Winter Olympic Art - Marc Ahr

Artist Marc Ahr attended many of the Winter Games in Vancouver and Whistler over the 17 days of the Olympics, rapidly painting a total of 25 watercolor sketches of events. His goal was to complete his sketches in time with the race's winner to add their autograph. We first saw his work in a store window late one evening, then got a glimpse of the artist on the 18th day, when he stopped by Time Frame Gallery in Vancouver. He was exhausted!

We liked them all, but finally settled on a small version of the Closing Ceremonies. See thumbnails of his marathon on Marc's website. I suspect his sketch of the ice hockey game between Canada and Team USA will be most popular! Sketches are available in print and on T-shirts.

Wonder if he will be recuperated in time to paint the Paralympics, two weeks later.

Party Town Vancouver - LiveCity

Saturday night, the night before the Closing ceremonies, thousands took to the streets to watch fireworks and large outdoor television monitors, listen to loud music, and celebrate. The City of Vancouver, with support from the Government of Canada, hosted two outdoor celebration sites: LiveCity Yaletown and LiveCity Downtown. Canada has won a record number of gold, silver, and bronze medals and their national spirit is soaring. All are dressed in red. Maple leaves are everywhere. All are anticipating the final ice hockey game, which will be between the USA and Canada.

We were encouraged to wear red on Sunday afternoon (in anticipation of Canada winning its national sport). The big game starts at noon. Vancouver's Sunday newspapers were 99% focused on the Vancouver Winter Olympics and the big game. One whole section was devoted to the hockey game. The headline:

ONE GAME. OUR GAME. This is it. Team Canada v. Team USA. The biggest hockey tournament ever. OUR COUNTRY. OUR RINK. OUR GOLD?

Tonight is the Closing Ceremony of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games. CTV, Canada's Olympic Network, is billing the event as the time to "celebrate 17 days that changed Canada forever". Canadian coverage of the Olympics is so much different than American or California coverage, given all the focus is on Canadian athletes, businesses, volunteers, local stories. Canadian coverage, "Memories of 2010", is available on DVD and Blu-ray at CTVOlympics.ca/store

Ice Hockey: USA 5 / Canada 3

Ice Hockey is big in Canada. Winter Olympics ice hockey is crazy because many of the best National Hockey League players are from Canada. The stadium was a sea of red, filled with Canadian fans wearing red sweatshirts with the Maple Leaf. Today's game between the Canadian and USA teams was wild. Many of Canada's team were members of the San Jose Sharks. We were amazed and delighted that the USA team won. See photo on MSNBC is by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images.

Who knows who will be playing one another when we finally get to Canada? For that matter, we have no idea where we will be sitting -- near or far from the ice.

The Sierra Sun carried a story, giving us of a look back at the USA hockey team win in 1960. Photos are in B&W. Size of crowd much smaller!