Back in the saddle

Time to step out and debut what has been cookin' on the back burner for many a moon. Textiles! Printmaking has long been a passion of mine and loooooooord does it ever feel good to approach the process once again. While I have yet to slip my printing apron on and pull a lick of ink, I have been spending my evenings between the ironing board readying a fat stack of fabric for the first go and at the light table playing around with old work and new.

My hat is off to all the fine folks out there who do this type of production for a living. The list is long but the process is rich.

I have gone back and forth for ages on whether or not to sell my work and finally I decided to quit winging and just do it. AIN'T NOTHIN' TO IT BUT TO DO IT. Get those wacky, imperfect textiles out there and buy yourself a new computer goddamnit woman! Integrity shall remain so long as honesty and quality are at the helm of it all.

So, on Sunday, December 13th I shall be debuting my take on textiles. I am really into cloth napkins and beautiful throw pillows in my daily life. Pillowcases. Maybe even a shower curtain or two. You can count on those items for purchase. Oh! And a couple of Lady Longbody's too because WHY NOT.

For this particular sale, my approach is to hand print and dye various fabrics; combining my ongoing obsession for stencils with good ol' ink-and-quill illustrations for a fresh take on printing. I have a hunch some papery bits will be flung in at the last moment too because once my print train gets going there ain't no stopping this old gal pal. Full steam ahead!

Back in the saddle with loose reins and eyes trained on the horizon. Feels electric and good; familiar and foreign at the same time. Now back to writing report cards for three and four year olds I go hi-ho. Life is wacky, weird and wonderful. November has been a real treat thus far. Iain dragged home a firepit for his sweetheart over the weekend. Sheer delight 'ditzeid.

Sparks are flyin' over here to say the least.

Adios!

General Store blues

Soft focus general store of wonders. Should have shot more on color film and less with my eyeballs. Tongue wagging historical beauty in Sherbrooke, Nova Scotia. July 2015.

Excited to the bone. Iain tolerated my Christmas-morning-like hysterics with impressive grace as we prepared to enter this heritage village in Sherbrooke, Nova Scotia. I knew I picked the right guy after this day.

Impressive bedroom geraniums in funny Victorian house museum at Sherbrooke Village in Nova Scotia. Who tended those fairweather wonders I wonder? Beautiful chair, soft focus, incorrect exposure. It goes.

I love this ding-dong so terribly. Speaking of terrible, terribly interesting choice of DOF here Madge. Gros Morne National Park, Newfoundland.

Fierce competitors / Content companions. Gros Morne National Park, Newfoundland.

Wet campers play Scrabble and drink rye and many an Oland Export and get drunk at 2 in the afternoon. Gros Morne National Park, Newfoundland.

Beautiful creature enjoying the boardwalk in the oceanside town of Trout River, Newfoundland.

We hiked a many trail. I cursed as he led and I followed with camera. He laughed as I cursed as I led. Gros Morne National Park, Newfoundland.

Cape Breton Island cruisin' taking in the endless grey and sharp rocks from pretty pull-over spots. Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia; July 2015.

My expression is misleading. I am thrilled to sit upon a rock at the mouth of the Bay of Fundy in New Brunswick with my sweetheart, I swear. Olympus Sport self timer edition. July 2015.

Montreal; summer in the city in a nutshell. July 2015

Let's go back to those slow afternoons of endless driving through impressive landscapes and long lunches of cold meats, crackers and icy cool Oland Exports, listening to The Band in the truck and wearing backward caps with tanned feet up on the dash and pulling over and doing it in bushes and other funny places whenever we felt like it. Okay, good idea. Yes, let's.

All shot on my trusty old Olympus SP partycam of choice. Gotta love that self timer option! Crappy unmentionable color film and Delta 400 thrown in just for fun.

Dear Nova Scotia, I love you so much and I will be back. I have a feeling it will be sooner than I think. Suzette is calling my name from her attic darkroom. I have my sights set on Ambrotype. That is all there is to it.

Adios.

Observations of Fall time light

* all photos shot on a Nikon F3 / 50mm

Cut a door

Elegant Grandma Helen, my role model.

What do I want to create? Who am I without photographs? How do I want to represent myself without digital scans of my photographs? I have been asking myself these questions lately as I ease into the cooler season. The seasons are on the verge of change as fall shuts down (although the sun still warms us in the mid-afternoon in Winnipeg these days). I have been soaking up the rays in the company of children. They stare at me as I sprawl out horizontal in whatever sun I can find, cat-like and curious to them. Life is rich with the wonderful questions of four year olds. But why Teacher Megan, why? Oh my days are so strange. I can only imagine what parenting would be like. Teaching other people's children is trippy and exhilarating. Today I taught a girl to use a screwdriver with attitude and poise, two boys how to build a mean fortress out of long red and numbered rods on an extra large mat, another child how to pour corn kernels from one vessel to the next, another the wonders of blending primary water colors to make new colors. Oh the wonder of it all. As previously mentioned, teaching Montessori is wonderful and weird. 

