By Cecilia Martin
On one of the coldest days this winter, fifteen members of
the Ottawa Society of Botanical Artists gathered at Claudia’s house for a most
enjoyable afternoon, disproving our earlier concerns that we would not get many
members out to anything in the winter!
Janet, our president, suggested that the theme for this
get-together should be compiling a “Resource Carousel”. Participants came armed with their favourite
books from their own collections, and supplies that have assisted in their
artistic endeavours. They were also ask
to list videos, web sites and blogs of interest and to suggest ideas for
activities, outings, specialized topics they would like to learn more about and
guest speakers they would like have for our meetings throughout the year.
Four tables were set up in Claudia’s spacious ground floor,
each area dedicated to a specific topic. When I arrived I was happy to see the
dining room table piled high with books, and numerous people around it happily
browsing through the collection. Mary did a magnificent job of listing all the
books on her laptop during the afternoon, giving us a good start on our project
of recording the books in order to make a list available on this blog.
A second table was positioned by a window overlooking
Claudia’s beautiful back yard, primarily to list suppliers and supplies people
felt were worthy of note. Inga brought
along a light box she had recently purchased, Mary had a useful helping hands stand
with a magnifier. An inexpensive way to
help with holding plant material in a stable position. Carla brought in some brushes that have their
own water reservoir, which she is currently experimenting with. Janet kept records of all information that
was shared in this area, and Carla listed many web sites, videos and blogs as
our “techie” recorder! Likewise, ideas
for outings, speakers and topics were shared at other tables.
All of this done with a beautiful background winter scene in Claudia’s backyard, that included numerous woodpeckers’ cardinals and other birds at her bird feeders.
Many delicious treats were contributed by members and tea
and coffee served. There was constant
lively chatter and laughter, and the “winter blahs” dispelled from all of us. It was lovely to re-establish old
friendships, and meet new members as well.
We left feeling that we had accomplished a good start to our
Resource initiative and happy to spend an exhilarating afternoon and to forget,
if only for those few hours, the winter’s seemingly never ending chill.
