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UNDER MY UMBRELLA AND BEYOND: Love The Planet Productions

This photographic journal is by Maria Pavlik, co-creator of With My Umbrella, I Can: The Magical Journey of Penelope Puddle, in B.C., CANADA. "There's a revolution that needs to happen and it starts from inside each one of us. We need to wake up and fall in love with the Earth. Our personal and collective happiness and survival depends on it." - Thich Nhat Hnah

Raining Umbrellas In Yaletown

- July 04, 2018

Art Installation, Yaletown, Vancouver, BC, Photo: Maria Pavlik

Paper Bag Princess Gowns & Mom's Homemade Dresses

- May 10, 2019

Remember the beloved children's tale The Paper Bag Princess by Robert Munsch? She had only a paper bag to wear after a dragon destroyed her castle and belongings. The shallow prince whom she rescued showed his true nature by complaining she didn't look like a princess dressed in that bag. Good riddance to the prince but here are some paper dresses any royal or awesome regular girl would be proud to wear. I came upon these works of art at the Oakridge Mall in Vancouver. Hopefully, they will end up in a local museum or someplace where more people will enjoy them. The lovely regal garments made of paper capture the elements and majesty of the natural world. The Langara College Paper Couture Exhibition by Vancouver design students explains what materials are used to create the clothing: "All of the dresses are made from a variety of recyclable white or brown paper, tissue, tapes, glue, spray paint, adhesives, paper twine, coffee filters, cardboard, string, thum...

The Couch Art Where Bernie Came To Visit

- January 23, 2021

"On the Web we all become small-town visitors lost in the big city." - Alison Gopnik President Joe Biden's inauguration was bursting with inspirational speeches and events. Heaven knows many who now breathe a sigh of relief also needed a good laugh. That's when Bernie stepped in with his cool attitude and awesome mittens. I couldn't resist joining so many others who included him in various ways in different spaces. I think he looks super cute and cozy on a sofa designed for the cover art of my Couch & Company story. Hope you enjoy it and explore more of the artistic side of life at Paint Party Friday . Still the kid I used to be Visit Postcards From Penelope Puddle and Penelope Puddlisms: BC Life Is A Whale Of A Ride to view more West Coast scenes. Because the state of our planet is the most pressing issue of our time, link up and learn about the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Report .

Friends Forever

- February 29, 2024

"The dead never grieve. Their comfort, our strife." - from poems by my sister Tamara The recent photo (above) was taken at Kwomais Point Park in Ocean Park. It's a place of contemplation where, beneath changing skies, one can muse about days gone by. My siblings were considerably older and busy with their lives so I filled time with picture books and imaginings in my early pre-school years until a girl across the way became my dearest friend. We invented games and shared clothes; strangers thought we were twins. We spend every possible moment together until suddenly she no long wanted to play. I never understood why and I cried for days. It seemed a little piece of me broke off due to the shock. I still don't know how closeness can turn so cold. This now grown woman, wherever she is, likely had/has no idea of her impact on me. But perhaps I've done similar to another. We rarely consider the magnitude of our power, I thought, prompted by the Poets and Storytelle...