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General Photography

Afternoon at Sandbanks Provincial Park, Ontario

Categories
General Photography

Sidewalk Cliffshapes and Purple Puddles

Ashtonbee Road, Scarborough (2023)
Jack Goodlad Park, Scarborough (2023)
Field Beside Jack Goodlad Park, Scarborough (2023)
Reflection reminds the concrete that roots lie underneath; trees were here first, not parking lots. Jack Goodlad Park (2023)
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General Photography

Ice Sentinels, Chandeliers, and Sky Claws at Guild Beach

“This Way to Rochester!” East Point Park (2023)
East Point Park (2023)
Ice Chandelier, Guild Beach (2023)
Bedazzle Ice, Guild Beach (2023)
Guild Beach Sky Ice (2023)
Guild Beach (2023)
Sky Claw, Guild Beach (2023)
Resting Ice Shapes, Guild Beach (2023)
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Photography

Reflections in Rain Puddles and Sunset Meadow, Scarborough

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Photography

Ice Bells and Other Sights at Guild Beach

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Photography

Winter Branches, Grasses, and Frost on the Windowpane

Scarborough, Ontario
Liberty, Missouri
Liberty, Missouri
Liberty, Missouri after the power outage on December 23rd, 2022
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Photography

Trip to Limberlost Forest and Wildlife Reserve

Buck Lake
Buck Lake
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General Photography

Late Autumn Mist, Skies, Reflections, Shadows, and Milkweed Pods

High Park, Toronto
Near Warden Avenue, Scarborough
Finch and Birchmount Sunset, Scarborough
Spring Creek, High Park
Farlinger Ravine, Scarborough
Gatineau Trail, Scarborough
Gatineau Trail, Scarborough
Discarded Mirror, Warden Station
Milkweed Pod, Scarborough
Milkweed Curtsy, Gatineau Trail
Milkweed Pod, Scarborough
Categories
Artwork General Photography Poems and Prose Poems

Anguish: Excerpt from Visualizations for Heartbreak: Words, Photographs, and Collages by Catherine Raine

Transcript read by the author

Your anguish is a force, a separate soul that cries out for solace and remedy. A thousand words of comfort rise from the ache in my throat, but they cannot restore the beloved person who abandoned you. Into this void, my voice may drop like a stone.

A picture containing animal, food, standing, cake

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It hurts to see you cry, face in your hands, unable to sleep, eat, or even feel real. Dizzy from the shock of sudden desertion, each second refuses to pass, remains incomplete. Your injured heart has lost its rhythm and your movements seem leaden, as if masses of melted tar are dragging your arms down every time you lift a glass.

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While your body slows to glacial time, the brain accelerates as it struggles to comprehend this alien reality that cannot be happening but is happening anyway. Like a never-ending game of tether ball, your thoughts spin faster and faster into smaller and tighter circles, shackled by panic to the iron fact of loss.

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If I had the power to heal you, I would gather the softest banana leaves in creation and soak them thoroughly in shea butter. Then I’d wrap them round your head to cool and cradle your brain, drawing out the poison of self-punishing thoughts, soothing the pain, and smoothing the wrinkled loops of endless tormenting questions.

A close up of a green plant

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For your heart-wounds, I offer a poultice composed of clay, feathers, and ferns to press against your chest as if in prayer. The heart-poultice cannot mend the cracks, but it honors them with love. When the minerals and soft coverings touch your skin, they ease the hurt, giving you precious minutes of relief.

A painting of a person

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A picture containing table, indoor

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And for your whole body, a pool has been sunk into the cursèd room that most haunts you with memories. The pool is not very wide — the width of three ordinary bathtubs — but it is fathoms deep. The sides and bottom of the pool are made of peat-black marble, turning the water so dark that it gathers you into oblivion. When you sink into this personal well, the only things you experience are the present sensations of cool healing water, your steady breath, and the kind red beating of your heart.

(Thank you Sean McDermott for making the recording! For a physical or digital copy of Visualizations for Heartbreak, please contact Catherine Raine at cafrinie@yahoo.ca).

Categories
General Photography

Rooting for Monarch Butterflies, Bumblebees, and Lakes

Scarborough, 2022
Scarborough, 2022
Lake Ontario, 2022
Categories
General Photography

Wildflowers, a Cornfield, the Missouri River, Hosta Plants, a Sunset, and a Bluetailed Skink

Scarborough, Ontario
Near Cooley Lake, Missouri
Missouri River
Missouri River
Liberty, Missouri
Chamois, Missouri
Bluetailed Skink, Lee’s Summit Missouri

Categories
Artwork General Photography Poems and Prose Poems

Rage: Excerpt from Visualizations for Heartbreak (Words, Photos, and Collages by Catherine Raine)


Recorded by Sean McDermott at Offaly Road Studios, 2022. Read by the author.

