Category Archives: retreat

How To Make Friends with a Wildflower

Photo Credit: Jo Anne Lauder

Jo Anne Lauder, one of the artists who took part in “Befriending Wildflowers – An Art Retreat” at the Qu’Appelle House of Prayer this July, took the stunning photo above, capturing the delicacy of a prairie wildflower bouquet. “Befriending Wildflowers” gave us a chance to slow down, to explore the hills and meadows around us, and to spend quiet happy time in each other’s company observing, sketching, and painting wildflowers. We painted under the green shade of trees on some very hot days, and were grateful for the cooling breeze. Grateful too, for the generous hospitality of Glenn, Chantelle, Kathy, Tim, and Simba, the cat. Their hospitality included delicious meals and surprise snacks, thoughtful reflections about wildflowers, and mowing the steep and curving trails that lead up the hills (a Herculean act, in my opinion). If Simba detected any sense of a rush, he had a lovely way of asking for some affection, and slowing us down. We were also deeply grateful for the many gifts of the wildflowers, and the beautiful natural world surrounding us. Below are some photos of our time together, and if you continue all the way to the bottom, some preliminary thoughts on how to make friends with a wildflower.

She said she doesn’t climb hills and then SHE DID! (Wait to go, Deb!)

this beautiful view (still celebrating the climb!)

new friends

we also came “to just be”, to quietly sit

Moments of quiet absorption

a little watercolour play

Breathe while you paint (this flopped but fun experiment because how will you breathe if you are worried about getting paint on the garage door??)

Loosening our brush stroke by pasting a stivk to the end of our brush (still worried about paint on the doors!!)

early Saturday morning, beautiful mist…that is the chapel in the distance

Spreading Dogbane Foliage by Deb

Getting to know the flowers by sketching them first (Deb)

Bouquet by Deb

Purple Prairie Clover and Gaillardia by Jo Anne

Unfinished Woodland Foliage by Jo Anne

Wild Rose by Jo Anne

Wildflower Sampler (Purple Prairie Clover, Western Wild Bergamot, Harebell, Prairie Coneflower, Gaillardia, Alfalfa) by Jo Anne

Wild Rose by Teri (First ever attempt with watercolours)

Wildflowers in Tree by Marg

Alcohol Ink by Marg

Bible Journal by Marg

Wildflowers and Earth by Marg

“Nature yourself with kindness” by Marg

A partial art gallery on the logs

Spreading Dogbane and other foliage by Sue

More foliage by Sue

Back: Teri, Jo Anne, Marg Front: Deb, Sue

Some Preliminary Thoughts on Making Friends with Wildflowers

The old adage “Stop (or slow down) and smell the flowers” is a good one. Stopping is necessary. Smelling is great – some of us have the most beautiful scent, some no discernible scent, and some a memorable scent. You can smell us best when on your knees.
Once you have stopped, spend a little time with me. Really look at me. Touch me – gently, see how I feel. Notice if there are others like me around. What made you look at me? Sing me a song. Tell me what you appreciate about me. It takes a long time to get to know me well.
From someone who knows us well: be humble around us. We have been on Planet earth for much longer than you. We are your Elders, your teachers. (paraphrased from Robin Wall Kimmerer)
Don’t pick me with out asking. I will answer. Wrap my stem in a little water so I will stay alive a little longer. When you take me home, admire me, place me in a central spot, sketch or paint or photograph me. If that is not your thing, you could write me a love song.
Never pick me if I am the only one, or if there are very few of my kind.
Walk lightly. That way if you step on me I am more likely to bounce back.
Come and visit me often. At first you will notice me only when I am in full bloom, but in time you will learn to notice my emerging leaves, my bud, how I flower and how my middle turns to seeds. You will find me beautiful even as I am dying. Each stage of my life is wondrous.
Listen to me.
Look around and notice who my neighbours are, which butterflies, bees and flies like to pollinate me, if I am tasty to any wild creatures.
Sometimes leave me alone. Just like any friend, I need quiet at times.
I enjoy your small gifts of thanks, but the best gift of all is an appreciative heart. Or lovely water (especially in a dry year).
Other thoughts?
Harebell Photo Credit: Chantelle Bonk, Qu’Appelle House of Prayer

Befriending Wildflowers (the quiet version)

“Nobody sees a flower – really – it is so small it takes time – we haven’t time – and to see takes time, like to have a friend takes time.” Georgia O’Keefe

“Befriending Wildflowers” was a two day art retreat which gave us time to “really see a flower” and to befriend some of the wildflowers who live on the slopes of the Qu’Appelle Valley. By spending time with the wildflowers on the hills, by painting and drawing the flowers that called to us, we came to know a few flowers more intimately.

