RETRO ARTS: I really loved strolling around old Carleton Place, and, for proof, I photographed quite a few regular house porches, including (left) some buddys' cats' favourite haunt!! I made a lot of photocards in the mid-nineties, so I have a couple of pages on just porches. Some of them are found porches  - little cullies and quiet spaces which say - 'sit a while, be in peace'. These are my casual porches, like the ol' chess table in the park, and even a winter shot of our former house and its unfinished sunporch.
   Click the Porches image and, when you get there, click the little doors. The doors are photos of my last house (and back shed)  in Carleton Place.
We moved to Kanata, Ontario, but we love our old home town.
Carleton Place is built upon a mile-wide meteorite. It is one of the most intruiging archeological sites I can think of, though its mysteries are well-hidden. There are doors and gates to enter, shrines, altars and portals upon which we may share our sense of worship.

I'M PROUDLY CANADIAN !
Link to porch photos of Carleton Place

BIOGRAPHY:

LINK HERE FOR PRESS COVERAGE PAGE

       My birth name is Susan Mary Negodaeff, and I am from Essex, England. Although I never developed the London accent, I was born in "Cockney" territory, or "within the sound of Bow Bells", in London.

When I was ten, my parents, whose work was with a medical engineering branch of a respectable company, emigrated to Montreal, in Quebec, Canada. At age fourteen I moved with my family to Toronto. By the age of sixteen, I was enrolled in a four year College course in Material Arts, Major: Metals, at Ontario College of Art. I received my AOCA in 1967, also the year that I married, becoming Mrs. Susan Risk. My husband (Chris Risk) was also a silversmith, as well as a musician in a professional Blues Band.

My AOCA is in Material Arts: Metal Arts.

I enjoyed a varied arts career, and often took three jobs, although the contracts and part-timers were not always arts-related. I had a silversmithing business for eleven years, called "Deva" (registered on my Ontario vendors permit ) and worked in copper, silver and gold to create mostly jewellery. I worked as a jewellers' assistant in Whitehorse, Yukon, and travelled further, considerably, as younger folk tend to do.

LIFE IN CARLETON PLACE

left to right: Myself, Sue Risk, my son Davin and his wife Gayla Trail)...in 1992. All of us are designers/authors.

When I moved to Carleton Place, in the Ottawa Valley, with my young son, in the eighties, I found a nice little house which offered some gardening space. I became hooked on the country and on organically grown veggies, also flower and herb gardening. My lifestyle let me switch to graphic design for a print company, and also to illustration for the Government of Canada (by contract). I started collecting silverware and also Heritage Canadiana furniture.The forests, rivers and bustling waterfalls called, and I became a recluse, trying my luck at wildlife fine art. I sold a lot of these paintings in galleries, and lasted at this occupation for about six years.

My life in the small town of Carleton Place (30 miles from Ottawa, the capital of Canada) was quiet, but I stayed there for most of 26 years. The area is magnificent to see, and I enjoyed participating in amateur theatre, exercise classes, swimming in the lovely river, hiking, choir singing, selling art and craft in the farmers' market, and belonging to the local Horticultural Society. I made sketch studies of local flora and fauna. I also started a small photocard company called "Northdays Image" (my Ontario business license name for photographs, which is now changed to Northdays Image: Natural Light Photos.)
The life I have led, in this country area, is intended to be reflected by the small sampler of fine art or photographic images this site presents.

When I was 37, I got pretty bored over the lack of interesting career opportunities, and returned to school, seeking higher education in a university. I now have a BA in Film, (Carleton University, '90-'91) with credits in Mass Communication and Theology, among other interesting topics. My son moved away, at age 19, the same year, and I moved to an area close to him for a while, where I worked as a Commercial Video Studio sales manager, and also as a videographer.

In 1998, I found that a computer would not explode if I did more to it than type in a database, and I started web design and graphics studies. A business course in the use of programs meant for web followed, three years later.

I began to study herb properties and progressive studies into alternative health care in 1999, so that I have another site called 'Herbs by Northdays Image'. I also write and research for my site called  'Arts for Medicine'.

URBAN ME

In 2004, I moved to Glencairn, a suburb of Kanata, closer to Ottawa. My husband Brent and I still enjoy some aspects of the country, since we live next to fields, at least on one side of our existence. My Photolog will often reflect the beauty and the saga of our area, as well as the attention that I have paid to photo arts in the last ten years.

In 2007 I published (with Lulu Publishing) a work about interfaith studies with an enlightened master. I also made a photo arts publication.

LINK HERE TO PUBLICATIONS PAGE

Phew. My son is 43 now, and he lives in Toronto with his lovely lady, also a top professional web designer and author. Both are acheived photographers and published authors! I am proud to say that they have recently been on Recreating Eden, on the Home and Gardens Channel!

All of us publish our photographic explorations on Flickr.com, which is linked, on this page, to my current photosite.

The two of them are a constant inspiration, except I long for the day when they can enjoy the mysteries and beauteous wonders of country life, themselves!!