The Greatest

To follow up from my previous posting, below is a photograph of my project titled "The Greatest". For this piece I had the chance to play around with Inkodyes. They are such a fun medium, however I found that since the dye is UV light sensitive, my image was continuously changing day-to-day. By the end of the gallery showing, my piece had changed several shades darker. I still find this medium fascinating - I may just need some practice.

"The Greatest" is a portrait piece of my dad based on past memories of hiking and camping adventures. Being within nature is something truly important to me now as an adult, which I believed formed from those outdoor experiences of searching under damp logs for salamanders and finding the perfect hiking stick hidden in the forest.

hello & happy sunday!

Hello & Happy Sunday! It's has been awhile since I've updated. In fact, it has been over two months - that is just neglectful of me! However, in the last two months I have celebrated two weddings (one being my sisters), I spent a couple weeks exploring bc with my best friend Nellers (which included being stranded by our bus in Kelowna and eating lots of delicious raw and vegan foodies), and I had the chance to spend some time visiting my parents and relatives from Ontario. More recently, I started up my fall semester at University and already my photo class is having a gallery showing this week. I will be posting a photo of my project once it's up on the wall. I'm trying to make more of an effort to document my artwork and of course create more art on a daily basis. 

beautiful photo of my dad taken by grant

poster for gallery showing designed by grant

On another note, I have been loving the abundance of fruit trees growing in the area. We have an apple and pear tree growing on our property, plus our neighbours have an asian pear tree free for the picking. And across the street there are blackberry bushes and plum trees which, from what I have been told, have been around since the earlier days of Clayburn village. It reminds me of how lucky I am to live in such a lush and fruitful province. 

apples from our tree, the best apples I've ever had

asian pears from our amazing neighbours paula & peter

garden garden

Wow, it has been over a month since I last posted and boy is there a lot to show you - including my ever-growing-jungle of a garden! Our garden is in wonderful shape, although I believe we may have planted more than we can eat. Grant and I have gone on a few hiking adventures and more recently I have started up a blog for my work at HOFA. I haven't created much art in last few weeks, only a bit of sketching here and there. I have some great ideas for some mix-media mountain paintings which I cannot wait to jump into.

Here are a few photos of the garden which were taken one week ago... and it's already grown a bunch since then! 

eating raw

I recently picked up Ani Phyo's un-cook book called 'ani's raw food kitchen' and it has been a huge help to kickstart my interest in eating raw. Grant and I have been busy the last few days sprouting, blending nuts & seeds and dehydrating lots of wonderful goodies. Also, we recently visited a raw restaurant in Vancouver called Gorilla Food which we ate the most delicious raw lemon avocado pie! With a little bit of searching on the internet I was able to find the recipe from the blog Eco-nomical Living. Lets just say the pie didn't last very long...

lemon avocado pie

dehydrated veggie burger on a lettuce leaf

alfalfa and mung bean sprouts

garden update

So I must begin this post with some bad news, our friend Marvin, the Evening Grosbeak, passed away yesterday afternoon. I brought him to Elizabeth's Wildlife Center, which is a wonderful non-profit organization located in Abbotsford, and well, they did all they could. It's sad to think that 90% of birds they receive are from cats....


On a happier note, our garden is looking wonderful. I was afraid that the horse manure, which we layered on top the garden, was either going to slow down or prevent our seeds from sprouting. Now the garden does look a little patching as some seeds did not germinate, but since then Grant and I have planted more seeds. My next goal is to grow some quinoa! 


I'm so excited - the apples are growing!

evening grosbeak

This evening we made a new friend as a result of a horrible circumstance of cat curiosity. I love being the aunt of 4 kitties, but I cannot stand to see their natural instinct kick in when it comes to birds. So naturally we took him in for the night, and gave him the name Marvin. I am unsure of his injuries and whether or not he'll make it through the night... but we are hopeful. Grant snapped a few photos of me holding the little guy.

