Amazing Love...

Good Friday service at Zion Baptist Community Church.

"And can it be that I should gain
An interest in the Saviour’s blood?
Died He for me, who caused His pain—
For me, who Him to death pursued?

Amazing love! How can it be,
That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?

Amazing love! How can it be,
That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?"

Charles Wesley, 1738

bed

I never get tired of sketching the kids while asleep.

It's become a little easier to do this with my son, who now sleeps on a mattress on the floor after finally mastering the art of climbing out of his crib.

Prince of Wales Armouries

A little sketch of the interior of the Prince of Wales Armouries where I attended a meeting. A military training building from the 1910s, it has been converted to house the Edmonton Archives as well as other city organizations. Its interior still shows its riveted wrought iron structure and intricate web of curved trusses.

new community centre

The community centre I had the privilege of designing has been completed (pending some seasonal work to be finished once temperatures rise) and I attended the opening event that took place in its multi-purpose hall. There were media, community, and government representatives, and many speeches. I stood at the back and sketched. It is exciting to see the building up and running, but it also makes me nervous to find what may have not worked, and what things that got built that was not what I imagined. There are also fortunate accidents and discoveries made along the way.

a late concept perspective sketch during the schematic design process...

"Ziva" Paperwhite flowers

The bulbs the kids planted in late January have now grown and have begun flowering, leaving the dining room with subtle and sweet fragrances.

Spaca Moskalyk Ukrainian Catholic Church, Lamont County, Alberta

I was moved by a recent Edmonton journal article that reported on the status of an 89 year old rural church building northeast of Mundare, about an hour east of Edmonton; the beautiful, yet humble wooden sanctuary -- a testament to the faith, love, resilience, and commitment of a small community of immigrant settlers in the frigid but expansive Alberta prairies -- was about to be burnt to the ground some time this month in a decommissioning ritual. In a race against time, I felt almost a sense of duty to visit this building and document its character in a sketch or two. After a trip to Elk Island National Park with the kids, I drove an extra 45 minutes on gravel roads to find the structure.

































 


It was a beautiful sunny day, minus 6 but windy... and though my heart raced, my hands (as well as my paint and brush) froze... I felt I did not do justice to those craftsmen who built the church, along with the many artisans who decorated and furnished its interior. They certainly endured (embraced, even) the Prairies in a way I wasn't able to that day.  (More photos here.)

My daughter gives it a try as well.

lifeguard

A lifeguard at the pool, while my daughter takes a swimming class.

drawing on the wall

One of the little perks in working at an office that deals with rolls of drawings is that I can bring home large sheets of scrap paper, and when they are taped onto a wall, the kids' imaginations can run free.

With the help of some Photoshopping, my daughter's princess drawings enliven these sketches (and more importantly, our living room).

two day panorama

A panorama sketched over two lunch hours: the western portion of downtown Edmonton.

Bennett Lake, Strathcona County

The view from Strathcona Wilderness Centre across Bennett Lake, a peaceful snow covered marsh clearing full of winter reeds, and a great place to snowshoe close to the city...

and one of several little bird's nests we witnessed along the shoreline.