April 14 2021 - Feet of Art - the Art of Foot

 

So many ways to make art these days.  But then Simon Beck has been creating outdoor art in the snow since 2004.  Vast patterns in the snow in various mountainous areas - he lives in the French Alps.The article I read had him in the U.S. Rocky Mountains creating winter art for the town of Silverthorne.   "Days into his Silverthorne stint, Beck has only finished a couple of “drawings,” as he calls them. The wind has thus far wiped away everything he started, and on some days has even prevented him from going out altogether. But that’s the nature of the job, and he’s used to it."  That article is HERE - with its wonderful pictures of is work.  Another kind of art by foot is made by Stan Herd.  He is an American crop artist whose work is carved on the landscape as well as on fine art prints.  He received a lot of press last year with a crop portrait of Kama Harris.  His work is made from native plants and other natural materials.  His Young Woman of China contained marble, granite and the province’s natural stone. It also incorporates dirt, plants, rice paddies and other materials native to the region.  I wonder how long these last.   And then there are corn maze designers.  Dan Frantz is one of these.  The Amazing Maize Maze 2019 locations are listed with pictures HERE.  There don't seem to be any updates anywhere since then - there are many in the eastern U.S., and mostly New York state. And then there is sand art - the "most famous" is Sudarsan Pattnaik - he has received dozens of awards for his sea shore sand art.  He has his own sand art institute.  Many of his sculptures are three-dimensional.  Simon Beck, of snow fame above, has entered this realm as well.  Andres Amador, based in San Francisco is another sand artis who draws large-scale patterns in the ocean sand.  As you can imagine, these are temporary. Pictures of his work are HERE.  We started this journey with Nico Laan back in November.  His work is created in the sand at the sea shore. His website says:  "An anamorphosis is a representation that you have to look at from a specific point of view. With 3D objects this gives a spatial effect and with flat subjects a certain 'friction'. Later on I started to focus more on 'ordinary' drawings, which do not require a special point of view. The challenge lies in finding a camera position in which landscape and drawing reinforce each other." Our Niagara Blossom Trail has started.  The first two pictures are on Stewart Road - that's on the NOTL side of the Welland Canal just south of the Lakeshore Road.  I wonder if this orchard is Apricots as I have seen only a few early ornamental cherries in bloom in front gardens. Yesterday's sky was excellent - beautiful blue sky to the north and dark grey to the south.  I drove on Church Road, and found this uprooted orchard.  It looks like a horrible natural disaster to see these scenes.  But as the many transport trucks drive along Stewart Road, it is a reminder of the industrialization of all things.  Maybe that's what got me looking into the foot artists today - those who work in the landscape itself. Purchase at: FAA - marilyncornwellart.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

May 9 2020 - Snowbirds Fly By Today

Keukenhof is without people this year.  The videos and pictures are particularly enchanting with just the rivers of flowers on display.  There is the artistry of the floral display - its simplicity of shape and form makes one feel that one is actually there. There aren't any human shapes as distractions.  The same is true of the Niagara Parks Greenhouse display with its first orchid show this year.  A video tour of it shows a beautiful display. Remember the  24-hour "BloomCam" set up in High Park, Toronto so people could watch the cherry blossoms at any time?  The top story about the cherry trees is a tree climber in the middle of the night fined over $1,000 for being in the park.   Our good news of the day is here.  The Snowbirds are scheduled to take off from Toronto at 12:45 p.m., flying over Burlington, Hamilton, Niagara, Brantford, and Woodstock before landing in London at 1:45 p.m. That would be a good moment to be on the escarpment overlooking Toronto.  They will get to Collingwood and Barrie in the afternoon.  This is a cross-country tour to boost morale, so we can expect more scheduled fly-overs heading west.  We'll be watching out for the forecast snow today hoping it doesn't interfere with the fly-by.  Here's an orchard on Concession 2 Road in Niagara-on-the-Lake.  This is the lucky moment, when the crew are trimming trees so they are on the ground still in blossom.

May 16 - If you own a computer then play this game for 1 minute

Isn't that headline interesting?  Could you read the headline without being at a computer.   How does owning a computer change whether you should play "the game" or not? I wonder about how that logic motivates people to click the link. What would we do to improve our logic skills?  There are serious websites such as mentalup.com and they have three categories:  logical reasoning and planning, spatial perception and logical thinking, and logical and mathematical thinking skills.  They are targeted to children to engage in the 'games' to improve their skills.  Another site - the one that is the top item on the google list identified ten creative tips, and then shows six.   This six seem hilariously illogical - and perhaps an excellent example of how google's focus on revenues have interfered with retrieval results: Dance Your Heart Out. ...  Work out Your Brain with Logic Puzzles or Games. ...  Get a Good Night's Sleep. ...  Work out to Some Tunes. ...  Keep an “Idea Journal” with You. ...  Participate in Yoga. The list made me laugh, so I went on to find a logic joke: Jean-Paul Sartre is sitting at a French cafe, revising his draft of 'Being and Nothingness'. He says to the waitress, "I'd like a cup of coffee, please, with no cream." The waitress replies, "I'm sorry, monsieur, but we're out of cream. How about with no milk?" The joke is followed by a list of Oxymorons.  It seems that seeing them together makes them more funny. Act naturally Almost exactly Alone together Business ethics Clearly misunderstood Computer security Diet ice cream Exact estimate Found missing Genuine imitation Good grief New classic Two images of iconic Niagara - Peninsula Ridge Winery and orchard blossoms.

THE WEDDING DRESS

There is a Royal wedding this Saturday, and people will be remembering the Royal wedding that riveted the world - that of Princess Diana and Prince Charles in 1981.  It is a Royal wedding event that is revered and referenced by the press.  Her children are the subject of the global obsession with Royal weddings. I went looking for the most remarkable Royal Wedding Gowns of all times - and there are a lot of them. There still is a lot of Royalty out there - Norway, Monaco, Sweden, Jordan, Spain, the Netherlands, Denmark - even Luxembourg.  There's a picture of the Queen of Bhutan in traditional costume.  She is the world's youngest living ruler. There are two weddings for Prince Charles - the second with Camilla Parker Bowles in the Harper's Bazaar article.  Diana's is 29 of the 41 weddings covered. What about Vogue's coverage of the most famous wedding dresses?  It is HERE.  It covers all kinds of celebrities and the dresses that made the news.  There's John and Yoko's wedding portrait, Mia Farrow and Frank Sinatra, Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, Elizabeth Taylor and (  ) fill in the name as there are quite a few. Grace Kelly and Princess Diana seem to be 'markers' for beautiful wedding dresses. Grace Kelly's dress had 25 yards of silk, Princess Diana had the longest train in history. The last picture in this article is also perhaps the most notable   It shows Queen Victoria's wedding dress in 1840.  This is the dress that started the tradition of white wedding dresses. Our Spring show in the orchards is coming to an end as the green leaves sprout on the trees.  This orchard is  on 23rd Street in Vineland. I checked on the Jordan Wisteria yesterday, and it is just starting to show colour.  We're in the midst of the Redbud season and the show is beautiful this year.

The Blossom Trail

Here are some of the flowering trees in the Niagara region this week!

Royal Botanical Garden Arboretum:

Lakeshore Road, Niagara-on-the-Lake:

 Royal Botanical Garden Arboretum: