MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

Christmas Tree Of The Forest 2012

The forest of these woods,
Which lay before its edifice,
Hide no more the beauty of this spruce,
Relentless storms which did not fell you,
You and many like yourself strong to the end,
How lucky they're all to have this tree so fine,
For Christmas is near and the holidays which we love,
Are sublime and once more,
Our spruce tree which we've managed,
Adorned for this occasion with lights and tinsel shine,
It is the forest of Owyacumish in which you tower and hold us too,
Every winter we will travel and paint your form,
For your needles splayed in these boughs to show,
Becomes the christmas tree of the forest that we know.

The Cattails Whisper Softly 2012

While we wait along the shores,
Our boat floats and tries once more,
This flood don't flounder us we saw,
Submerge to forget what we came for,
We'll hear the wails from all that matters,
Silence from the watery woods that once chatters,
Our desperate trails now deep, they shine,
Clouds of a sky, that's no sunlight a sign,
Cattails move to the breeze and whisper to the willows,
Who has drowned the aspens?
And they did say, no one knows,
Cottonwoods speak up of a tale,
They will denounce Pitt River and tell,
Now along the coasts with ghostly flutters,
Lands so far, calls loud along with others that mutter,
Snow geese flock from the north too feed,
Some calls to cull these beauties don't please,
They're protected and that's how it should be,
Cattails whisper softly, for winter sent them free.

For Remembrance Day In Which We Feel 2012

Imagine another day,
This remembrance of pain,
These are some of the fields,
For time has stood,
And nothing remains,
That is for a testament in which we feel,
For it's real that the fallen gave,
Some lost and without graves,
We bereave in silence,
But love is found always,
Not one forgotten,
We'll wear our poppies proud,
Teach all the others to see,
Forever on this eleventh day,
We pray for thee.

Those Flickering Lights They’ll Shine So Bright 1983

Autumns moods they’ve seen these times,
Calling me back for my breath reached out,
For years have gone and blind fears have set,
Back towards those lands,
Which the mosquitoes I have met,
Submerge into that river that the Kettle forgave,
It will hold those many watery graves,
Paint on the details of that water-paper find,
And rest for this brilliant light cools my mind,
Oh, those winter filled nights,
Sparkling shafts of light torment the trees,
Yet some with many leaves,
There they’ve stood with many flooded feet,
Another beaver wades in today we’ll meet,
We've worked so hard for a long play at chance,
Now a game of notions along with our glance,
And yet those flickering lights they’ll shine so bright,
The moon is so full as it pulls us closer tonight.

The Long Senescence For Trees With Pretty Leaves 2012

Noticed this autumn with many stationary dreams,
Chlorophyll still intense and pigments last with glorious hues,
Return once more to Valhalla park,
The most red of leaves,
Show off your anthocyanin,
Are the maple trees which we'll pine in,
With the sun teasing us to believe,
We have left and returned once again,
Shine sunny warm days,
They'll mock our ways,
Oh, it is the cold nights,
Thousands upon thousands of deciduous trees delight,
Oaks, poplars and the alders,
Those and many more with their carotenoid protectors,
Yellows and orangey leaves that cast the colors,
Chlorophyll you hid so well those beautiful orange and yellows,
Your lovely green hue of natural life; as those green covers mellow,
We'll be sad when the chlorophyll decomposes,
Their chloroplasts will no longer work,
For now the leaves will cascade down upon this land,
Enjoy your long senescence,
And rest once more for winters presence.

The Morning Clouds Of Queen Charlotte Town 2012

Another small watercolor painting from our Queen Charlotte Island February trip, I mentioned earlier this year. I love its expressionistic style which I painted outside. The clouds were really enjoyable to paint as they were constantly shifting positions with one another in that blue sky. In the background way off in the distance the evergreen trees stood very tall and the foreground hedges are quite green. It began to rain so we all came in and I added some more detail, especially to those cumulus cloud formations. The suns appearance was brief but I liked the illusion it created and it gave depth to those billowy clouds.

Sloughs of Burkeville 2012

There it flowed,
Mostly dry today for its lazy dreams,
A channel they'd call overgrown and bold,
As the lines etched into thy brow,
Village on the edge of forgotten,
Moody slough do not drown the adventure,
True beauty is for this small water sketch,
Pretty heron with flashes of blue primary feathered gloss,
Muskrats scurry just below her breasts,
We must make hast for this place to rest,
And when the surge travels once again,
Fast to the tide and eddies to the west,
It is the straights of water and journeys beyond,
Always quiet Burkeville with its sloughs all around.