Here is some recent photography work from an incredible family wedding I shot late in August for my cousin Sara and her man Tony. At the time I felt free to capture anything I pleased; so I did--to my heart's content. Enjoy.

I shall share now that the door has been cut open. The circle remains and so does the desire to commit my hands to one hundred percent analogue work from here to kingdom come. Then again, some nights long after the neighborhood has settled in and sleep has escaped me yet again (despite the fact that I will slip into my saddle at 7am tomorrow morn) I am drawn to this open, instant platform where I can type to my heart's content and not give two hoots about what the next guy is working on. I'm just me, girl with a frying pan. 

Some recent projects on the go:

- large and in charge Rollin & Elma stencil for Amelia

- the slow train comin' project of sliding all '14-'15 negatives into sleeves for contact sheets OYE

- makin' pasta

- plannin' various print projects for winter flow

- upcomin' basting lesson from Tammy. Baby's first foray into quilting. I am quite keen on following the wonder that is Folk Fibers. Someday I hope to be dying my own fabric and quilting blankets for my beds. 

This is good enough for now. 

Adios 

New moon in Scorpio; a good time to acknowledge death and embrace rebirth. 

Happy together and finding the balance.

Beautiful friends.

Grandpa is the bomb.

A free spirit.

A strong and resilient girl.

My grandfather Sydney and his last remaining sister, Charlotte.

A natural, on the clock.

Delighting in each other (despite my warm Developer temps. DAMNIT).

I asked and this is what they gave / Harvest Moon 2015 edition

For Lisa, wherever you and Shelly may be.

I asked and this is what they gave.

I asked for a song and a portrait and this gentleman kindly obliged. 

Portrait of an attentive listener. I asked and this is what she gave.

She asked and this is what I gave. Enjoying the warmth of company and sun.

Blooming daily is Ainsley. Wonderbabe expected to arrive in December of 2015!

Sleeping not sleeping. I asked and this is what she gave at 6 months along.

For JJ, who adores all things Nemo and the wonder of kites.

Shitters, kites and sleeping spots. This sight made me chuckle.

Ice cream ladies. I asked and this is what they gave.

I asked and this is what he gave. The slice of sun on his nose, plus the hint of groovy pants did it for me. 

An intriguing scene to observe: good parenting at work in the freedom and kindness of children at play with each other. 

Here are some photographs I felt free to capture with sharp mind and hands on Saturday, September 19th while enjoying the 14th annual Harvest Moon Festival. Openly observing people in a safe environment is very energizing to the soul in me. Ease was all around. Even the weather was easy and kind to us all. I did not take a moment of it for granted. I wandered alone and with friends, with the Kiev in the crook of my arm, content to watch and listen. What a gift of a weekend.

Portra 400 was just the ticket to capture the essence of the light and surprising heat of the weekend. This roll above (posted in consecutive order) looks hot. Contrast film rarely offers a temperature as colour does (specifically Portra 400 film--so warm) but rather a story of many mysteries hiding in the layers and shadows. I suppose that is the reason I go back again and again to contrast film. I'm a mystery buff, what can I say? Call me Nancy Drew. That said, Saturday afternoon at Harvest Moon needed to be shot in colour; no bones about it. Thanks be to Ni for letting me dip into your cache.

Portra 400 / Kiev 60

Happy Trails

Last weekend six friends piled into a family van after a wild work week and hit the open road. We took our time making our way to Clearwater, Manitoba for the much anticipated 14th annual Harvest Moon Festival. It was a life-giving weekend of strolling with my lover and our friends. Fellowship during the most beautiful time of year! There was much laughter punctuated by good meals, plenty of meandering along the riverbed with the freedom to stop here and there to lie down in the light or duck into the trees for shade from the bright autumn sun. There was a constant stream of beautiful music being performed from a straw bale stage to absorb. I can hardly wrap my head around the positive energy and overwhelming sense of community, safety and acceptance that I felt at this year's Harvest Moon Festival.

I took time to wander off alone in the early morning light on Saturday to climb down the steep valley wall like a nimble goat into the dry riverbed below. The light slowly crept in as the sun rose and splashed down, down, down into the deep crevice where I sat criss-crossed on an inviting rock in the middle of the water's pathway. Sitting in peace, I felt the heavy weight of a harsh learning curve of new school, new job, new rhythm leave my shoulders. I sat for a long while, wishing for a pen and paper to transcribe the feeling. There was nothing on my person but a loaded camera, a boiled egg and a croissant-- so I ate in silence and wrote internally. I need to practice sitting with myself more, empty handed with nothing but my thoughts. It was a good for the soul getaway to say the very least.

Here are some photos I felt compelled to capture while observing people in a beautiful landscape.
Portra 160 / Pentax K 1000

This is where I am; right where I need to be. 

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