One Day at a Time

I’ve switched provinces twice since my last post. Our time in British Columbia came to an end just as summer was beginning. Will finished up his second semester of the art therapy program and we promptly packed up what little we had in our tiny apartment and headed back east.

 

After a very difficult (and expensive) year we decided that life in Nelson wasn’t working for us and so Will made the choice to continue his program as a distance student. We spent the summer in Quebec working our usual seasonal jobs and in September we packed up again and made our way back to Newfoundland. There was a lot of uncertainty about moving back to the island at first but as things started falling into place we knew it was the right thing to do.

Being home again has had it’s ups and downs. A lot has changed and sometimes I feel like I don’t belong here anymore. I’m sure I’ve changed as well. I experienced a lot of new things in B.C (both good and bad) and my time there certainly left it’s mark on me. St. John’s feels familiar and comforting, which is something I desperately needed after my year away, but it doesn’t exactly feel like home anymore. I live here, but I’m not truly living here, if that makes sense. Will finishes school in a few months and I’m hoping once we settle down and start doing regular life stuff that feeling will fade. I haven’t been able to settle in and get comfortable anywhere in the last 5 years, we’ve always been on the move. Putting down some roots here will be a welcomed change.

Right now we’re trying to take things slowly. I’ve taken some time off work to deal with a health problem and focus on my art and Will is busy writing his thesis. I’m not entirely sure what the future holds so I’m doing my best to focus on the present and enjoy everything around me.

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New Art

I haven’t been leaving the house much since the snow hit. We’ve had some significant snowfalls since December that have made getting around the city very difficult. I’ve been told that there isn’t usually much snow here during the winter but this year is record breaking. In fact, there’s a snowstorm happening outside right now!

I’ve definitely reached a lull with my artwork. The inspiration and drive just aren’t there like they normally are. I’m the sort of person who needs a lot of visual stimulation to be creative. I need to travel around, be out in nature, go to galleries, that sort of thing. I can sort of do those things virtually through photos and videos, but it’s not the same as being physically immersed in art and beauty.

In terms of content for this blog, I’ve really been struggling with that too. I love doing my What I Wore posts, but due to the frigid weather I’m living in baggy shirts and yoga pants…not really the sort of thing I want to be documenting.

Despite not really feeling inspired, I have managed to do a bit of drawing when the mood strikes. I’ve been trying to focus on things that make me happy, so it’s been fish and ocean type stuff. Capelin and squid, very Newfoundland!

Capelin are an odd fish. I’ve mostly only seen them beached and in various levels of decay. One of the most exciting things about them is how they attract other animals, such as wales and birds who come to feed on them. They are definitely something I associate with summer and home. While they are not the prettiest fish, they definitely are a thing of beauty to me.

Aside from drawing, I’m also working on a needle felt and photography project at the moment. I’ll probably post about that later depending on how it works out. I’m pretty new to needle felting. I had a few classes of it at school back in 2003-ish but didn’t really catch onto it until last year. It’s time consuming and kills my back, but I really enjoy doing it.

That’s it for now, if you have any advice for dealing with a creative rut, finding inspiration, or know of a good cute for homesickness, leave me a comment!

 

 

 

 

BC Wildlife Park

One of the cute things about Will and I is that our birthdays are a day apart. He was born on September 1st and I was born on September 3rd! (although a few years before him) So every year we plan a few days of birthday activities and make a big celebration out of it. This usually this involves going to our favourite restaurants and places in either the Gatineau/Ottawa area or in Newfoundland. This year we’ve moved to entirely new town where we haven’t discovered any new favourites yet. With Will starting school in a few days we figured we’d go on one last little trip before he gets bogged down with work.

We packed up our stuff and headed to Kamloops to check our The BC Wildlife Park.

The park is a non-profit that takes in injured or rescued animals and either fixes them up and releases them back into the wild, or if the animal can’t be released, the park gives them a permanent home. We’ve also visited The Northern Lights Wolf Centre in Golden BC, as well as Boo the grizzly bear at Kicking Horse. The staff in both places explained that there is a big need for these types of places in British Columbia. It was only $15 per adult as well which is very good for all the things you can see and do there.

The BC Wildlife Park is much like Parc Omega in Quebec, and Salmonier Nature Park park in Newfoundland. Animals have large enclosures which mimic the habitats they’re usually found in, they can pretty much do everything they’d do in the wild, except hunt. One of the staff members explained that they try really hard to hide food around their enclosures to make it challenging for them, like it would be in the wild. While we were they we watched a porcupine climb all over its space to get at the goodies and got to see grizzly bears flip over giant logs to get at the food hidden underneath!

As for the kinds of animals we saw, there was a lot.  From farm animals like miniature donkeys, sheep, goats, and chickens, to some familiar Canadian residents such as bears, bison, mountain goats, and moose. There were also some animals you definitely wouldn’t find out in the wild here, like Patagonian mara as well a bactrian camels. One animal we were very excited to see was the kermode bear, or spirit bear, which is a rare white black bear.

Another favourite were the owls and birds of prey. The park educates the public about Canadian wildlife as well. We were invited to see special information session with a snowy owl as well as a little demonstration of how owls hear. There was also an interactive element for kids if they wanted to participate.

I really liked the educational aspect of the park, this is a great place to take children who are interested in animals. It was also great for adults as well, we really enjoyed the walking trails, which were nice after a day of driving. Also, since bears seem to be incredibly common here it was nice to learn more about them and get to really see them, gigantic claws and all, in a safe way.

Overall we had a pretty good birthday this year. We’ve discovered that camping in BC is the worst, but that’s a story for another time.

Click the eagle to see the rest of my photos. 

Sketch

I spent most of today drawing. I’ve been working on making some cement pots these last couple of weeks and it hasn’t gone very well due to the second coming of winter. I thought I’d try drawing some little sketches of what I’d like the finished pots to look like.

The weather is also delaying more outfit posts since I prefer to take photos outside. I might be able to get another one done next week if the snow melts, until then I’ll be posting some little drawings.