Catching up with news is essential when there is so much to share . The spring weather here brings bright sunshine but still a cold wind that is deceiving even if the light is so uplifting . The native wild flowers are just fabulous , providing carpets of blooms that really do justify that grass mowing should be postponed until after the performance . A favourite for me that is new to my collection of floral spectaculars is the giant fawn lily that stands up to 8 inches or so, sometimes with a double head.. They are be to found on every place that plants grow, from garden grass to rocky cliffs side.
I went to USA for a few hours last week. This adventure entailed a ferry boat ride from Victoria to Seattle which takes about 2.5 hours of plain sailing on the calm waters of Strait Juan du Fuca . I had chosen a Thursday to travel as my last chance to renew travel insurance but it was a free day with late evening hours at the Seattle Art Museum. This was perfect for me because I found that Ai Weiwei was exhibiting there so i left the ferry and did a brisk walk through the updated harbour area to the museum for my timed entry. Ai Weiwei is a highly acclaimed and much celebrated artist who uses his work to explore and express, often in simple terms, the abject life of those with a voice in China. The work is profound and the statement is clear but his materials articulate the message strongly . An example of this might be using childrens bookbags and cleverly constructing them to make an enormous snake attached to the ceiling of the gallery The snake is huge , perhaps 40' long and there is one backpack for each child who died when a school collapsed. The building was so badly constructed that it failed to support itself, where all the children trapped and died because of the lack of government controlled standards. All the artist's work is planned to draw attention to the Chinese oppressive control that has imprisoned him.
other work enjoyed at SAM was painting by Guston, Mitchell, O'Keefe,Dove and a few more before getting to hotel sleeping and walking back to the ferry for an 8.00am sailing the next morning.
a carpet of fawn lilies 
seattle sunset
exquisite baskets
o'keefe 
overview of Ai Weiwei exhibition
This is simple material again , lego mural about 8'wide -Ai Weiwai holding a candle 
bookbags form a snake- one bag for each child that died. look closely to see how many bags that must be .
the simple expression of freedom that a bicycle suggests that is too expensive for many chinese people to own. Here they are fixed in place and will never move. 
the famous and fabulous market in Seattle 
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