"Forces of Nature" - New Glacier Painting by Tatiana Iliina

Canadian artist Tatiana Iliina has completed another abstract glacier painting. This one is entitled "Forces of Nature" and acknowledges the unfathomable powers that have resulted in the shrinking or disappearance of most of the glaciers on the planet.

What a winter it was been in Canada!

Let's go back and review the norm and the actual for each of the past few months:

October norm: trick-or-treating with winter coats over costumes in hard frozen cold, or icy drizzle or snow

October '09: trick-or-treating was in light jackets, or just the costumes

November norm: several snowfalls, weeks of -10 C weather or colder.

November '09: no snow, green grass, flowers in the garden, felt like early October weather

December norm: lots of wet snow, occasional warm periods, some very cold stretches

December '09: only slightly below freezing most of the time, with a fair bit of snow

January norm: deep freeze, tons of snow

January 2010: variable weather some snow, no very cold weather at all

February norm: deep freeze, lots of snow, possible brief thaw

February 2010: + temps most of the month, a scattering of snow, milder than March should be

March norm: usually ranges from extreme cold to near freezing, plenty of snow

March 2010: winter is finished - what winter?

Of course Canada is a huge country. This year there was some colder weather out west in Edmonton and Saskatoon but it has been warm right across the country since February.

Environment Canada has confirmed that this has been the warmest winter on record.

2009 was also the warmest winter on record in Australia.

Tatiana Iliina's Glacier XV

One of the larger themes of Tatiana Iliina's abstract glacier series is obviously to recognize many of the disappearing glaciers on the planet.

By giving many of the glacier abstracts the name of an actual glacier, Iliina creates a direct tie between the art and the Earth.

Glacier 15, by Tatiana Iliina, 30"x36", acrylic on canvas (sold)

By contrast, some of the paintings have been given generic names, such as this one, "Glacier 15".

Tatiana has reserved a number of the paintings to be representative of the concept as a whole. By assigning them only a number, the artist succeeds in giving the art a life of its own.

Glacier Art by Tatiana Iliina - The Glacier Painter

How appropriate that this will be the first day of a new blog to celebrate the glaciers of the world and, appropriately...

Today is the first day of winter in the northern hemisphere

Not only that, cities on both sides of the Atlantic, such as Washington D.C. and London, are digging out from unusually heavy snowstorms.

We are coming out of the weekend that began Friday with great hope, as Barack Obama arrived in Copenhagen to lead the American team at the climate conference. The mood at the conference quickly descended into utter discouragement before a last-minute agreement was finally patched together.

It will be very interesting to look back on this blog in years to come and reflect on the events of these times.


"Glacial Interface", 2009, 30"x36", acrylic on canvas, Tatiana Iliina-Gooden


The Purpose of this Blog

The purpose of this blog is to function as a real time, online exhibition of Tatiana Iliina's glacier paintings, with occasional additions of complementary and related material.

I'm not quite sure how this blog format will accommodate the nature of a visual art exhibition - but the best way will be to try it and we will know quite soon!

At the same time, the parallel objective of the blog is to draw attention to the problem of the receding and disappearing glaciers in the world, and to encourage actions which could alleviate the situation.


The Russian-Canadian artist, Tatiana Iliina, is the Glacier Painter

Tatiana Iliina has created a legacy of abstract glacier paintings that are now owned by private collectors throughout Canada and the U.S., and as far away as South Africa.

We are at a crucial juncture in history, where the volume of the world's glaciers is in free fall. The consequences of this will be serious and could leave as many as a billion people without their normal sources of water within this century, if not in a matter of a few decades.

A spectacular series of paintings has already been created and Tatiana intends to continue this project for the foreseeable future. Check in often to see new paintings and to get the latest information about the world's glaciers.