Pacific Rim Whale Festival Auction

Posted on March 25, 2024 by Mike Nelson Pedde — Leave a reply

Hi Folks:

Mike here. Although the Pacific Rim Whale Festival (in Tofino/Ucluelet, BC) ended yesterday, there are still 6+ days left in their online auction (ends March 31, 2024). One of those items is a print I donated to the auction. The image is of Cox Bay, Tofino, BC from a photograph I made a few years ago.The print itself is 12″x24″ (30×60 cm) and with the mat it extends to 18″x30″ (45×75 cm). I didn’t frame it because framing is a personal thing and I wanted to leave that open to the buyer.

This is a 2:1 wide image of the surfing beach at the north end of Cox Bay near Tofino, BC. Although a colour image, the colours are so muted that it appears to be grayscale. The waves are rolling into the shore, and several people are on surfboards, enjoying what may be the last ride of the day as the sun is setting behind the clouds in the background.

Last Ride – Cox Bay, Tofino, BC – October, 2020

If you’d like to support the festival and own a Mike Nelson Pedde original you can find the auction page here:

There are a number of other excellent auction choices as well. All proceeds from the auction go to support the whale festival and raising awareness about whales and the health of our oceans.

Hugs,
M&M

Happy Valentine’s Day! 💗

Posted on February 14, 2024 by Mike Nelson Pedde — Leave a reply

Hi Folks:

This image shows the latest chalk art drawing on the sidewalk in front of our house. At the top, all Caps, are the words HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY written in an arc in yellow chalk. The main body of the drawing consists of two large intertwining hearts, outlined in pink, red and white. At the bottom, in blue and purple, it reads HUG HERE. Today is Valentine’s Day, an international excuse to be more loving to each other (not that we need one) and a reason to eat good chocolate (not that we need one!) We always think sharing hugs with loved one is a good idea, so we wanted to encourage others to join in the celebration!

NB: While Mike was drawing with chalk, Marcia was scampering around the neighbourhood leaving anonymous valentines in our local Little Library boxes … 🤫

Hugs,
M&M

P.S. We’re in the middle of Random Acts of Kindness week. What are you doing to be kind today? Remember to be kind to yourself as well as others!!

P.S. II, the sequel: Apparently in the 17th century it was customary for young gentlemen to write the name of their betrothed on their shirt cuff for Valentine’s Day – hence wearing one’s heart on one’s sleeve.

Happy World Postcard Day!!

Posted on October 1, 2023 by Mike Nelson Pedde — Leave a reply

Hi Folks:

According to the folks at Postcrossing.com, today (October 1, 2023) is World Postcard Day! The theme for this year is, “Sharing Postal Hugs”. We always think sharing hugs with loved one is a good idea, so we wanted to encourage others to join in the celebration!

Send a postcard (and hugs) to those you love today!!

Hugs,
M&M

Penrose Tiling

Posted on September 22, 2023 by Mike Nelson Pedde — Leave a reply

Hi Folks:

This image shows our most recent Hug Zone chalk art drawing. The idea was independently created by the mathematician Roger Penrose. It’s a form of aperiodic tiling, and the idea has been around for millenia. For more on that, see here: Continue Reading →

G M Originals!!

Posted on August 25, 2023 by Mike Nelson Pedde — Leave a reply

Hi Folks:

At the end of July we had one of our grandsons come for a visit, and we did our best to squire him around town and visit/revisit some of the highlights Victoria has to offer. Of course we had to involve him with creating new chalk art patterns, to which he willingly acquiesced. Here then are the world’s first G M hugging spot originals!

First, in front of our house:
Because every cloudy sky needs a rainbow. The shadow is from a street sign, but if it looks to you like a bunny jumping up into the rainbow, that’s okay too!

Evidence of people carrying our rainbow with them – even if it’s only on the bottoms of their shoes!

A few days later we went downtown to our old hugging spot at the Homecoming Memorial and we created Hugscotch 2.0!

It works! (as evidenced by Marcia and grandson). We were even lucky enough to see spontaneous hugging taking place before we left! We applauded, of course. 🙂

Remember to hug the ones you love today! We trust G. will put to good use the box of sidewalk chalk that arrived at his house before he returned home. 🤗

Hugs,
M&M

Receiving (More) Kindness!

Posted on August 20, 2023 by Mike Nelson Pedde — 2 Comments ↓

Hi Folks:

A year ago we posted a blog post titled, “Receiving Kindness“, where we wrote about two gifts we had received in exchange for our ongoing hugging spot chalk art project. The first was a beautiful painted stone someone left on top of our gate, and the second was a lovely note someone taped to the inside of our gate.

Our last blog post (A Smile from Niklas) profiled a smile rock we received from someone named Niklas, left on top of our gate, and this has since been followed by another lovely note! We found it after setting out our BE A HUGGING STAR design; the note looks like this: Continue Reading →

A Smile from Niklas 🙂

Posted on July 10, 2023 by Mike Nelson Pedde — 1 Comment ↓

Hi Folks:

Last year we did a blog post called Receiving Kindness where we highlighted two gifts we had been left. The first was a beautifully painted stone left on top of our front fence, and the second was a note letting us know how much someone loved our chalk art on the sidewalk in front of our house. We were quite touched by both of these gifts!

