Blog Archives - Dianne Bersea Perambulations

Bringing it all together on the page...in words and illustrations.

4/26/2022

I'm always looking at everything; listening for unusual sounds, interesting words; following narrow paths, gravel roads; connecting things in unusual ways. These days, I'm fascinated by our relationship with food, inspired in part, by my food forester friend Richard. He introduced me to growing food in a thoughtful relationship with natural systems, even welcoming invasive vegetation. He recognizes that 'invasives' survive and thrive in the increasingly hostile world we've created. I'm also fascinated by folks who hesitate to shop at our local Farmer's Market or our excellent locally sourced and low waste stores because..."their food is too expensive!" Is it too expensive? By what measure? I want to know! Perhaps it's the "local isn't really food" syndrome. I want to investigate our local food hesitancy and local food suppliers...all the whys, whats and why nots of the local food industry as it becomes increasingly important. Why? Because growing conditions are changing and supply chains are collapsing. I want to invite my readers to walk with me as we visit nearby farms, farmer's markets, local food outlets...to know the people who are willing to work eighteen hour days in all kinds of weather to provide our food. I want to share the sweet tasting produce from those who are attempting to save the world, one lettuce at a time.

Literary adventures!

4/9/2022

Join me as I embrace...words written or spoken, delivered with enthusiasm, passion, care, wisdom, depth, creativity.

In my idea of a teenage journal I mapped-out my life's big dream...to write and document the natural world. I saw this as an expanded journal of my evolving relationship with all those amazing wonders; large, small, embracing, challenging, perhaps even frightening, but always intriguing.

It’s not as if I haven’t visited that dream many times in many ways. But for more than fifty years my primary occupation has been professional visual artist, working in the fine and commercial arts as watercolour & acrylic painter, illustrator, cartoonist and graphic designer. That has taken me into many interesting places, into a variety of landscapes and business environments. I've also written hundreds of radio ads and published a number of self-styled word pieces that began with a four-page centerfold story in a 1967 Victoria Colonist weekend tabloid. That one was inspired by a personal visit to Clo-oose, an Indigenous community repeatedly overshadowed by early white development, situated on a fragile delta of British Columbia's famed Vancouver Island West Coast Trail. You can find Clo-oose on my blog of September 2015. Or check out Kootenay Keepsakes as it appeared in Western Living Magazine. It's on my blog of October 2015. My creative non-fiction story, Mrs. Cargill, found a home in Watershed Sentinel's summer issue, 2021. And my Nature Wise column really took off on the Opinion Page of Penticton Western News as a feature item filling two-thirds of a tabloid page with a large photo and catchy headline...until I decided I'd like to get paid.

I have a love for writing to length...perfect training for writing articles, essays and columns, from a short form 100 words to 1400, or even 2500. Although I find 500 to 800 is a fun length to work with…get to the point, draw a conclusion, especially if it can be done with energy, humour and concise sentences.

Now I just need to learn how to use my Weebly blog. Where IS the type editor button?

Author

I'm Dianne Bersea, a person of many personalities and endeavors..., photographer, painter, illustrator, designer, thinker, visualizer, writer, sometimes iconoclast, and often frustrated communicator. This blog provides an outlet for all of the above. All images are mine.

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