Winterlude is once again underway here in Ottawa and Gatineau, our annual celebration of winter. It began last weekend, and runs through to next weekend. And so it is time to start showing some of the ice carvings in Confederation Park. This one is done by a pair of carvers from Iraq and the Indian Ocean island republic of Mauritius (I had to look up where that was- I had no idea, but the place is quite out at sea, east of Africa). One would not think of such places as ideal for ice carvers, but as I recall last year there was a carver from the Persian Gulf area.
Amazing craftmanship .... a beautiful way to welcome in Winter
ReplyDeleteLovely. I love ice sculptures.
ReplyDeletewait, Iraq? How strange! Nice shot, skipper!
ReplyDeleteALOHA from Honolulu
ComfortSpiral
<3
How beautiful !!!
ReplyDeleteI like ice sculptures and your photos of them, here we have "only" snow sculptures, but they are not so beautifully transparent....
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ReplyDeleteThat ice sculptures is new to me.
ReplyDeleteMauritius is only 20 ° of south latitude, there should not do anything cold there. It is not explained there an artistic vocation of ice.
Tomás.
The transparency is captivating. Keep the photos coming!
ReplyDeleteJanis
GDP
I like that ice carving art, it must be very difficult to do.
ReplyDeleteIt's real art, and beautiful to watch.
ReplyDeleteMust be lonely being an ice carver on the Persian Gulf. :-)
ReplyDeleteWow, what a gorgeous sculpture! It's hard to relate ice carvers and warm area, but when I was living in Florida, I did know a person who was ice carver. He travelled north to participate some ice carving events in winter :-)
ReplyDeleteThis is beautiful.
ReplyDeleteThis kind of thing blows me away. How can they do that? Especially when these carvers come from places where they do not have ice! Fantastic!
ReplyDelete@Dianne: it is.
ReplyDelete@Hilary: so do I.
@Cloudia: that's what I thought: Iraq? Last year the odd one out was from Dubai.
@Karl: we also have snow sculptures here. I hope to photograph them.
@Tomas: it surprised me too.
@Janis: will do!
@Marianne: one mistake can ruin the whole thing.
@Marleen: it definitely is art.
@Revrunner: there can't be many of them.
@Tamago: there's quite a variety here from around the world.
@Linda: thanks!
@Lowell: I couldn't do it!
I look forward to seeing photos of the amazing ice sculptures, William!
ReplyDeleteso very neat. (i was gonna say cool, but changed it.) ;)
ReplyDeleteOkay, I'll say it. Cool. Very cool.
ReplyDeleteAs I was reading this I was thinking the same thing. Where does one living in the middle if the Indian Ocean learn to carve ice?
ReplyDeleteSuch incredible detail for ice!
ReplyDeleteI love this time of year!
ReplyDeleteAlmost incredible: a real work of art!
ReplyDeleteLots of action in that one. I guess if you're an artist it doesn't matter where you come from.
ReplyDeleteAnd the happiness of winter, continues. Muhahaha.
ReplyDelete@EG: I've enjoyed photographing them thus far.
ReplyDelete@Tex: cool is neat, and neat is cool.
@Norma: and so well done too.
@Sharon: they have to practice the work in a refrigerated space. That's as much as I can figure.
@Aimee: I didn't get a chance to photograph carvers at work this time out, but the tools they use are extraordinary.
@Halcyon: so do I.
@VP: very much so.
@Red: it doesn't, but you need access to a place where you can hone your skills, and those might be few and far between in certain parts of the world.
@Whisk: winter's a wonderful season.
So many delicate details in this one!
ReplyDeleteI usually only like ice in drinks..but when it come to ice carvings, I make an exception.
ReplyDeleteJane x
That's rather striking. I can't make up my mind if it's merely a hunting scene or a mythological one...
ReplyDeleteWonderful start of your Winterlude serie this year.
ReplyDeleteWhat a surprise to see ice carving is a true mondial art too. :-)
Beautiful! When I worked at a major hotel in San Francisco one of the chefs routinely did ice sculptures for splashy banquets. I'd guess that this is where Middle Eastern sculptors work on their art.
ReplyDelete@RedPat: and more of that to come.
ReplyDelete@Jane and Chris: I can't recall the last time I used ice in anything.
@Ciel: I'll have to doublecheck tomorrow when I'm down there again.
@Jan: it certainly spans the globe.
@Kay: that wouldn't surprise me.
I agree with you William, ice carvers from those areas! Amazing work though...
ReplyDeleteA great way to show that we dont' really know anything about areas and countries we are not intimately involved with
ReplyDeleteI thought I had seen this before and Twitter won't Tweet because I Tweeted it before.
ReplyDeletemust say I wouldn't have thought they would have ice carvers from their either.
ReplyDeleteIt is a beautiful carving, so intricate. Amazes me how they can come up with something so incredible out of frozen water!
ReplyDeleteno lights? very cool!! it would look cool with colors lights, blue and green. ( :
ReplyDelete@Geoff: this team did great work with this sculpture.
ReplyDelete@Mo: we don't, no, but I've been looking at material on Mauritius today. I wouldn't mind seeing it for myself someday.
@Mari: well, you've seen it now!
@Gill: it seems we were wrong!
@Denise: they really have to plan ahead.
@Beth: I haven't photographed in the evening; I'm hoping to get a chance to do so, however.
i just read your comment about Coke - if you are missing Vanilla Coke it is here in the US. so is Cherry Coke. wonder why you can't find it there C land? ( :
ReplyDeleteVery interesting... But cold!
ReplyDeleteLook forward to hearing more about Winterlude.
ReplyDeleteIce sculptures are so amazing.
ReplyDeleteSuch a splendid ice carving. Strange that solid ice can convey a sense of action.
ReplyDeleteI love ice carvings !
ReplyDeleteNice carving! So glad I can get to your blog through FB again!
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing this! I don't think we'll make it there, again. Please take lots of photos!!!! :-)
ReplyDeleteoh excellent takes of ice art. Thank you for sharing..
ReplyDeleteI really love ice sculpture. Your series is so interesting.
ReplyDeleteSUPERB!
ReplyDelete@Beth: actually they've brought both back- they're not available everywhere, but can be found.
ReplyDelete@Linda: cold indeed!
@FG: this year's edition is forthcoming.
@Randy: I certainly agree.
@Gemma: and yet it does.
@TDP: so do I.
ReplyDelete@Cheryl: thanks!
@Jennifer: you're welcome.
@Carolann: thanks!
@Jack: I love it too.
@Gunn: definitely!