The first time I saw a Goldeneye was in 2015, in a glacier-carved and tidally-influenced lagoon in Aialik Bay. I was on a week-long trip with a group of new friends, training to be a kayak guide. We were paddling slowly along the meandering shoreline enjoying the quiet movement of our gliding boats. When we turned another corner, someone motioned to the group to look further ahead and I glimpsed a few dark birds moving quickly. Swishing wing beats and staccato coos echoed across the lagoon as the Goldeneyes skimmed the surface of the calm water and incrementally took flight. Ripples textured their path in the otherwise glassy water. I barely had the chance to note their color and distinguishing patterns, or any visual thread from which to unravel an understanding. Now I chuckle when I see them in the distance. The bold, blocky plumage of the males stands out against the delicate spring grasses and silty gray shorelines. How could I have not noticed them this easily years ago? Learning how to look is such a big part of guiding as a naturalist and is a wonderfully immersive and ongoing process. The sounds and movements of these Goldeneyes have become familiar over the years and their eyes remain bright with color and awareness. They are sensitive birds; you have to really slow down to be around them without spooking them away. It’s rewarding to move through the water in a purposeful and calm way that keeps them on the surface, yet very aware of your presence. This year, I was surprised to see a pair of Barrow’s Goldeneyes hanging around the harbor in late April. Normally these docks are a bustling center of activity – lots of boats and people moving each other around. This spring the harbor has been noticeably quieter. I wonder if the Goldeneyes have always stopped over in the harbor and I’ve been too absorbed in the bustle to notice. Or maybe this space that was previously more active with people didn’t provided the reprise these birds were looking for in their previous journeys. Regardless, the calm waters of the harbor are a protected space to stop over in, and there are plenty of herring on which to feast. For nearly a week of rainy mornings I would see a pair of Barrow’s Goldeneyes along the shoreline as I walked around the harbor. You can tell they are a Barrow’s (and not Common Goldeneyes) by the crescent shaped white patch on the male's iridescent purple head, and the generally dark wing with defined patterns of white plumage. The female's short orange bill and flat forehead are also clues that help narrow this identification down to the species level. With motivation for outdoor projects on the sailboat dwindling in the damp and blustery spring weather, I spent one afternoon making a Goldeneye print. This was my first time carving a piece on a rubber block. The surface was easy to cut into, but it moved much more that I’ve gotten used to with linoleum. The rubber was pushed and pulled by my carving tools with each cut. I made a few prints to test it out and plan to use watercolor paint to highlight the bird’s namesake – its golden eye. Here’s to unexpected avian neighbors and inspiration on rainy days! ~ Emily
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We had a fantastic weather window for all our projects in the yard - warm, sunny, and breezy. One of the most intensive projects was adding a fresh coat of paint to the hull. This involved prepping the surfaces by sanding down the outer coat of paint (no easy task) and taping the golden-yellow lettering and detail work to protect them while we painted. We painted one coat with a one-part EZpoxy paint in Electric Sapphire Blue and used a special combination of paint roller types to give the hull an even-toned, bubble- and streak-free appearance. We're really looking forward to checking out the time-lapse footage of this process! During this time, we were also able to clean and service the thru-hulls, inspect the rudder hardware, and even do our laundry!
