About Canada

Faith Harckham has delivered another of her neat Grizzly Bear paintings. Faith Harckham is a local artist and specialises in these original watercolour on canvas bear paintings.

I think that she uses very simple lines and lovely colours to capture the essence of the bear, my favourites are the ones whith water as you get a sense of the moment.

Let me know what you think of this work.

          

We have taken on a nice little line of funky Canadian made jewellery About Canada, Banff. in the form of the Desideratum line which is conversation starting jewellery using sterling silver and copper.

If I was a girlie I would wear coffee and books in the morning.

And move on to wine for the evening.

Which is your favourite?.

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Three weeks to Christmas and we use our own Christmas gift idea.

Gift Idea number 7

This weekend sees Santa’s parade through Banff. We have a gift idea for the kids / grandchildren that we think is such a good present we will be giving one ourselves as one of the items donated to the Santa’s anonymous appeal. (Santa’s Anonymous is an appeal for food and presents to help make a better Christmas for the less well off in Banff)

The item is the new childrens book ‘Canadian Rockies ABC’, by local artist Max Elliott.

This book has gone very well this year in store and been a real success.

Click on the link to go to the product in store

Max illustrates mountain landscapes, wildlife, and activities using colourful painting and collage. Her original artwork combined with simple phrases creates a unique opportunity for endless fun while learning the alphabet.

In between being captivated by the illustrations, children will learn that B stands Bear and H is for Hiking.

At the back of the book, local children talk about their favourite things to do and places to see throughout the Canadian Rockies.

What would your children (or the child in you) put.

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Now it’s only six weeks to Christmas. And Christmas gift ideas continue.

Gift Idea number 4

Our pure cappings bees wax candles are a popular gift item for visitors to the store. This range of candles is particularly popular at this time of year.

Click on the link to go to the product in store

The key ingredient is nothing less than the purest pesticide free Canadian cappings beeswax.

Cappings wax is the hair thin layer of beeswax the bees secrete to seal the freshly made honey into each comb. Beeswax reflects the same pigment as does the honey being harvested, hence the colours ranges from brilliant yellows to rich golds, onto darker colours, which look like fresh made butterscotch toffee.

Because they are made only from pure cappings beeswax the burn times are amazing with an approximate burn time of 150 to 180 hours for the ones shown here.

In addition they smell great lit or unlit.

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So, I hate be the one to tell you but it’s only nine weeks to Christmas. We will start giving you some Christmas gift ideas, this is one of a series.

Gift Idea number 1

We will start with one for everyone. One item that continues to be popular with locals and occasional visitors to our store is the classic book of Bruno Engler’s black and white photography.

Click on the link to go to the product in store

Swiss born and raised to be an accomplished Mountain Guide Bruno emigrated to Canada in 1939 and settled in the Banff area where he could pursue his passions for the mountains and photography.

Bruno was a fun loving man with an unbridled passion for adventure who could always make those around him laugh and had the incredible talent to capture the perfect moment on film. He was something of a local legend with a bar and ski run named after him.

I put this idea first as it is a little on the heavy side and we are already near the cut off for getting things by sea to Europe (October 25th).

Have you started Christmas shopping yet, let us know if you have any great ideas for presents.

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At About Canada, Banff one of the neat things about running the store / gallery is meeting the artist. This month we were privilged to have Leo Arcand, a well known First Nation carver, call by to see if we would like to represent his work.

Of course we jumped at the chance. Leo is a Woodland Cree sculptor from the Alexander First Nations reserve in Northern Alberta. He works mainly in soapstone, drawing his inspiration from a deep spirituality and keen belief that there must be a balance in all things.

It was a pleasure to meet him and to take on his work.

The initial pieces that we have taken are:

Grandmother Bear

Protecting Spirit

Thundering Eagle

My favourite is the Protecting Spirit, which is yours?.

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At About Canada, Banff people buy many things because of the meaning behind them. Sometimes it is the meaning of the design, sometimes it is the meaning of the material.

Many stones have meaning to different cultures and are prized for the benefits the stone can bring. I thought it might be interesting to highlight some of those meanings over a few posts. We carry a range of Jade carvings, so I though we would start with jade.

Jade is a gemstone of unique symbolic energy, and unique in the myths that surround it. As early as 3000 B.C. jade was known in China as ‘yu’, the ‘royal gem’ and was held roughly comparable with that of gold and diamonds in the West. It is still regarded as a symbol of the good, the beautiful and the precious and embodies the Confucian virtues of wisdom, justice, compassion, modesty and courage.

However the Mayas, Aztecs and Olmecs of Central America also honoured and esteemed jade more highly than gold. New Zealand’s Maoris began carving weapons and cult instruments from native jade in early times, a tradition which has continued to the present day. In ancient Egypt, jade was admired as the stone of love, inner peace, harmony and balance.

‘Jade’ is a generic term for two different gems, nephrite and jadeite. The name is derived from the Spanish ‘piedra de ijada’, loin-stone, jade having been recognised by the Amerindians as a remedy for kidney ailments. Because of its beneficial effect on the kidneys, the stone was also known as ‘lapis nephriticus’. That, indeed, is where the term ‘nephrite’ came from.

So in summary it is thought by some to embody the virtues of wisdom, justice, compassion, modesty and courage, and by others to be the stone of love, inner peace, harmony and balance.

As stones go that’s not bad.