Days 20 - 23

Blog entries – 20 – 23

Day 20 – 12^th August

I went for a walk today with a cardboard wolf. I left the house and wandered up the community trail towards the cemetery, having a little sing like the tourist I am, and carrying my cardboard wolf along. When Matt and I were travelling through BC we met an amazing couple that worked in the park in Jasper. The fella, Doug, told us a story of a lady walking her community trail when her dog was taken by a wolf. I am fascinated when I hear about incidents between animals and people in the borderline areas, where the wild and the domestic meet. So, I thought it would be great to make an animation where a wolf is appearing and disappearing in the woods, especially as Wolves are not currently found in Newfoundland, although there has been a sighting in Terra Nova national park. I spent a good chunk of time attempting to wrangle sticks and stones into wolf like shapes, but eventually I gave up and headed home. In some ways it was good to make an art that went a bit wrong here, one of the luxuries I miss when life is busy is the time to take a risk and make something that may be a bit rubbish. When you are pressed you can play it safe, and just make the same things again and again. Here I know I am making something new, possibly just because it doesn’t go to plan.

Lucky for me, two excellent evening plans came upon me like manna from heaven. One was a delicious meal with Munju, Kris and Nelson, and the other was a great gig at Galliott studios with the fabulous Matthew Hornell. He was a great player, and it was excellent to be celebrating Jenn’s new found Newfoundland liquor license. I think the celebrating may have gone on a good while.

Day 21 – 13^th August

Today it rained. Proper rain for the first time since I arrived in Gros Morne, the kinda rain you see covering all the hills and obscuring the water. And it was great. It was also a pity, as I had planned to document these gannet wings on the water:

But, I did get them finished and I did get an excellent head along on the hare ears and the cable coat.

Then, in the theme of all good days, I had a lovely time playing the fiddle with Kris, who has a Montreal made fiddle that is itching for her to play. This was a great break, followed by a little more art, and then a tune over at Charlie Payne’s cousin, Darlene’s, place.  There is nothing nicer or more humbling than to be invited to spend time with other people’s family. Many of Charlie and Darlene’s relatives were there from all over Canada, and all over Woody Point, and they were very gracious to have us play some tunes. I learnt a very important

 thing that night: The tune we call Aunty Mary Had a Canary Up the Leg of Her Drawers gets called Uncle Charlie Had Some Barley Down the Leg of His Drawers.

I also had an excellent chat with Charlie’s Cousin, Florence. Florence grew up in Winter House Brook, which is the next little town down from Woody point – about 5 minutes drive. The road didn’t go through round here until 1943, and up until that time places here were only accessible by foot or boat (or snowshoe).  Florence was surely the highlight of my trip in terms of local stories. I loved to hear her talk about ice skating on the bay when it froze over, and finding that the walk to Woody Point (which is about a mile) felt so far when she was little. Her father had a dory, and when the groceries came in on boat they would paddle over to Woody Point to collect the food, and then paddle it back home. Every year they hunted moose and caught fish to tide them over the winter – that’s just what you do here.  It blows my mind to imagine that I could be born in a place with no roads out or in except the sea. I was very sad not to have more time to talk to Florence, she had led an amazing life of travel and teaching around Newfoundland after the road went through, and her stories promised to be more and more interesting. Ah, I’ll just have to come back soon. That’s the only choice.

Day 22 – 14^th August

Today I took this photo:

Getting to the point of actually taking this photo was surely the best fun I have had in the pursuing of bird related art.

I spent the morning trying to finish a bunch of work, despite the fact that I had a very sore arm (too much sewing combined with too much fiddle playing equals pain).  As I am endeavoring not to push my body to huge extremes, I ducked down to Jen and Liv to ask if one of them would mind helping me take some photos of some gannet wings I have made. The wings are only a mock up, I will remake them when I get home, but I think the space here is so great I needed to document them right here.  

So, we worked away and took some really great photos, which will be art soon if the wind is right.  I had some fairly specific ideas on how I wanted them to go – what a change – and these were all going great, so we collected some fish bones for Liv’s art and headed back to the shop. As we got there we passed a huge concrete block out in the ocean, I said I wished that I could take a photo on the top of that. We chatted about how tricky this would be, and if I could swim out to it, but in the end decided that wasn’t going to happen. We walked back to the shop and just mentioned to Jenn in passing that it would be great to take a shot out there. Before I could even draw breath, she was on the phone to her dad, who agreed to take us out in his wooden boat, packed with a wooden ladder, which I would then climb to get up to the concrete block. This quietly blew my mind.

So the five of us get in the boat, with the wings, and the tripod, and the camera, and our life jackets and the ladder and we head out in boat. After a quick drop off to the pier, where I set up a tripod and left the photo taking to the lovely Olivia, Jen, Terry, Steve and I headed out the block. Steve set up the ladder IN THE BOAT and he climbed up to the top. He picked off all the fishhooks and then dragged me up there. I got down to my cozzie, put on the wings and then we took some photos. Steve then came back and helped me down, and we all spent the afternoon on the water, collecting rope and sticks, before dinner with the lovely Sharon at her home just round the corner. I think it is possible this place is a little bit magic. Here is Steve in the boat:

Day 23 – 15^th August

Today we did a hike up to the base of Gros Morne to take photos in the arctic hare hearing ears. I am so happy with them, I can’t even say. Thanks so much to Genna, Laura, Liv and Jenn for their help, it was great to be making with this team of gals and great to be out hiking with them too.  I have just put up a photo of Genna and Liv because I decided I didn’t want to put all the images up online before I was certain of how they would be when they are art, but I am so happy with the shots of all 5 of us, I can’t wait to turn then into art.

The woods around here are so beautiful; they just look like a fairy tale. I saw a huge mushroom which was red and white like a picture book, and we walked for ages through soft pine forest like bambi. Yep, just like bambi. When we stopped to take the photos, we were in such a huge blueberry patch that we ate, I swear, full handfuls of berries and left so many more. They are a hundred times more delicious when you have climbed a hill to be eating them.

Tonight we had an open studio up at the house, and it was just lovely to have so many people turn up to have a glass of wine and have a look at the art I’ve made here. I am very chuffed to be surrounded my so many lovely and inquisitive people; it makes me a little bit teary.