I can’t believe I have already spent 7 days away from home. It literally feels like it’s only been 2 or 3 days. Last Wednesday marked the beginning of my exciting journey to my Banff Centre artist residency. Banff Centre has a long history of respectable reputation as a creative institution. I have heard nothing but positive things about it. I was honoured to be selected as one of the visual art self-directed artist-in-residence this winter.

I arrived a few days before the official programme started. I spent the weekend skiing. Verdict? Whistler may still be the best in my biased mind, but Lake Louise is really pretty cool. The landscape was very varied at Lake Louise ski resort. It was Heaven for a photographer. One moment I was in a complete white bowl of steep hill; then the next I was facing an endless range of glacier mountains, the most prominent being Victoria Glacier and Lake Louise. Images will be posted onto my facebook fan page when I return to Vancouver!

Sunshine Village was unfortunately rather disappointing. Although it was fun to ski in a different mountain, the runs were surprisingly short. I was also frustrated as a photographer, as the best angles were not accessible. They were out of the ski boundries. A lot of the accessible good angles are blocked by ski lifts…

Enough about skiing…

Yesterday marked the official programme. I have already met so many friendly faces of such high calibre and intelligence. The environment reminds me of art school, only that everyone is so much more dedicated. Staff and facility support are impeccable. My studio is larger than my living room and bedroom combined. Okay, I used a wide-angle lens…To give you a sense of dimension, the square wooden panel is 2×2′.

As you can see, I have begun working on my project. Thank you Dan from the workshop who saw NERVOUS written on my forehead and helped me patiently with the jigsaw. My first piece survived!

More updates on my time in Banff soon. Now I should write my parents…They have been getting 3-sentence e-mails from their daughter…