Sunday, September 7, 2014

Here, my friends, is the Chocolate River...

Officially the Petitcodiac River, in New Brunswick, Canada.
(derived from a Mi'kmaq word meaning "bends like a bow".)
 Years ago, this river had one of the world's largest tides...
And then in 1968, some genius decided
it would be a good idea to build a causeway
to stop (or slow) the flow of water.
No one likes to admit it,
but it was a battle between french and english.
The english wanted a pretty blue man made lake for their boats,
and the french ended up with muddy water...
Until April 2010
when a committee was formed
and the decision was finally made
to do the right thing and open the causeway gates.
Before the construction of the causeway in 1968,
the river had one of the world's largest tidal bores,
which ranged from 1 to 2 metres (3.3–6.6 ft) in height
and moved at 5 to 13 kilometres per hour (3.1–8.1 mph).
With the opening of the causeway gates in April 2010,
the river is flushing itself of ocean silts,
and the Bore is returning to its former glory.

I took these few pics this summer of the brave surfers,
trying to ride the wave as far as they could.
The length of the river is 80 kms (about 50 miles)
It may not be the prettiest thing to look at now,
but eventually, it'll become what it used to be.
Not a half assed, choked up river - but a RIVER.

Here's what the river looked like in 1954 and then (sadly) in 1996...
anyone interested can read more about it here:
http://petitcodiac.org/welcome/
The world is filled with injustice, isn't it?
But it's also filled with good people
who want to do the right thing
and this is a minor injustice compared to
everything happening all over the world today.
My faith in humanity is shattered
and restored
on a regular basis. 

I am making art these days,
so all is well again.
I got the image from a vintage book i have.
Love vintage photos.

and then a quick sketch of Einstein...
I like doing quick scribbly sketches now and then.
I tend to hold my pen a lot looser
for these drawings.
I used a Uniball JETSTREAM black ink pen for this one.
Love the smoothness of the ink.
and the squiggly lines... :-)
Then a little acrylic on paper
 this is only about 4 x 4 inches
I love doing these little ones,
because they take so little time
and I tend to keep things more simple with these.
I rarely title my paintings,
but if i was to title this one,
I would call it:
Five(s)
(Five "s", as in:
SKY
SEAGULLS
SEA
SAND
STARFISH
Plus, there are 5 seagulls,
and 5 points to the starfish.
It was all planned. 
heheheee...

I may have already posted this song,
but here's what i'm listening to 
this lovely Sunday morning...
thanks for being here everyone! xx

6 comments:

  1. Your scribbly portraits are so cool - Do you make a pencil sketch to start with or do you just scribble away - Amazing!!
    I'm hundreds of posts behind in my blog reader so was just jumping through them without reading and your art caught my eye as it was passing by and I knew it was you! Jumped back to take a closer look - love your work as always!

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  2. Wow this is so rough to see...yes I agree I think anyone with heart is feeling the sadness of these times!! We can only look to the good to find joy! Your blog is always my joy...love the vintage girl with the cane...I can relate!! Except she is probably a dancer!! Einstein is fabulous!

    Have to come back to listen to this song...
    Hugs Giggles

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  3. Your feelings about the river are exactly like mine.. I thought it a crime when they put in that causeway. My grandparents lived in Riverview back then. We have to be so careful when we alter nature. It knows where it wants to go.

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  4. It scares me sometimes (often) what people do to nature, thinking it won't have (m)any repercussions ..... It's a good thing in this case they decided to rethink it. Love your artwork this week. So much atmosphere packed in that tiny little painting ....

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  5. As always your drawings and paintings are very good! It is sad what happens to that river. As always, when man intervenes in nature, the result is not good.

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  6. I especially love your scribble drawings--you have such a lovely range of mediums! I have always wondered where chocolate came from......Now I know. (wink)

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