoal rubbings and more

I'm going back armed with a few pages of written notes of ideas, things I'd like to work on and with... 

seems there will be busy days ahead