Below The Poplars Terra Nova Park 2010

Many a shadow would replace this day,
Send us back with adventure,
Below the poplars,
All the creatures would play,
Those trees with their beautiful forms,
Parts of our full hearts would dance below,
Sometimes those human figures high above,
Caressing the bark in the Terra Nova parks layers,
Take shape to reach and feel our souls,
There they're the leaf-shaped sentinels,
Reaching for something below,
Us the mortals that visit and show,
Creating and curious we’d bow and bend,
Poplars distort the sunlight to the very end,
To know the time would lift us back,
We can feel from where it is told,
But wait for in a moment the poplars behold.

Nootka Roses So Red They Blush Before The Dawn 2012

Nootka roses so red they blush before the dawn,
The wait no longer now has gone,
We will move along this beach,
As those many swallows swoop to greet,
Collect those insects on the wind,
All flying which the dragons and damsels defying,
Those insects with lights flashing, from their winged scaled array,
Only the suns light knows how to tame their attempts,
Remain to the lower realm for Icarus fate lures them all,
To the earth once more as their many remains fall,
Yellowy dressed meadow larks sing to a song,
Those are the fields far beyond,
What draws the painters, with their many passions to wait,
Each with a lover or a mate,
Summer for shame as you came to late,
We will all now play to your game,
Oh, the nootka roses know of your ways,
As each bloom inspires; they'll draw more for our gaze.

They Wait For The Roses 2012

They'll sigh into the sky,
For those Spring rains cast a gloom,
To long and way into our wet June,
Summer you do not shine,
As that bright star should always be,
It is the clouds which are shameless,
We miss our suns glow,
All that is alive will know,
They dare mystify all the sweet birds below,
Adhere charcoal to this damp place,
Wild roses should make their way,
Blossoms so red, I cannot hardly bare,
For once upon a sunny day,
Bees which were never just a few,
The perfume of the abundant hues,
Now nootka rose buds wait for their cue,
Maybe we should all remember to forget the spell,
For that long play cries out,
They wait for the roses, tale.

Buttercup Meadows of Manning Park 2012

We just got back from a lovely day in Manning Park and I painted many lovely expressionistic oils of a meadow with thousands of buttercups in full bloom. There was lots of wildflowers in the other meadows and along the hillside but we just had a lunch at the picnic tables nearer to this particular meadow. I'm happy how these paintings looked and so spontaneous and I just squeezed the yellow tube of oil paint directly onto the canvas paper. It's so easy and convenient for quick compositions, rather then having to set up an easel and then anchor the stretch canvas with the wooden dowels. I've naturally enjoyed all the postings on my blog with those very detailed paintings done nearly thirty years ago. I still have dozens and dozens more of them, in that art style I did in those days. They'll all be published eventually and I located another folder of poems and prose I wrote years ago too.

I'm still looking at the other wet buttercup paintings which are still drying. One of them especially looks like many miniature suns and that we haven't seen much of on the West Coast lately. It's rained and was so cold and our garden is very green but no flowers yet. The bumblebees along the Southerly part of our property are feeding on and collecting the pollen from the dandelions today. And the sun has actually made an appearance today but more rain is forecast for this coming week.

Cultus Lake Cottage Garden 2012

Efficacy of the floral bouquet,
Which awaits at madams gate,
Such perfume dares to wonder in aimless praise,
Lilies sweet with vanilla scents,
Our eyes devour such pretty white sights,
Your bell flowers shimmer to no surprise,
I place you divine as the dreams along the grape vines,
Lily of the valley your nemeses,
Worthy with her pretty white dress too!
But it is your perfume that no one mourns,
Which will only love is you!
Snowdrops on their early languid visits,
Stayed those snow filled days,
Sad is when you’ve passed the lavender flowers,
Their anointed fragrant sachets displayed,
Oh, that suns request exchanged,
For the nights are for our moon,
It is us that will stay at our cottage play,
This garden on this day in May I dare say,
Our visit too brief as the butterflies breathe in life to short,
That city so far below in our thoughts,
Merely to sustain what matters we have sought,
Dear cottage garden life we will return and defend,
For the flowers which reply are there for that happy end.
　

What Will Spring Bring 2012?

