A Canadian Holiday

'It is impossible to come back from one’s journey; there’s always someone else coming back'
Anon.

For the past few weeks I've been on holiday in Canada, travelling around the West coast and taking in the different sights on offer in and around the beautiful Canadian Rockies. It was great to have a break away, even if it was extremely hectic, and gain some much needed perspective and a change of scenery.

Before I went away I finally invested in a Digital SLR, the Nikon D3200, in order to get the best photographs I could whilst I was out there, a few of which are below. Unfortunately this meant that I didn't have much time to experiment with the camera before I left, so it is lucky that I have used a regular SLR in the past and could transfer some of that knowledge over.

Lake Louise, Banff

Bow Lake, Banff

Maligne Canyon, Jasper

Elk in Jasper

Hoary Marmot on Whistler Mountain

Brandywine Falls, Whistler



Gastown Steam Clock, Vancouver

In my typical fashion I took hundreds and hundreds of photos in total (over 1500) so choosing just a few has been exceptionally difficult! Hopefully these give you an idea of how beautiful Canada is and will inspire you to visit one day.  These are jus a select number of the photos that I like at first glance, but I plan to use the photos I have taken to re-work and  use as inspiration.

During my travels, I had a few ideas for some new paintings which may perhaps even become a feature in a future exhibition, so keep an eye out for updates here.

Feel free to leave any comments below, they're always welcome!

Caroline

Completed Seal Drawing

If you follow my twitter feed you'd have seen that I recently started a trial silver ink illustration of a seal swimming underwater on black paper. I did finally get around to finishing this,so I thought I'd quickly share the final result with you, along with some images showing the progression of the image.

For what this was, it was quite a successful trial and certainly tested me when it came to thinking about the use of silver ink on black - at first it took a while for me to get into the mindset that I was adding highlights and not shadows, like I normally would with this type of drawing.

I like the overall image however due to the lack of depth offered I'm not overly satisfied with it - at some point in the future I want to adapt this into a painting or perhaps oil pastel drawing, which should allow for greater contrast and therefore will be easier to depict the background behind the seal. For now though, I'm happy with the result, and it has definitely given me a basis for future pieces.

Caroline