Once the reality of betrayal shatters the numbness, your rage awakens molten creativity and revives the blacksmiths and glassblowers of old. Your curses blast the forge and explode in the fire, where they transform into a glowing orb with fierce swirls of crimson, orange, and yellow.

The fiery globe is too hot for human hands to touch, and curious viewers must back away from its dangerous fragility. But when the orb cools, when it settles into itself, thousands will flock to this glass masterpiece, magnetized by its primal beauty.

The rage orb electrifies viewers and powerfully connects them to the anger of our hurting world, for this beautiful object has been forged and burned and spun from the rawest materials on earth: the fury of the wronged and the anguish of the betrayed.

When the orb is tilted at different angles, flashes of violence appear, open wounds that seethe beneath the fragments of a shattered heart. Critics may find your art disturbing or claim it contains glints and flints of revenge, but I say, “No, not traditional revenge or actual violence. Only the satisfaction that comes from refusing to bury pain inside. It takes courage to harness anger’s explosive energy and hurl it into a new form, sowing seeds of fire into grief’s deep furrows.”

Although the orb’s creation has not exorcised anger for good, it has given you some peace. Its presence is a testament to the value of authentic feelings, no matter how uncomfortable, sharp, or bitter. As you navigate this strange land of loss, you bring rage with you, for it is a righteous guide that divines underground springs of truth.

(Thank you Sean McDermott for making the recording! For a physical or digital copy of Visualizations for Heartbreak, please contact Catherine Raine at cafrinie@yahoo.ca).

Categories
General Photography

Highlights of Spring and Summer 2022

Liberty, Missouri
Lake Wilcox, Richmond Hill Ontario
Oxtongue River, Dwight Ontario
Lake Wilcox, Richmond Hill Ontario
East Point Park, Scarborough Ontario
East Point Park, Scarborough Ontario
Liberty, Missouri
Royal Botanical Gardens, Burlington Ontario
(H)our Glass Sculpture, Ted Fullerton (Royal Botanical Gardens, Burlington Ontario)
Royal Botanical Gardens, Burlington Ontario
Royal Botanical Gardens, Burlington Ontario
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General Photography

Beach Walk from Guild Park to Doris McCarthy Trail, Scarborough

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General Photography

Ellen’s Sockfish

My friend Ellen made this cloth creature in the Art Gallery of Ontario’s cafeteria one day in 2010. As we talked, she sewed the sweet green eyes and fashioned eclectic ear-gills that poke through the pink mesh.

Thread, needles, fabric, ribbons, and socks spilled from two bags I had brought from home, and our heads bent over our work as we talked.

Before we left the gallery, I took some photos of Ellen’s creation. I love how her hand both protects and presents the sockfish. Animated by playful colours and textures, its energy is bright.

Expressing movement, personality, openness — it seems eager to be on its way, tail swishing in the current.

I treasure the memory of that artistic afternoon with Ellen and all the times we met to write, make collages, or exchange ideas. With character, originality, and grace, she practiced friendship as an art form. I’ll never forget Ellen’s creative and loving heart that continues to bless. I miss my dear friend.

Categories
General Photography

Lathrop, Richmond, Missouri City, and Liberty Missouri

Lathrop Missouri (2022)
Ferris Theater, Richmond Missouri (2022)
Town Square, Richmond Missouri (2022)
Town Square, Richmond Missouri (2022)
Missouri City Snowcowboy (2022)
View from the Odd Fellows Home, Liberty Missouri (2022)
Liberty Missouri (2022)
Liberty Missouri (2022)
Liberty Missouri (2022)
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General Photography

Organic Ice Etchings

Gatineau Trail (2022)
Categories
General Photography

Ice Statements

Guild Beach, Scarborough (2022)
Guild Beach, Scarborough (2022)
Guild Beach, Scarborough (2022)
Guild Beach, Scarborough (2022)
Guild Park and Gardens (2022)
Guild Beach, Scarborough (2022)
Guild Beach, Scarborough (2022)
East Point Park (2022)
Categories
General Photography

Winter’s Shadow Swoops and Stripes at Bluffer’s Beach

Bluffer’s Beach, Scarborough (2022)
Categories
General Photography

Fall to Winter From the Bluffs

South Marine Drive Park, Scarborough (2021)
Cudia Park, Scarborough (2021)
East Point Park, Scarborough (2021)
East Point Park (2022)
East Point Park (2022)
East Point Park (2022)
East Point Park (2022)
East Point Park (2022)
East Point Park (2022)
East Point Park (2022)
East Point Park (2022)