March 7, 2012 3:30 p.m. Weather: 6 degrees, blue skies and sunshine. Findings: I filled another whole green garbage bag with plastic bags! I made a decision to capture a sense of what is going on in these wee clips, rather than taking redundant photographs of the blue bin. Suffice it to say that there are presently three bags of collected litter in one of the bins, and little else. It seems more than obvious to me that people do NOT throw their garbage in the bins. I feel most disheartened today because an area that I had formerly cleared of all Tim Horton’s cups…is finding itself littered with new ones. Am I fighting a losing battle? I found myself saying, as I sat in the van at the end of an hour….”I will be your slave.”
It is good to have my paintings come home to me. This is truly the upside of down! When paintings DO return, I am able to look at them with fresh eyes and really enjoy them. This particular painting has not yet been professionally photographed, but it is such an important piece to me, I thought I would feature it here! The painting was inspired by two very special people; one, a poet named Paulette Dube who lives in Jasper and the other, a gent who uses film as his medium, Cam Koerselman. You can enjoy some of his work on Vimeo.
Paulette gave me permission to embed her words into this painting. I cried in the dark, while she gave her reading of these very words while Cam’s film rolled during the Caribou Blues festival two years ago.
Paulette’s words…as a response to my request of her words, were these…
You could “sail through an army of angels and not notice anything more than a mere freshening of the air.” (Thank you Ms. Lessing.)
Kathleen, well, right off let me tell you two things. I went for a walk today and I dreamed that my work would grow legs and walk into someone’s life. Looks like it is yours. Next, I opened the jpg and saw the elephant and the number 5. Elephants and me, well, I love them, and the number 5 is truth. So, long story short, of course I will send you the text I made for the Caribou piece. And I will do that after supper – right now, my sauce is boiling. Wanted you to know that I am honoured to send you the little bit I have to offer right now.
Thank you,
Paulette
SUCH GENEROSITY!!!!
The text embedded in the piece are, as she describes…a bastardation of works collected from, First Mountain, Thistledown Press, 2007, Gaits, Thistledown Press, 2010 and scenes written for the event. All rights reserved by author: Paulette Dube
Cropped: Paulette’s Words Take Flight
Detail: Atmospheric Environment inspired by Cam Koerselman
Huge ‘magic’ led me to Ellen McIlwaine and her music as she played for the Caribou Blues festival that same weekend. The first caribou piece was featured on the information publication for Parks Canada because of Ellen’s recommendation and for that I will always be grateful.