We are so grateful for the fine folks at Exit Marine for providing a pleasant and productive work space, specialized tools to help projects progress faster, and helping us source our paint. Thank you! Happily back in the water, ~Emily Yesterday afternoon we left our cozy slip in the harbor and took Katabatic on a walk to a nearby boatyard. First, we motored into a small chute in the harbor, where the marine travelift used its strong slings and pulleys to lift the boat. The slings were positioned about 14 feet apart so they would lift from just in front of the keel and just behind it. The slings were also tied together under the boat so they would not slide further apart. The travelift rolled down the street like a really wide truck, then set Katabatic down in the boatyard. Her keel was placed on wooden blocks and the stands placed along her hull provided support. We pressure-washed the hull to remove the algae that had grown over the past few years. Today I painted the black bottom paint on Katabatic. Brent had taped the waterline while I was mixing and preparing the roller, so I was able to dive right in. I wore safety glasses, a respirator, gloves, and long layers to protect me from the paint - only a few extra splatter freckles! This anti-fouling paint contains a good amount of copper, which minimizes algae growth (and that of other marine organisms). There were a few small mussels on the hull, mostly in small clusters on the keel (where last year's blocks were positioned) and in the tiny corners on the rudder. Overall, Katabatic's hull and paint were in great shape from her last haul-out two years ago. In the end, I painted on one generous coat plus an extra coat around the waterline. Brent was working on a number of projects, including inspecting all of our rudder hardware for corrosion (all good!), modifying the chain locker hatch to accommodate our new windlass, sourcing hardware for the windlass install at our local hardware store known as The Fish House, and meticulously cutting out tape letters to protect the vinyl lettering on the stern for when we paint the topsides. We also pulled 200 feet of new 8mm chain onboard and into in the chain locker - up over the bow from the back of Brent's truck parked right below us! It was much easier than loading it into a dock cart (after finding one to borrow), rolling it down the ramp (hopefully not at low tide when the ramps are very steep), down the dock to our slip, and THEN onto the boat. These are just a few of the projects we've been working on. We've been living and working onboard for over a month now and our departure checklist is getting shorter and shorter. Tomorrow's forecast is similar to the weather today - partly sunny and high 50s˚F. This is great weather for cleaning and inspecting the thru-hulls, as well as letting the paint dry more. Long days here in the boatyard, but it feels great to get these big projects checked off! Thankful for this weather window, ~ Emily First Fridays in Seward are all about celebrating local artwork and the small businesses that host it. The town adapted this event last weekend by transforming the usual in-house showings to a walk-by art show. Pieces were displayed outdoors for the community to be able to enjoy while still observing social distancing measures. Brent created a painting for this event, which was displayed in the garden at Resurrect Art Coffee House. Many thanks to Micheley and Mike for their encouragement and support in making this happen! The plywood is covered with a maple veneer that has gorgeous curly grains. Brent used black acrylic paint to create a scene of mountains and the ocean inspired by the natural lines of the wood grain. It looks like a print from a distance, but is actually a free-hand painting. Brent said that creating something that looks like a block print (made by taking away material) by painting (made by adding material) was a fun mental exercise for him. Here is a time-lapse video of Brent painting this piece. If you watch the shoreline in the left part of the frame you can see the tide coming in!
When Brent and I returned to Alaska in March, we spent much of our quarantine drinking coffee, enjoying the first sights and sounds of spring along Turnagain Arm, and making lots of linoleum block prints. Blue mussels are a common sight along the Kenai Fjords coastline, so I dove into this process with a print of their beautiful shells. First, I drew the design on a piece of linoleum and carved away everything my pen didn't touch. From there, I rolled out ink on a piece of plexi-glass and then onto the linoleum, placed a sheet of paper over the block, and burnished it so the ink would transfer. Peel back the paper and - voila! - blue mussel print. I'm just starting out with block printing and have learned so much already. Big thanks to Brent, who has been making this kind of art for years and has found the perfect balance of feedback to get me off to a good start while leaving things for me to figure out on my own. My love of detail when sketching has been redirected while print making. I now am thinking about streamlining images to capture their essence. Simple is good. Less is more. I've also enjoyed how the print is a reverse image of what I've just spent a good amount of time staring at. It looks odd for a few minutes, not quite the same as what I had imagined. Playing with these ideas of what I think a piece will look like, what I've experienced in making it, and then looking at it from a new perspective when the ink is on paper has been a great learning process. Brent made a breaking wave print that illustrates this concept well. Is it a left-hand or right-hand break? Here are some time-lapse videos that show the printing process much more quickly than it actually happens: Stay tuned for more of our prints inspired by the Alaskan coastline! In the meantime, keep an eye out for things you would like to make prints of, imagine how you would simplify the image to make it work, and enjoy! ~ Emily In January, Sea Education Association posted a note about the Elsaesser Fellowship Award for 2020. (The selection committee had contacted me about their decision just a few weeks earlier.) I've quoted a paragraph of their fellowship announcement and summary of the Canvas & Ice project here, but you can find the full blog post on SEA's website.
Want to learn more about the Elsaesser Fellowship? Read more here!
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Voyage Log
AuthorCanvas & Ice Archives
April 2021
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