My view

When we first moved to Manitoulin in 1993, I was astonished by how much the water and sky would change in colour, faster than I could paint it and photographs did not do it justice.  I began to make quick sketches into my journal just to name the colours that nature used to paint with through the seasons.  Over the years, I described this enthralling Eastern view of Manitowaning Bay at least a hundred times with my ball point pen into the pages of my journal, responding to the unpredictable gorgeous colours that changed by the hour.

In direct response to my view of Manitowaning Bay, I have made several large stitched textiles.

This one is an immense lightweight square that responds to the slightest breeze.  Monumental Simplicity was made in 2012 from plant dyed wool gauze and hand stitch 108” x 108”

These photos are from 2012.  We took them at dawn at the top of the ridge near where we live.  The photo above is of me sewing the textile to the cord that would then be propped up with wooden poles.  I look back on that experience with Ned as one of our good moments in a long marriage.

I love this view.  I love looking at it still.

It puts me into a reverie no matter what the colours.

This view of sky, water and that strong horizontal line of the Wikwemikong peninsula that devides them has been a constant in my daily life and as I get older, the more I find myself returning to the simplicity of this natural occurance that I live and breathe with.