From these scratchings where the charcoal falls,
Glorious from beneath that alders’ knoll,
A study perhaps to a life,
For she’s the mother and a wife,
Children will never know,
For their games taught so long ago,
It's the luscious song from high,
And from below, our sweet 'hellos',
Sing to us your serenade for the warblers are in tune,
They’ll play no other song,
To an empty stage but not for very long,
What will spring bring?
It is the warmth and rains,
The view transformed, aware for winters pain,
We’ve traveled to this rivers bend,
The sentinel from the middle end,
Along those emerald washes,
They'll quench the charcoals pledge,
Sweet as that rivers sedge,
It will be your silhouette that takes shape,
And motions me back for this visions so great.

Happy Easter Sunday Everyone!

Tempest at Skidegate 2012

A February storm brewed out,
In that delicious Pacific cocktail,
Its oceans cold with waters that devoured this shore,
No one holds those intense winds,
As we hear their passive wails,
They'll lick violently against those cedars and prevail,
Drifts refuse to float no more and beat against the rocks,
Wooden splintered shapes polished by land,
Search the passage within this safe place and shine,
All is known for Haida Gwaii and their land of hope is divine,
Waves crest and the Pacific surges forward,
This storm at Skidegate never overthrows,
But will conquer as its own tempest and wane,
Those Haida poles know of this land and have seen the pain.

Maine Island Duck Family 2011

There had been more before,
The ducklings which play are now in four,
A coyote which lives behind the birch trees,
She’ll hide and hunt using the tidal reeds,
Three of her little pups sun on the trails,
Oh, those dirty sandy colored coats,
Glimmer like the boat sails,
That ocean around with its own drama,
Plays with these marshlands and leaves all to clamor,
Even the clouds drift about and never stay the same,
We will move about and paint and they will lay claim,
The mallards will feed and play and float all day,
Coyote can’t make a meal anymore for they know of her ways,
Their watchful and learned now too scatter with haste,
Where the deeper waters are a safe place,
And I've just scattered these colors the same way,
These expressionistic movements still beautiful I must say.

They Would Appear To Pray 2011

Way down below in the waters murk,
Smooth in those covert spaces which lurk,
Turtles recede back into the ocher body,
Merely the waters dressed for the camouflage,
Their greedy intentions conceal the montage,
Played for always and misses of prey,
An occasion of solitude for the mallards to stay,
Their precious ducklings young and fearless,
They’ll bob for pleasure as we peer less,
Such tangle of salmonberries small and sweet,
Stains to our every reach,
Soft green leaves and shoots so tender,
Everything in these natures spanned,
Shone into those spathed yellow bright hands,
They seem to pray,
At Mahood Creek in Wells Gray,
But infact it’s the cabbage,
With name skunks way,
Entice many a glance for what is not known,
The flora with scents not to fancy,
Still a pretty delight found fresh and free,
Odor not apparent for sweetness gives way to its dignity,
Time disapproved those blossoms,
Now its scent weighed upon disappointment,
And the smells shameless anointment.

Clouds Serenade Masset 2012

 
 
These are the skies which torture our hearts,
From beneath that embrace,
A moment which never came to late,
Only those clouds above which drift,
They’ll move about in a transient glow,
Occasionally they will look down,
Way down below,
Masset your skies with truth that lies,
Another storm we’ve seen,
Before that wet dawn has been,
These vapors which serenade our impatient breaths,
Leave us warm and we will send you off before our deaths,
They have changed once more,
Flutter and transfer and rumble and roar,
Clouds serenade Masset,
You have merely made all below very wet.

 



Queen Charlotte Islands Sojourn 2012

We just came back from the lovely Queen Charlottes and there was a lot of rain and some beautiful sun filled days. We stayed in Masset and Queen Charlotte City and visited our friends which live in Skidegate. This is one of the oil paintings I did in Masset when it wasn't raining so much. The cloud formation was pretty and I had to apply the paint very quickly, as another storm was moving in. I painted quite a bit and sketched a lot too. It was quite pricey for food and accomodations and we vacationed there for almost two weeks. We flew back by seaplane to Nanaimo and took the Ferry back as foot passengers and met more of our family on the North Shore. Winter on the West Coast so far has been fairly wet and cold but in the interior they have had some bad snow event days.

The Starlings Drift 1988

Hold still they never would,
Everything surmounts against that winters breeze,
Foliage released long before its tree,
Starlings in their playful diversions,
Drift about those auburn silhouettes,
As the winters light envelops the sky,
And the suns ever so shy,
Oh, those starlings games,
With their voices that imitate,
Even a seagulls search but without fate,
Suspend up there for me starlings and I will play,
To merely hold this brush it would seem,
With watercolors,
Please fill my dreams.

Happy New Year 2012 To You All!