Today was awesome because I made art.
A few weeks ago I visited two friends of mine in Whistler, B.C. I met Stephen and Craig on the train from Toronto to Vancouver back in October. They're a couple of Brits, in Canada on Youth Mobility visas for one year. Having lived in Elizabeth's United Queendom myself, we bonded quickly over our mutual adoration for a series from the telly called The Inbetweeners, good, cheap lager and curry, and a nice warm cuppa.
After three and a half days on the rails we pulled-in to Vancouver Pacific Central. Me and the blokes exchanged e-mail addresses and wished each other luck in our new lives in British Columbia. I was on my way to The Kootenays, they were headed for winter jobs on Whistler Mountain.
During my weekend retreat to Whistler, while Stephen and Craig were at work, I wandered the village in search of a new notebook. For weeks I had been looking for one with fairly specific features; not too big, blank pages instead of lined to accommodate both writings and sketches, and an artistically inspiring cover rather than a plain one. In Whistler I finally succeeded where in Nelson and Vancouver I had failed. I found a beautiful book containing 160 white, blank pages, and a lovely print of a painting of a moose crossing through a lake in the woods on the cover. Bonus; the notebook pages were made tree-free!
Since purchasing the book, I had only stained a couple of pages with little doodles. But today, oh today I wrote thoughts and poetry, and entered several sketches to the anthology. My evolution continues.
Art is awesome.
(What made your day awesome? Tell me in the comments section below. I'd love to hear about it!)
Showing posts with label art. Show all posts
Showing posts with label art. Show all posts
10 March 2011
06 March 2011
05 March 2011
Today was awesome because I went for a walk.
I threw my guitar on my back and headed for the beach. I decided to follow Cook Street all the way to the ocean because I had never gone that way before. It was a good choice, because I passed through a very cute, little area called Cook St. Village, where there's wonderful looking cafés, a British pub called The Beagle, and everybody smiles back. At the beach, I found my own little, private spot amongst the driftwood to strum a few tunes. I've been working on barre chords ever since I had the action on my guitar adjusted in Vancouver a few weeks back. Honestly, I was still having a bit of trouble with it just a couple of nights ago... but all of the sudden, on this beach, with the ocean as my audience, I'm throwing down F's and B minors like it's my job! It really felt great to know I'm making progress.
After a while, my hands started getting a little chilly, so I decided to walk down the beach for a bit and give them a chance to warm up in my pockets. A little ways down, I came across a couple of guys, one was putting the finishing touches on a true work of art. I introduced myself to José, the artist, and Tim, the friend, and told them how incredible I thought the installation was. José creates art using whatever he comes across in nature. Today, he had collected dozens of small pieces of driftwood and, amazingly, was able to use balance and weight distribution to weave them together in an almost basket-like sculpture. Then he balanced a big, long piece of driftwood across the top, without toppling the whole thing, and started stacking stones on either end!
It looked like this:
About 3 minutes later, it looked like this:
And you know what the best part was? After José inadvertently destroyed something he had spent over four hours on, he laughed. Wasn't bothered at all. He reminded me of Tibetan Buddhist monks, who create beautiful works of art using coloured sand called, dul-tson-kyil-khor (mandala of coloured powders). The monks spend days on their sand mandalas, only to have them swept or blown away shortly after their completion. It's a great lesson in impermanence; don't get too attached to anything!
Today, I went for a walk.
And I started to master a few new chords.
And I met an artist with Buddhist tendencies who creates art from nature.
And today was awesome.
(What made your day awesome? Tell me in the comments section below. I'd love to hear about it!)
I threw my guitar on my back and headed for the beach. I decided to follow Cook Street all the way to the ocean because I had never gone that way before. It was a good choice, because I passed through a very cute, little area called Cook St. Village, where there's wonderful looking cafés, a British pub called The Beagle, and everybody smiles back. At the beach, I found my own little, private spot amongst the driftwood to strum a few tunes. I've been working on barre chords ever since I had the action on my guitar adjusted in Vancouver a few weeks back. Honestly, I was still having a bit of trouble with it just a couple of nights ago... but all of the sudden, on this beach, with the ocean as my audience, I'm throwing down F's and B minors like it's my job! It really felt great to know I'm making progress.
After a while, my hands started getting a little chilly, so I decided to walk down the beach for a bit and give them a chance to warm up in my pockets. A little ways down, I came across a couple of guys, one was putting the finishing touches on a true work of art. I introduced myself to José, the artist, and Tim, the friend, and told them how incredible I thought the installation was. José creates art using whatever he comes across in nature. Today, he had collected dozens of small pieces of driftwood and, amazingly, was able to use balance and weight distribution to weave them together in an almost basket-like sculpture. Then he balanced a big, long piece of driftwood across the top, without toppling the whole thing, and started stacking stones on either end!
It looked like this:
About 3 minutes later, it looked like this:
And you know what the best part was? After José inadvertently destroyed something he had spent over four hours on, he laughed. Wasn't bothered at all. He reminded me of Tibetan Buddhist monks, who create beautiful works of art using coloured sand called, dul-tson-kyil-khor (mandala of coloured powders). The monks spend days on their sand mandalas, only to have them swept or blown away shortly after their completion. It's a great lesson in impermanence; don't get too attached to anything!
Today, I went for a walk.
And I started to master a few new chords.
And I met an artist with Buddhist tendencies who creates art from nature.
And today was awesome.
(What made your day awesome? Tell me in the comments section below. I'd love to hear about it!)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)