PhotoArt – July 2013
The album page numbers change the page of photos for all the galleries, so its a little bit tricky to navigate. Some albums don’t have a page 2 or 3 or 4, so just keep an eye on which page of the gallery you’re on as you browse the site. To click through the albums with several pages, change the page number, (the square with the number) then scroll back down to the album you were visiting.
Most of the photographs are (me) Alicia’s originals, without photoshop or cropping. The cell phone pictures for the seagulls had to be cropped, and some closeups.
Visit to the Ecomuseum, July 7th 2013.
Click through the album to see all the active animals, and Alicia’s strange encounter, with a gift offering from the Golden eagle.
ECOMUSEUM: 21125 chemin Sainte-Marie, Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue, QC, H9X 3Y7 (514) 457-9449
The clay fossil gift, July 8th 2013.
This is one of three gifts I was offered today. I went to Cap St-Jacques beach, on the lake. I sat on the beach and swam in the water. I pointed out to my friends that there was a muddy pit, probably full of clay, which is fun for bodypainting. You can swim after and wash it off. I went digging in the clay. It wasn’t clay, it was sand, but there were parts with more clay, and I dug until I got a clay-sandy mixture, and rubbed it on my body, and then went swimming to rinse it off. I had talked to the boys all about the clay. Someone must have been inspired by my clay digging…and decided to offer me a gift. Wading in the shallow waters…my foot with a little pegasus wing tattoo. Once on the beach for a while, I was getting burned and decided to turn and lay on my belly. I found sticks, and pebbles, and made one of my art cards in the sand with the objects. It had a heart and my name. Its like my butterfly angel name card, you can see it by clicking on the ‘Loveart’ tab. Eventually I went to sit at a picnic table in the forest, to relax a bit before leaving the beach. There were many mosquitoes, and I was stomping my legs to get them off. I noticed I had kicked a rock out of the mud, and it looked like a heart. I picked it up.
I realized the rock must be a fossil; it has an imprint that I thought looked like a fish’s fin. Now I realize its the imprint of hummingbird feathers. The stone is made of petrified clay. Its been fired and solidified. It involved digging, the clay, my pegasus wing tattoo, my heart card and sand art, my hummingbird drawing. The other gifts were two types of seaweed, a short branch of each. I’m drying them out in my car, like my pink mini rose from my dad’s garden.
Boxing training portraits by my mom Christine
One of the world’s rarest creatures….a heavyweight woman boxer that is actually very good and ranked in the top. Me! I’ve only sparred with men; one heavyweight amateur (named Steve), and four pros/ex-pros (Hercules Kyvelos, Francis Lafrenière, Daniel Piéton and Howard Grant). They “kind of” went easy on me, but not that much, and I put the heat on them a lot too!
Me, Alicia, & Francis Lafrenière, at his fight night in June 2012
June 10th 2012… very important night in my life, very important texts too… god, I’ll never forget…
The seagull show at Stewart Hall, July 9th 2013.
I didn’t have my camera that day, I took pictures with my phone, then I cropped them in photoshop.
The ducks at somote2, July 11th 2013.
Male wood duck
Female wood duck
Male mallard
Female mallard
The ducks have been cohabitating in a posse at Centennial Park, and the family is full of adult and baby ducks of both breeds. The extra surprise is the beautiful crossbreeds. All my original photographs with no photoshop.
How did somote2 get its name? July 12th 2013.
The other day I was suddenly taken up with observing one of my crystals from my collection. I had never looked at it so intently. Its a citrine, but I bought it because it had a little bit of another color in it. Up close the coloring was made up of hair-like shards, and they spell the word “SOMOTE” in the stone. It is even underlined. I had been recently visiting the 2 fish-plenty ponds…I realized this was nature’s name for them. Like a “salmon moat”. I assume the word salmon is used because of the way the fish are plentiful. I’m not sure what type of fish are in the two somotes.
Citrine with unknown red occlusion
- It says “SOMOTE”, underlined
Tree sculptures and squirrels in Centennial Park in Beaconsfield, July 12th 2013
What spirits live in these woods? The trees sculpted some of their lifelong friends.
Dragonluring in Centennial Park in Beaconsfield, July 12th 2013
They look like monumental rocks, or beautiful glowing shells, on the seashore
I decided to make an art project with my citrine points in the landscape. The pictures are my originals, no photoshop. But what lives in the river? Can the crystals lure the sea dragon to shore? He can give us a ride downriver to the next stop, panther-dancing park in Baie d’Urfé. Photographs are from both places, and follow like an animation. Let the flow of the waves and the beautiful landscape relax you as you admire the beauty of the crystals in the sunshine.
A day with the dragonflies at L’Anse à l’Orme park, July 16th 2013
A day in the park to swim can turn into an adventure…I found a huge beautiful feather, a piece of tree bark with an eye, and got visited in the water by many creatures.
I was out far in the shallow water when a bluish purple dragonfly came and landed on me. He thought I was a good island to take a break. I never met a bug I liked, but this little guy was so funny looking and such a pretty color, and proceeded to wipe his eyeball with his little paw, like my cat when she washes her face. He flew away and landed again, a few times, but I didn’t have my camera, since I was out in the water. The little guppies were swimming around me, one bigger silvery type up high and one little white type that stayed on the bottom in the sand. And the little water fleas thought I was a good island too, underwater. I was getting the jitters with all these little creatures!
When I returned to shore I decided to go on a picture-taking dragonfly hunt. I waded in the water, and decided to sit on a rock to catch some pictures, hoping one would land on me again. I got some good pictures of the dragonflies in midair! But I didn’t get a closeup like I would have when they landed on me. I also missed capturing a pic of the school of medium-sized tadpoles that swam by my foot in the water, I was in such shock! I decided to go out to lie in the water and wait, and a few of these numerous blue dragonflies came very close, but none landed on me this time. I’ll have to go lie in wait again tomorrow.