- Garden update coming soon!

chickens

Our neighbours Leslie and Ramsey adopted 9 chickens a couple months back (for eggs only) and we had the pleasure of babysitting them last weekend. This inspired Grant and I to take some photos and Grant made a video - enjoy! https://vimeo.com/43326689

homemade toothpaste

I have been wanting to make my own toothpaste for the longest time - so I finally sat down and just did it! With a mix of baking soda, cold-pressed coconut oil, peppermint essential oil and a glass jar - I was ready to start brushing without any unnecessary additives. Yippee!

run for water

Two years ago Grant and I ran two half marathons (Toronto's Scotiabank and Niagara's International), and I remember that feeling of exhilaration experienced afterwards.... So two years later I signed us up for another run and time sure has flew by.     


Abbys Run for Water has finally come and gone and Grant and I have spent the last 24 hours nursing our sore muscles. My time for the 21km run was 2:02:24, which means I beat my last time by 8 minutes! It was so fun to be apart of a community event and to help raise funds to support clean water projects in Ethiopia. I wonder what and where our next race will be... Grant is thinking of biking the Valley GranFondo which is a 160km ride from Fort Langley to Chilliwack loop. 

what is in our food?

For the past year I have been exploring the idea of living a raw lifestyle. However I have yet to create a menu plan or find a good cook (or non-cook) book to guide me. My interest in healthy eating has then had an influence on my school projects this past year. I designed my photo essay around the issue of processed food and discovering the real truth. Below is my artist statement.     


I can only speak for myself but, if I cannot pronounce an ingredient on a food package I'm surely not going to ingest it… consequently I couldn’t stop thinking about it so I had to investigate. I must admit the results were far worse than I had imagined. Just about every packaged or processed food contains some sort of preservative, additive or colour to either lengthen it's shelf life or aesthetically please the eye.


So, does that mean there are health benefits? Unfortunately not. 


My big question is, when do we start using our own judgement and stop assuming that just because these products are sold in stores it is healthy for the us to consume. When do we start taking the initiative to educate ourselves and treat our bodies with respect.

beeker

Today we lost a dear friend named Beeker. Words cannot express the sadness and devastation we have felt today... For the last 6 months we have created the most wonderful bond and it's hard to believe that we can never share moments like those again. He was the most extraordinary and loveable friend...

 

inspired

Here is another photo project of mine created by dark room experimentation and accompanied by a poem I wrote. The first set of three - my belief - are double negative exposures toned with the red wine. The second set of three - news - are collage base photocopies of prints toned with tea. The third set of three - the familiar - were created by using smoked glass and sand set under the enlarger, which created such a lovely scene of space... I'm planning on recreating this idea on a larger scale. Finally, the fourth set of three - inspiration - are a mix of toning with tea and added sand for texture. This project was so much fun!

I believe I am rooted to the earth,

by my hands and feet.

The energy I put outwards,

I receive inwards.

I have the power to expand my mind and spirit,

by opening my eyes.

I have seen what we are capable of,

the good and the bad.

With our hands we pollute the air we breathe.

We cut away the trees that stand tall.

We squeeze our earth dry of its natural life.

But beyond the chaos and destruction,

there is the unexplainable.

The sublime feeling of looking up,

into the nights sky.

The same view shared by the whole world.

I am inspired by a life living within the woods,

alone in the wilderness.

To be connected on a new level

of consciousness and awareness.

To only take what I need to survive,

happy and at peace.

fantastic adventures

Today was a beautiful day in the Fraser Valley, in fact, we have had wonderful weather for the last few days. Spoiled really. So to take advantage of the sun today, Grant and I put together a hearty trail mix and biked the 67 km trek to Cultus Lake... it's been an amazing day! 

Also, with all of this wonderful sun we've had my garden has s-p-r-o-u-t-e-d. Yea!

beet sprouts.

snow pea sprouts.

our bikes.