Nova Scotia

I've made another in my provincial series. The shape of Nova Scotia is covered with its provincial symbols: the osprey and the mayflower. The block was inked 'à la poupée' (with different colours, green, pinks, yellow and gray-brown, in different areas) and printed by hand on lovely Japanese kozo (or mulberry) paper. Each print is 23.5 cm by 31.8 cm (9.25" by 12.5"). The print is one of a variable edition of eight.

This print was troublesome for me. Firstly, I had the opposite issue as with Saskatchewan. As all schoolchildren know Saskatchewan is the hardest to spell, easiest to draw. I mean, it's basically a rectangle. Sure, Canada is so large that you can see the small-circle curvature fo the latitudes marking the north and south boundaries, and there's been a correction to the original purely rectalinear area, and there are some notable lakes, but basically, its shape is so simple that the viewer might not recognize it was a map. Nova Scotia and for that matter, the remaining Maritime provinces, PEI and Newfoundland and Labrador are so irregularly shaped that it's a challenge to avoid having the shape of the map dominate the design. How was I to squish an Osprey into that space, unless I incresed the scale, or, my solution, I did not attempt to show the entire animal.

Lastly, the inks themselves gave me trouble. Inking 'à la poupée' is an acquired skill, but I think that the other trouble was the dryness of the air. It's pretty cold out there and no amount of ink retarder seemed able to keep my inks nice and viscous today. But, here we are. Province print number 8 with two more provinces and three territories to go.

I was tempted to sneak the Bluenose in there, but that would just confuse matters.

Maybe it's appropriate to make a Nova Scotia print on Robbie Burns Day.

Alberta

The symbols of Alberta, its provincial animal, the big horn sheep and its famous flower, the wild rose cover the hand-carved map of Alberta in this linocut. The block was inked 'à la poupée' (with different colours, green, pinks, yellow and gray-brown, in different areas) and printed by hand on lovely Japanese kozo (or mulberry) paper. Each print is 23.5 cm by 31.8 cm (9.25" by 12.5"). The print is one of a variable edition of eight.

It was obvious, despite the various symbols of the province from which to choose, that I needed to include the wild rose¹; the licence plate of every car in the province proclaims it to be 'Wild Rose Country'. While the provincial bird, the Great Horned Owl is a wonderful subject, its range stretches far beyond the province. The mammalian emblem, the Big Horned Sheep, on the other hand, gets its very name from Canada: Ovis canadensis. Also, I liked the idea of using the shape of the province to micmic its topography. So, I imagined a scene of looking through a wild rose bush on the prarie at the base of the foothills, west towards the mountains of the Rockies and the Big Horn Sheep.

I've had the great priviledge of having seen much of this country and having travelled from coast to coast. (I am still hoping to visit the third coast). I have visited Calgary several times, and flown over the province more times than I could count. I hope one day to be able to explore more of Alberta. I know there is much beauty yet for me to discover. One Week, for instance, convinced me that I need to go to Drumheller, "Dinosaur Capital of the World"! Plus, hardy friends keep moving to Edmonton.<sup>2

1</sup> No political overtones intended. I won't hold the, shall we say less-than-gay-positive party with the unexpectedly poetic name against the flower. The flower came first.

² Did you know they have summer and winter electrical tape there? Do you know why? Cause regular vinyl tape can freeze solid at -40^oC and cut like a knife. Or, at least so I've been told.

British Columbia & Happy Thanksgiving

The symbols of British Columbia, its provincial flower, the Pacific dogwood (Cornus nuttalli) and its animal, the Spirit Bear (also known as the Kermode bear, a white morph of the American Black Bear, Ursus americanus kermodei) cover the hand-carved map of BC in this linocut. The block was inked 'à la poupée' (with different colours, green and gold, in different areas) and printed by hand on lovely Japanese kozo (or mulberry) paper. Each print is 23.5 cm by 31.8 cm (9.25" by 12.5"). The print is one of an edition of eight.

The lovely dogwood flowers thrive along the west coast, and can even be found aas far north as Haida Gwaii. The Pacific dogwood has been a symbol of British Columbia since 1956. Once protected it is now considered secure and not at risk of extinction. The same fate is hoped for the newest symbol of the province, the Spirit Bear. This colour morph of the Black Bear is due to recessive alleles common in the population. Genetically, this means they are more like human redheads than albinos. National Geographic estimates the spirit bear population at 400-1000 individuals. Because of their ghost-like appearance, "spirit bears" hold a prominent place in the oral stories of the First Nations people of BC. They were named after the Kermode Bear after Francis Kermode, former director of the Royal B.C. Museum, who researched the subspecies.

I was never lucky enough to spy a spirit bear in the temperate rainforest of Canada's west coast, but saw many dogwood. I was a bit torn when designing this linocut. The provincial bird is the Stellar's Jay, which was very common and a bird I saw quite regularly when I lived on Vancouver Island. In the end though, there is something magical about the Spirit Bear and it was on my 'to do' list of animals to depict in linocuts.

I hope everyone celebrating had a great Thanksgiving long weekend! I know Minouette loves any holiday which involves turkey. This is a photo RJH took two years ago. He titled it "Turkey Dazed". I hope this is how you are feeling, but not too much.