Raptor Feathers, July 17th 2013.
I looked up feather types to figure out what I had found…its a Golden Eagle feather! Turns out it was meant for me….because the tip matched the one I already had at home. I looked that one up too, turns out its a falcon feather. I never knew what the big striped feather I had was.
I’ve been finding lots of feathers, and when I bring them home I show them to my cats. They sniff them, try to bite them, and are happy their mom brought them the gift of a “kill”, just like they do when they bring us their mice and whatnot. I used to let Jacqueline play with my unknown feather, but now there is no way my cats are going to be biting those two special feathers. I showed them to Jacqueline this morning, and told her one of my stories that she understands – I held a feather in each hand and swooped my arms and told her how its a big bird that hunts things like cats! And then I came in on her with my hands like eagle talons…she ran under the bed!
Natural Golden eagle patterns, July 18th 2013.
A tree
Feather pattern of the Golden eagle
Split in the middle; like two wings, its back
Little tree nuts with Golden eagle feather pattern
Back of the Golden eagle at the Ecomuseum, July 21st 2013
The water dragons at Somote, July 18th 2013.
I first saw the water dragon at Somote about a month ago, when a flock of seagulls alerted me to him. The next day I saw him downstream teasing the fishermen. I’ve seen him many times now, he visits me every time I go to the water. He lets my guy friends ride him like a dolphin, and I pick them up downstream with my car. The other day, I asked him permission to take clear photographs of him like when he clearly pops out of the water. He’s very playful, and very cryptic, which is a word for extremely camouflaged in his environment. He hides in the waves and plays with people by the shore. Today, a few days later, I finally got those pictures. The secrets at somote are revealed for everyone to respect and cherish.
Fils couché dans son lit, July 19th 2013.
Pure sleeping bliss
Tout le monde a besoin de son nid
A clam snack, July 20th 2013.
When I went swimming at L’Anse à l’Orme I found some broken clam shells. I couldn’t find any whole ones, all the clams that had left their shells left broken ones. I was wading in the water again, when I saw a whole shell. I realized it looked like it still had a live clam in it. I kicked it with my foot a couple of times, confirming that it was a live one in his two half shells. I got out of the water.
The next day that I was at the park, I walked down to the water, and found the unbroken empty clam shells sitting on the shore, like this.
Someone had eaten the clam and left me the shell!
I know someone that likes oysters…and likes to do things to impress me. I think it was my friend Adam that came to the park and scooped up that delicious fat clam as his snack! He went home to cook it, and he brought back the shells for me after, knowing I’d find them. I bet he was like…should I use lemon? Oil? Hot sauce..?….
Centennial park bliss art, July 20th 2013.
I found a duck feather. The top side is muted brown. Underneath its silver.
It must have been ripped off, there’s the marks
White seagull feather
Love
Love
Epic shots of the Golden Eagle, my queenbird totem, July 21st 2013.
A feather in his beak….he was eating
This is why his name is Golden
Golden Shine
Striker Pose
Angry pouffing up
Visit up close
Strong and threatening spirit
Portrait with Golden’s feathers
Dark…and powerful
Lilies in the park on Julie street, July 22nd 2013.
I braved all the different types of bees and wasps to get these hummingbird-worthy shots. I thought they might get annoyed at my digital camera sounds and attack!
Heart-Leaf Clover- A green heart mandala, July 22nd 2013.
On the lookout sitting in the clover patch, I found something special hiding out. I didn’t want to pluck it out of the ground…It’s still there if you can find it!
Heart-Leaf Clover…much better than four leaf
Jacqueline and her crystal feather dish, July 22nd-23rd 2013.
Sniffing the feather I brought home for her
Jacqueline is a little coquette cat. I always say she looks like she could be Bambi or something, she looks like a pretty girl. I call her “Belle fille”
Her crystal dish on the window sill, the next morning in the rain
These shots of Jacqueline and her feathers were taken in low light so there are many pictures that are blurry. But I think it goes with the gentle mood of the ritual of offering her the feathers I found that day, tired after a long day outside, now at dusk in my room. The effect also enhances the look of her soft fur. After Jacqueline takes a look at her new feathers, I put them in her crystal dish, which sits on the windowsill where she birdwatches. She looks at them too, while birdwatching, or picks one out of the bowl, and I almost always find some on the floor by the window when I check.
A slow relaxed ride on the shuttle boat in Lachine, July 26th 2013.
Come aboard
I lived in Lachine for 4 years, never knowing about this little boat. Come along and enjoy the ride to the other park and back.
The Lachine Park in Alicia’s Red-Winged Blackbird Love Totem Mandala, July 26th 2013.
This is the lush place, and the gorgeous bird, that inspired my drawing. This time there was one of the little birds right in the right park! He was a coy and sneaky fellow, who caught on very quick that I was hunting him with my camera. It was very very hard to take a good shot, I understand the frustration of real nature documentarians now! I had to stay far away, but at least I had my 18x zoom lens!
A Lachine Park on the water
Red-Winged Blackbird in the Lachine park.
They are marsh birds, and their song rings out by the water intermittently like crickets at night.
Songbird Mandala (Tantric Twin Jewel), markers on paper, 8.5 x 11 inches, 2013
The pool and the gardens at the house in Boucherville, July 27th 2013.
Today I enjoyed a relaxed Saturday in lounging mode. Swimming, sitting in the gardens on the deck, walking down onto the pier…a beautiful summer day with beautiful colors to share. Phenomenal shots.
The waterfall