Betwixt the mountains and the sea

How to choose? Can I have them both? Is art the answer?

Grand Bahama sunset… not a bad place to find myself the day after my surprise wedding. Missed that chapter? Scroll back a few posts to read about that crazy event came to happen. Photo: Nikki Tate

In the same way that there are dog people and cat people, so, too, are there water people and mountain people.

There are also ambinines (who enjoy their felines and canines with equal fervour) and ambiscapists, who enjoy being on or near the ocean just as much as being in (or on) the mountains.

Cascade Mountain, Banff, Alberta. Cascade was my favourite growing up in Banff in the Canadian Rockies. Here she is (because I always think of Cascade as female, perhaps the way her cloak and skirts drape over her lap?) during a winter evening earlier this winter. Photo: Nikki Tate

I fall into the latter category - I’m a true ambiscapist. When I’m in the mountains, I often dream of being back on the water. And, yes, when I’m sweltering away and swatting at bugs on a boat in the tropics, well, I long for the cold, clear air of my Rocky Mountain home.

To be clear, I don’t spend my life wishing I were somewhere else. I do my darndest to stay in the moment and appreciate whatever vista happens to be in front of me. I’m just saying that when it comes time to return home after a sailing trip I board the plane with eager anticipation. Likewise, it doesn’t take much arm twisting (none) to tempt me to provide crewing services for my brother when he needs to move his boat from Port A to Island B.

There are few places more peaceful than aboard a sailboat at anchor. Photo: Nikki Tate

… except maybe in the mountains at night just as the moon is rising. Photo: Nikki Tate

So, how is all this musing about inspiring landscapes relevant to art and the creation thereof?

Well, today I came up hard against this push and pull when I attended a fabulous workshop hosted by the Banff Public Library.

Hana is an excellent photographer and in her workshop, she began with a short presentation/slide show about all the many ways in which photography/image projection has been combined with painting, drawing, and collage.

She also thoughtfully provided several copies each of a dozen or so of her own photographs for us to manipulate as we saw fit.

Seated at a couple of tables and surrounded by paints, felt pens, scissors, glue sticks, pencils, and various things to stick onto paper (for which I had no time), we set to work.

My first challenge was to choose a photograph. There were a number of great photos of mountains, but there was also this one, of the ocean.

This image by Hana Kujawa was the one I first started to work with. Photo: Nikki Tate

I wish I had taken more photos along the way, but I didn’t. Time was ticking and I was busy. First, I drew a sailboat anchored to the right. Then, I used warm, loud oranges and yellows to paint over the sky and clouds and bright turquoise, green, and blue for the water. The effect was overwhelming, too garish for my liking.

So… I cut the modified image into strips and spread them out on a fresh sheet of paper double the size of the original photo. I was considering gluing the strips down and painting some sort of background when I glanced over at the woman beside me and was immediately envious of the striking mountain photo she was busy working on.

Fortunately, there was another copy of the mountain photo available so I started cutting that up and playing with juxtaposing two images, the result of which is below and which is actually a pretty accurate representation of the endless set of incompatible longings I feel between these two very different places.

Betwixt the Mountains and the Sea - collage (using the most excellent photos provided by Hana Kujawa and all manner of coloured-mark-making implements). Photo: Nikki Tate

In the end, I was kind of surprised at how it all hangs together weirdly ok despite the rather chaotic approach to making it.

Huge thanks to the Banff Public Library, Hana, and all the participants who helped make this such a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon. For a couple of hours, I was able to balance my love of both places by layering them onto a single page.

How about you? Dog or cat? Mountain or sea? Or, a bit of both…