Nova Scotia
The Trans Canada Highway in Cape Breton winds for miles with trees bordering its path, the ditches filled with wild flowers. The thistle is the provincial flower and so the perfect subject for this project. Having lived in Nova Scotia for thirty years, I had become immune to seeing the thistle at the side of the road. I am glad I chose this image and doubt I will let them become invisible to me once again. ~ Alison
Cape Breton is renowned for its beauty and, as luck would have it, our only stop on the island was located along one of the most unusual spots possible. For at least three kilometres in each direction, all we could see was the typical scrubby pine trees lining the road and the weeds and wildflowers filling the ditches in front of the trees. Luckily, I love looking at the abstracted shapes of the sky through the spaces between the trees.
Carol
Carol
The moodiness of the sky here captured my interest, with its overlapping cotton ball clouds. On walking away from the road, I discovered lots of colourful wild flowers, creating an interesting colour palette from which to work. ~ Alison
The truck traffic along the highway is commonplace. Looking up at the highway from the base of the embankment to the truck traveling along the road created an interesting composition. We often don’t realize how much of an impact the road has on the environment and the life living by the road. The truck is behind a barrier separating it from the landscape and from the serenity of the scene. It is this feeling I tried to capture by placing the truck at the top of the composition behind a barrier, and although the object is separated from the space, its impact is not. The fact that the truck is an Armour vehicle made it even more poignant – my brother-in-law works for them. This one is for Terry! Carol
Driving through the Maritimes, timber trucks are so ubiquitous that they became somewhat of an icon of the region for me. I always get a bit nervous passing one of these trucks, though, hoping the load is strapped on tightly and the logs don’t dislodge and come crashing down on me. But, without the forestry industry, where would our paper and pencils come from?? As artists, we should support all who help provide our materials, even though they may make the driving more exciting than we want at times. Thank you!! Carol
It seems that roadside wild flowers were my thing in Nova Scotia! Here, I enjoyed the contrast between the rigidness of the manmade guardrail and the riotous freedom of the weeds and grasses. It seems that man likes to tame nature, but nature has a way of shaking off the constraints and softening the sharpness of the hard lines and materials man has set into her environment.