Emily Carr What A Dame

Book Review:

Growning Pains: Autobiography of Emily Carr - by Emily Carr

The Heart of a Peacock - by Emily Carr

Klee Wyck - by Emily Carr

Yes Ladies and Gentlemen ( or my Imaginary Readers) I went on a bender last week. An Emily Carr book bender. With pleasent results.

I read these books in reverse order that I have them listed above and I am rather glad that I did it that way. Explination to follow individual recaps.

Klee Wyck

This was a nice small comprihensive book of a few short stories recalling Emily's frequent trips exploring the West Coast and her native population. On these trips she would take any means of transportation she could get in order to visit the most out of the way abandoned villages and draw/ record some lost totem poles. Along with Ginger Pop her small dog Emily manages to totally transport you to the sea smelling coast with the dark dense rainforest of Canada's West coast looming behind you. Overall a good read, not terrifically uplifting or depressing but honest.

Heart of a Peacock

Much more up-beat this book is full of quaint little stories of Ms. Carr's many many pets and her wonderful interactions with them all. Imagine a lady with two parrots and a monkey (though not all at the same time)!

Growning Pains

A terrifically determined and dedicated artist Emily Carr revisits her life. Accross the sea and back again she doggedly works despite (because of?) strong disapproval from her family and Victorian (Victoria BC that is) society. Some may question Carr's actual dedication because of the 15 year hiatus she took from painting after loosing hope and recieving too many years of harsh feedback. Unlike the Group of Seven who had one another to bond, encourage and work with, Emily was very much alone as a female painter of non-traditional wild landscapes. But ya know she pulled through and is pretty happy about it all now.

I am happy that I happened to read them in the above order because I fear that if I had read Klee Wyck and Growning Pains together I would have been overwhelmed by Emily Carr's life and may not have been as satisfied with the works.

Cheers Emily - I hope you are painting with your monkey someplace.

*up next group of seven and Canadian patriotism.

thanks for being.

Hot Child in the (new) City

Ontario will you remember me when the weather turns cold?

Keep finding my head in the clouds and fail to center myself until I fall into a lightening storm and end up fried. Need to find something to ground me, to draw me inward. Top of the To Do List.

Growing up Ain't so tough but loving you Ain't so easy to do.

Focused post on it's way.

thanks for being.