We were so fortunate to be able to hold this retreat at the Qu’Appelle House of Prayer which is

Photo by Tania Wolk

nestled in the hills above Echo Lake. We painted under the shade of trees during the hot days, and hiked through woodland trails up to the top of the hills where grasses and flowers bloomed profusely in the early mornings and evenings. We were so warmly welcomed and cared for by Glenn, Margaret, Kathy and Tim. Silence and quiet are encouraged and allow us to connect with nature more deeply than usual. For those who wished, Eucharist and “silent sitting” enriched our experience. The Qu’Appelle House of Prayer is a sacred place.

some of our “cat flowers”…instructor Kami Jo second from right

While the land (and the flowers) were our greatest teacher(s), we also learned so much from each other. Our youngest participant, Kami Jo, led a session on creating cat flowers which was fantastic. Tania helped us draw flowers in their simplest shapes, getting to the essence of the flower, and helping us see flowers in fresh ways. We painted with dominant hand, non-dominant hand, standing, sitting, upside down, and we sometimes timed ourselves to get the feel of a flower rather than the details. We did flower yoga, and played flower charades, and did breathing exercises. We laughed frequently. We moved very slowly (to Kami Jo’s frustration). We called our unhurried pace “wildflower time”. We learned how painting on the ground in a meadow was a completely different experience from painting a vase of flowers.

Wildflower Joy! Photo by Tania Wolk

Photo by Elizabeth Gavin

Photo: Tania Wolk

Speaking for myself, It was pure joy to be with others who take notice and delight in wildflowers. Being with others who are totally absorbed in trying to get the feel of a particular flower on paper is very settling, calming and joyful. I saw wildflowers in new ways, and sometimes through the eyes of others, I saw familiar wildflowers in completely unfamiliar ways. I treasure my friendships with wildflowers – through the presence and teachings of my companions, my friendships continue to grow and thrive.

Once upon another PLAYshop, this one focusing on trees, hypnotizing chickens became the most fun thing to do. During our Befriending Flowers time, the most fun thing for Kami Jo was having the chance to drive Margaret in the golf cart! You have to scroll to the bottom for photos of that one.

I feel gratitude for the sacred place that is the Qu’Appelle House of Prayer, for the people that care for it, and for us; for the beautiful hills, grasses and wildflowers; and for each of those who took part so wholeheartedly!! Thank you.

Diane getting to know gaillardia

Gaillardia seed head, Diane

Gaillardia sun and shadows, Liz

Gaillardia, photo by Tania Wolk

Gaillardia Seed Heads by Tania

Purple Prairie clover, first impressions, Liz

Purple Prairie Clover, Photo by Tania Wolk

Cat flowers, Kami Jo

Purple Prairie Clover, Tania

Trying with marker, Kami Jo

Wild Rose, early morning meditation, Diane

Wild Rose, early morning meditation, Tania

Wild Rose, after the petals fall and before the rose hip forms. Beauty in every stage. Tania.

Liz’s flowers…gaillardia, bergamot, wild rose

Cat Flower, Liz

Wild Bergamot (using Tania’s shape method), Sue

Wild Bergamot makes us go wild and free, Diane

And the wind blew, and the bergamot got wilder! Whoohee!!

Dancing in the Meadow, Sue

Kami Jo’s flowers, photo by Tania Wolk

Who painted the fastest of us all? (Kami Jo)

Early morning painting in the meadow

Totally absorbed as we “befriend a wildflower”

Mai Jo befriending Margaret, Margaret befriending Kami Jo. Margaret is one of the co-directors of the Qu’Appelle House of Prayer, along with Glenn Zimmer. Photo by Tania Wolk.

Saving the best for last!! Finally we are speeding up, says Kami Jo. Photo by Tania Wolk.

through the looking glass, Northern Bedstraw, photo by Tania Wolk

Immersed in Nature

Do you have the patience to wait

Till your mud settles and the water is clear?