Well, yesterday we found another gift: an ocean-rounded stone upon which someone had drawn a happy face with a black marker. 🙂 On the back side was a name (Niklas A.) and the word happy. We don’t know if Niklas left it for us or if it was passed along by someone else, but it doesn’t matter. We are very happy because of it!

It continues to amaze us how much beauty and kindness there is in the world, every day. We’re a little saddened sometimes that there are those who don’t seem to see much of this, but this must be an individual choice. Grow joy in your own Being and you will radiate it out everywhere you go. As you do, you will become attuned to seeing it, and it will continue to show up spontaneously in your life.

Sending love and hugs your way,
M&M

P.S. Special thanks to the woman this morning who stopped to read the Hugging Poem on our fence and who called out, “I love this!” Made our whole day. 💗

For those of you who can’t walk by our front yard to read it, the poem is here:

Hugging is

Hugging is healthy. It helps the immune system, cures depression, reduces stress and induces sleep. It’s invigorating, rejuvenating and has no unpleasant side effects. Hugging is nothing less than a miracle drug.

Hugging is all natural. It is organic, naturally sweet, no artificial ingredients, non-polluting, environmentally friendly and 100 percent wholesome.

Hugging is the ideal gift. Great for any occasion, fun to give and receive, shows you care, comes with its own wrapping and, of course, fully returnable.

Hugging is practically perfect. No batteries to wear out, inflation-proof, nonfattening, no monthly payments, theft-proof and nontaxable.

Hugging is an underutilized resource with magical powers. When we open our hearts and arms we encourage others to do the same.

Think of the people in your life. Are there any words you’d like to say? Are there any hugs you want to share? Are you waiting and hoping someone else will ask first? Please don’t wait! Initiate!

We need four hugs a day for survival, eight hugs a day for maintenance, and twelve hugs a day for growth.

– Virgina Satir

Writing as an Art Form

Posted on February 17, 2021 by Marcia Mae Nelson Pedde — Leave a reply

Hello Dear Ones!

So… you write? Well then… consider yourself an artist! As a writer (yes, even when just journaling), it was only recently I considered myself an artist. It was my journaling that helped me recognize the artistic value of my various scribblings. Here’s how…

The blank page, whether screen or paper, awaits my verbal drawings upon it. This is my art work ~ the work of words, ink on white. There is a shape to what I draw, a flow to what I craft. There is colour in the meaning behind and within the curls, the dots, the crossed t. There is beauty in the swirls and loops, lines and circles that form. My inner beauty reaching out and letting itself step into the sunlight of this brand new day, this very moment. It feels so preciously alive! Full of hope. Happy. Honest. Filled with potential and purpose.

I’m sitting here smiling as I type: a spontaneous, natural smile radiating up from my toes, flowing through my heart, out my hand, onto the page and into my wee corner of the world… to where you are! Hello! It’s so wonderful to be here with you!

How long has it been since you expressed your artistic self? How does art reveal itself through you when you do open to its passions? Does it fill you with joys and smiles? Does time stop for you? Or, when there is love and passion and creativity present, does time disappear ~ hours gone in the blink of an eye?

Sure hope something I’ve shared today sparks an artistic, creative expression of some form within you!

In Light and Laughter,

Marcia

Photo of the Month – July

Posted on August 11, 2017 by Mike Nelson Pedde — 2 Comments ↓

Hi Folks:

In honour of the 30th Annual Moss St. Paint-In, we’re celebrating art in our photos of the month for July!

Marcia’s image is first. We came across this scene and, as writers ourselves, recognized it as everything the modern travel writer needs! It’s perfect!

For Mike’s image we have his favourite artwork from the day. Frame courtesy of the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria; we’ll let you guess who the pretty woman with the parasol is. 😉

Okay, that’s it for now. Go out and make some photographs!!

Hugs,
M&M

Trends in Photography

Posted on August 9, 2016 by Mike Nelson Pedde — Leave a reply

Hi Folks:

I originally posted the following as a comment to an article written by Neal Rantoul, titled, “A Disturbing Trend“. It’s probably best to read the article first… I’ll wait.

Welcome back!

Here’s my comment:

An interesting read for photographers (and others). For the most part I agree with him. I am a poet, a writer, and a photographer and as such most of my images tell stories. However, I don’t pretend to insist that any photograph tells only one story. Each viewer connects the image to his/her own perceptions and memories and together they create their own stories, their own relationships. If I have to explain it, then I’ve failed.

Having said that, there’s still an overarching idea that photography must be representational. Computers allow us to create images that were impossible in an analog world. I remember Robert Bateman saying (of one of his abstract works), “It’s a painting. It’s not a painting of anything. It’s a painting.” Digital images allow us to create works that are abstract or non-representational as well.

I think we need to loosen our hold on definitions like photograph, image, digital art… For example, if I make 40 images at +1/0/-1 EV and combine those 120 images into an HDR panorama then push it around a bit in post-processing (like the image below) – is it still a photograph?

Two photographers whose work I admire are John Paul Caponigro and Stephen Johnson. Elizabeth Carmel is another. They all do landscape photography, and yet their styles are all very different. Each is using similar tools, yet they’re wielding them in their own ways. Photography begins with vision.

Okay, that’s it. Now go out and make some photographs!

Hugs,
M&M