Devotions.

On Friday, I photographed artist friend Patrick Cruickshank's art show. His show was entitled "Devotions", and was a compilation of drawings that he had done every day for one year.

Patrick's work is beautiful, and was very well displayed. It was a privilege to be able to photograph the event.










(Friend Heather was serving wine all night. She was so cute I couldn't help but take photos of her!)

Fowl Play art show, and an inspiring trip to the island!

My good friend, Meghan Mast, has an aunt who is a fantastic artist. Her name is Yvonne Vanderkooi, and she lives in Nanaimo (which is on Vancouver Island.) Here is a link to some of her work.
http://www.nanaimoartwalk.ca/2009/artists/VanderKooi.html

She is also involved in a non-profit organization called SWAN-- Start With Art Nanaimo. Their aim "is to present opportunities for artistic expression that can inspire and encourage new and emerging artists to bring their art to life in our local region."
So, SWAN came up with the idea of hosting an art exhibit in their studio for anyone who would create a work of art with a bird in it.

Meghan, Sheri and I decided to take up this challenge and all created works containing birds. And then, this past weekend we took the ferry to the island and stayed with Meghan's aunt in her beautiful home. Our work was hung on Friday, and we attended the art opening on Saturday.


Here is my painting, entitled "Let Caged Birds Fly Free."


I returned home feeling very inspired.
I even painted this next piece last night!

Photography in Florida

For Christmas this year, my family decided to visit my brother in Florida. He is there interning on a farm which develops different agricultural techniques to take into developing nations. There were so many beautiful plants! And so much delicious fresh fruit.
Cranberry hibiscus. The leaves taste a bit like cranberries and are supposed to be good in salads.
There were so many varieties of citrus in season! David picked some for us.
Along with taking care of the rain forest subdivision of the farm, David is also rearing ducks. This is one of them.

Sheri pulled me around in a wagon on the farm for awhile.
We also took some time to discover the area surrounding the farm-- mostly Fort Myers and Myakka State Park. We toured Thomas Edison's winter estate, which boasted many interesting species of plants that Edison was experimenting with. Above is a rubber tree.


And here is a vanilla orchid climbing up the trunk of another tree.

I'm not sure exactly what type of flower this was, but found it interesting that the tree was so sparse except for the few flowers on it.
Also, this is Mrs. Edison's bed. She has great taste in clothes!

All in all, it was a great vacation. So good to spend some time with my family, and explore some sights with my camera.