Can you remain unmoving

Till the right action arises by itself?

Tao Te Ching

Photo – http://thesimplefrontporch.wordpress.com

a joint blog entry by Sue Bland and Debra Brown

Sue : I am not a patient person. Mostly, I do not have the patience to wait until my mud settles and the water is clear. To remain unmoving is very difficult for me. More often than not, I rush ahead with plans and lists and schemes. The wisdom of the twenty seven words above seems written for me.

Last year, when I was searching for venues to hold my art retreats and PLAYshops and my friend Debra was considering opening her farm home in the Eastern Qu’Appelle Valley for retreats, we wondered, slowly, tentatively…is this something we could do together?

the view from the top of the hill – misty moisty weather- at Valley View Farm (well named)

This simple question, and the eventual answer to it, has taken us on a journey together , something we both came to see as a ceremony of sorts.

We talked about the question, let it rest, dreamed about it and slept on it. In time, the answer to our question arose, and it was YES. When would we hold it? We thought about May, dilly dallied, rejected May. Somehow, late August felt exactly right to both of us.

The burr oaks

Together we came up with the title – Immersed in Nature: An Art Retreat at Valley View Farm.

We prepared, each in our own way.

Debra: I sorted, cleared, reorganized more layers of 75+ years of family habitation. While this challenged me on many levels, I never lost the clear knowing that offering this retreat with Sue was a gift, the right “next step” to explore the long-held dream of offering sacred space for people at the farm.

Sue: I am so moved by the beautiful hills and valleys, grasses, woods and wetlands at Valley View Farm. How could this sacred place change and inform the way I offered a PLAYshop or an art retreat? If I truly listened, what did the natural world have to say about how we might approach our time together? I wanted our art to emerge from the nature were were immersed in. I wanted to offer exercises that might shift, ever so slightly, the way we see, experience and respond to the natural world. I practised close to home – in my beloved Pheasant Creek Coulee. There I sketched and painted, or simply sat and took in the beauty. There, I considered the visual elements of line, shape and colour.

the colours of the grasses

Our enthusiasms and efforts were buoyed by registrations and expressions of interest. As we got closer to the weekend, a few people cancelled. Should we go ahead? Doubts surfaced. What if everybody cancelled? We determined that we would go ahead, no matter what. The ceremony of this joint venture was well underway, and even if it was just the two of us, we would see it through until the end because we very much wanted to.

Happily, we had three participants, each of who brought her own special gifts and interests to our shared weekend. What follows are some “moments” that stood out for each of us.

Sue: Coming downstairs to see guests each with a dark coffee in tow in the sunporch, a book or journal nearby; companionable silence.

Debra: the land being received with such appreciation and delight on our introductory misty-wet walk up the hill, and throughout the weekend

Big Bluestem grass with wolf willow

More Big Bluestem (taller than I am)

Sue: a silent walk, sharing wonder and delight with others, but not using words

Debra: women moving and creating in their own rhythms, filling the house with waves of peaceful silence and rich conversation

Sue: the smells coming from the kitchen, as Debra created magic… with plates of such aesthetic beauty and such fresh taste, you could die and go to heaven

Debra’s unbelievably scrumptious food

Close up!!!

Debra: the radiance of one participant, after a final pre-departure walk (and drenching) in the hills

Sue: the sound of charcoal on paper as we drew

Creating art…blindfolded!!

Debra: the insistent presence of Nature throughout the program. ‘Immersed’ we were [or was that baptized and blessed?] by the rain, the shimmering dew on the grasses and verdant forest

the last of the blazing star

Collage- shape, line, colour

Selecting paper treasure for the trip home

Would we do it again? When the weekend was over, we really weren’t sure. A week later we met and talked about all we had learned, what we would change, what we would celebrate. Then, with the need to follow the insistent thrum in her core, Debra said, “There is something new rising in me”. That insistent rising is the seed of Sweet Darkness: A Mid-Winter Silent Retreat . And so, this ‘ceremony’ continues to ripple through our lives and into the world.

Sue’s mandala (left) and Debra’s mandala (right) . Each created without looking at the other!

Goodbye…Hello!

