Mood.

8/23/22

This month the Revelstoke Art Gallery is showcasing a members show in the side galleries.

The theme: Pantone Colour of the year - Very Peri.

I wanted to contribute, so I looked up what that meant and there it began…

Periwinkle is the colour that sits between blue and violet. It’s named after flowers from the lesser periwinkle or myrtle herb. The colour is also referred to as lavender-blue or as a pastel tint of purple or blue.

I had previously thought periwinkle to be a certain pasty blue that I disliked after seeing it on a piece of women's outdoor apparel (wishing girls had better colourways to choose from). This time, to my surprise, it was coming up purple… and in a cute way.

I have a soft spot for pastels and the dual nature of this colour got me wondering. I had never considered lavender as blue but I could recall many times where two people disagreed on whether something was blue or purple. It may have seemed so obvious the difference, however It’s cool that we all have our own unique way of seeing. Colour is the definition of a spectrum after all and I can see how the revival of an androgynous one like this would be the Editors Choice for 2022… mostly I’ve just fallen for the sweetness of it.

Chicory flowers for eyes.

The Revelstoke Art Gallery (thanks Taylor and Meghan!) teased this exert and I realized the colour was even more spellbinding in its usage.

"When the periwinkles are blooming, it’s hard to have eyes for anything else. The delicate mist is an impossibly soft color, like clouds descending into twilight, like the snowfall in an Impressionist masterpiece.
Periwinkle goes by many names. You might know her by one of her more fabulous monikers, like sorcerer’s violet or fairy’s paintbrush. In Italy, she is called fiore di morte (flower of death), because it was common to lay wreaths of the evergreen on the graves of dead children. The flower is sometimes associated with marriage (and may have been the “something blue” in the traditional wedding rhyme), sometimes associated with sex work (because of its supposed aphrodisiac properties) and also with executions."

Excerpt from "Periwinkle, the Color of Poison, Modernism, and Dusk" by Katy Kelleher, The Paris Review

A stand out encounter with this shapeshifting hue came last summer during a camping trip with my love. We were looking to get lost and packed the van to spend a few nights under the stars. Destination: any good spot along the water up Highway 23 North, past the dam.

From our camp spot we set off paddling across the Columbia River to explore the “other side”, pulled over by the alluring wild of the Monashees due West. Disconnected and accessed only by switch backed logging roads, barges and helicopters, It’s a bit of a mysterious place with its inlets, goldmines and caribou.

As Will silently trolled from his kayak I patrolled the shoreline with my paddle board, dipping into cool pockets of shade, spying for cool rocks along the shallows. Looking down through the wobble of translucent veridian, I passed over an elephant graveyard of old growth ruins, their many rings exposed, still clinging by their tentacles to one another. I tried to imagine the pre-existing landscape before the river was dammed. The reservoir we enjoy today has a story beneath its lake-likeness and “warm” swimmable waters.

Pulling up to a sandy cove I walked along the beach looking at driftwood and objects left behind in an abandoned fire pit. Sand beaches in these parts are flecked with mica, they glitter and feel so soft and warm under foot.

A raven was on the lookout from the tallest tree overhead, he clucked and cawed, alerting any illusive others of my presence. The dull hollow tapping of driftwood lapping at the river's edge made for a freshwater chime.

Near the fire pit I noticed Blue Azures were puddling and taking off above the damp bits of ashes and sand. I tried to sit still enough so that one would come close enough to touch but these were true-blue wild-things and uninterested. They fluttered so busily that I couldn’t catch any marking details - minute sized purple flashes is all I remembered. When I went home to look up what species I had found, I discovered I had been fooled, they were in fact blue and silver.

The flashing of their wings had left the soft periwinkle impression…

Nature in the home / Writing letters and sending mail / Lofi playlists

Tadpoles this spring from our first paddle of the season / Last years Azures returning to my mind.

Dropping into a drawing session can feel as exciting as watching instant film develop or as unexpected as receiving and then unpacking a special delivery from an unknown sender. Sometimes it arrives as individual parcels that will each need to be carefully unwrapped, sorted and assembled.

That sneaky Periwinkle and the Azure Butterfly coming to the surface together, is a good example of this process that is receiving and then unpacking a gift of imagery.

I share all this because I’m currently working on an installation for this years Luna Festival.

Another theme: Flight

To explore flight I had the idea to simply build and fly a kite... more than likely a few. I knew kite making may look innocent enough but it was going to involve a great deal trial and error. I also knew it could be an opportunity for learning and so I sent in my application, asking to see where a deep dive might just take me.

I began by attempting larger frames with a bit of frustration. So when the members show had me illustrating, contemplating periwinkle and butterflies, I naturally worried I was procrastinating. But then I caught myself merging. Suddenly I was mid kite design and it looked strangely familiar.

Working with my hands in a more miniature scale felt complimentary - It felt natural to make a palm sized sketch and give it the added ability to fly from the page.

Coincidently, I can trace my first kite experience back to a miniature paper kite made from a cocktail napkin.

I received it as a gift during the fall festival when I was about 8 years old. Vendors selling their arts and crafts came from all over and while I still remember many of the traditional hand made items, the little light-as-air cocktail napkin kite stands out as the most magical. It was red with the image of a shrimp and on that day I learned there existed such a fun and versatile thing as a cocktail napkin.

I was particularly struck by how little wind it required. Even walking indoors through the barn it caught lift just from tugging it along. It was such a delicate and functional curiosity. I wondered if I could have just imagined it flying without wind and always hoped I’d come across one again to find out.

When I was a little older my granddad, who like myself, enjoyed many hobbies would take up an interest in kite flying. It’s one of those faded soft-focus type memories - flying kites in our hay field during late summer.

The Azure Butterfly kite is pocket sized and comes in a little package you get to unwrap.

Nope to plastic… because dog, those beach cleaners are working so hard.

Jorts for scale!

For the Sail I chose vellum for that soft-focused quality.

The tails are tissue paper/ Fitted with 5 meters of cotton sewing line/ Has a popsicle stick spool!

For lightness of the spars I used dried grass.

(I’ve been collecting dried grasses for a couple years now and I’m excited to use this natural material in more ways)

I’ve tested variations and made tweaks until I found what I think is a playful flight capable of dips and bobs and swirls.

If the gentle breeze is lofty enough, Ive even sent it levitating quite high.

It’s late August already, Luna festival is around the corner and I’m in a creative place.

Perhaps reflecting on the process as it happens might be insightful to both myself and those who wonder where the heck an idea for a seemingly random art installation comes from.

For now this was just a long winded note on the thought progression that took place between an illustration (from my latest attempt at note cards) and the Azure Butterfly Kites that I’ve contributed to the RVAC gallery for this month's members show.

Let me know if you would like one for your own.

Would make a great pen pal treat - fits comfortably in standard snail mail.

Cards $7

Kites $12

***This is a small and fleeting batch***

Thanks if you read this far.

*I’m here to work on my sentence structure so please don’t trip.

With Love, Sj

August.

Summer Note Sets