*”Poached Egg Woman is Rooted” Photo by Cherie Westmoreland

These past few days, I have been moving plants from a thick tangle of grass which was once my perennial garden to a new spot out in the orchard. The thatch of grass has not been a perennial garden for several seasons now…. something I have been loathe to admit. Each spring, I have longed for the perennial garden of old and thought, “maybe this summer, I will find the time.” Finally, this year, I am able accept that I will not bring new life to this old spot, and that the time has come to let it go. As I have been digging and uprooting plants, I have also been remembering…I started this garden just before we had our first daughter. In this garden our daughters created magical homes for the fairies, picked bouquets and played imaginary games on our beloved chokecherry tree. Many of the flowers in this garden come from women dear to me – my late

old perennials are moved here to a new spot

mother-in-law Wanda, my dear friend Hope, my neighbour Wendy, our Aunty Joy. Through the years, this garden has given us joy, delight and colour. But as we travelled more often to Christie Lake in the summers, the garden got way ahead of me. Its fate was sealed a few springs ago when a mother duck laid 13 beautiful eggs right in the garden’s middle – giving me a great reason not to weed. As I take the roots and stalks of plants to their new spot, near the apple tree and by a willow bench, I think that it is fitting that this is also the year that our youngest daughters will leave home. The garden has lived its life. It has been the garden of our daughter’s childhoods. Freedom from this garden will give me more time to paint, more time to be with the wildflowers in the coulee. Some of the transplanted flowers will survive in their new home, some will disappear. I am curious to see what else will come to life.

A few weekends ago, I took part in “A Weekend with the Wildflowers and Grasses of the Qu’Appelle Valley” at Calling Lakes Centre (PCTC). Calling Lakes Centre is slated to close in August, after 60 years of making a difference in the lives of so many from all across Canada. For some, our weekend with the wildflowers was a way of saying goodbye to a much-loved place, of giving thanks for the wonderful memories. For others, this weekend was a way of saying “hello”. A mother and daughter who were new to Calling Lakes Centre reveled in the freedom of running up and down the hills and to the lake and back again. They said “hello” to this way of being together – just the two of them – without other family members. They said “hello” to their mutual love of wild plants, of fairies and of creating art. Our accompanying Elder, Dot, wrote “I recognize that for others it was kind a a good-bye time. For me, having not spent so much time there, it was more of a hello time. Hello to the flowers, some of them new to me, a Manitoba girl. Hello to a time of wandering up and down the hills, enjoying the view of the valley.” I love that the goodbyes and hellos, the new and the old, the memories and the possibilities are so intermingled.

As Calling Lakes Centre is winding down, new life is emerging in surprising ways. Close by, in Fort Qu’Appelle a dedicated band of volunteers and visionaries have invested much time in renovating Central School, built in 1911. Together, they are creating the Qu’Appelle Valley Centre of the Arts. This fledgling centre has already nurtured musicians, artists, poets and yoga practitioners with more to come.

Calling Lakes Centre nurtured many people during its 60 year life. Those of us who have been privileged to work there were inspired to explore learning which uses all the senses, which allowed people time with their own creative spirits in a peaceful place away from it all. You could say our own roots were strengthened at Calling Lakes Centre. I notice how many alumni staff continue to offer opportunities to learn – by offering retreats, readings, opportunities to explore art and poetry, PLAYshops. Seeds of ideas that may have emerged first while at Calling Lakes Centre, ideas that will germinate and flourish in other places. One program staffer, Jenni Krall along with her husband Jason, have started the Wild Spirit Prairie Sanctuary on their beloved land, where they hope to celebrate spirit in this beautiful wild place in a simple way and off the grid.

The closing of Calling Lakes Centre has had me looking for new venues to continue to offer PLAYshops. I have always returned from visits to my friend Debra’s farm in the eastern Qu’Appelle Valley feeling renewed and refreshed. Could Debra and I work together to offer a PLAYshop? After dreaming, and discernment and discussion, we decided we could. The particularities of place at Valley View Farm encouraged me to take a new look at PLAYshops, and so in August we are offering “Immersed in Nature: An Art Retreat at Valley View Farm” in the spirit of a “trial balloon”. Coincidentally, Debra worked at Calling Lakes Centre for many years.

Goodbye. Hello. Some parts of what we have loved survive. Some parts do not. The new emerges in the midst of the old. The new is inspired by the old. The spirit of the garden, the spirit we found on the hills during the wildflower weekend, the spirit of a group engrossed in creating something beautiful together lives on and takes fresh and surprising forms.