Tuesday Shopping

Most of you know Andrea. If you don't, go look at her website to see what a talented (and prolific!) artist she is. She was a good sport and let me take a picture today. This is a good angle for me, because she's so tall and leggy, when she sits down I don't feel like an albino smurf anymore.

There is no one I'd rather go art supply shopping and having a chat with over coffee than her. Since time is always limited when we meet, we usually have coffee in the IGA by the art store. There must be a nursing home close by because it takes a little maneuvering to weave through the walkers and wheelchairs of the elderly patrons to get a seat. Before leaving, I bought a few things. While waiting in line at the checkout, I heard the woman beside me say, "You go before me dear, you only have two things and you're on your grave". Wha...?! Whoa! It turned out she was talking to a young employee and actually said, "on your BREAK". The sinister power of suggestion. On the way home I also came across a stunning old hearse for sale that I would love to own for inexplicable reasons.

By the time I got home, my usually logical, sensible self was a smidgen disturbed by these macabre coincidences. Luckily the only grim occurrence was the death of a dog bed by my bored puppy. That's my older dog in the picture, no doubt weary from the constant spastic attentions of the puppy.

I'm showing you this picture because this little room is off my studio and will soon be a tiny in-home gallery for my work. A clever ploy really. The green pillow guts of this before picture will make the after picture with my art look that much better.

Now I need to really crack that art making whip. I bought a 36"x36" cradled birch panel today. I went to the art store to just look at it, but Andrea messed with my head,
Andrea: Do you have something planned for that or just want it?
Me: uh....um....both (I just wanted it)
Andrea: buy it. Buy another one.
See what she did? By suggesting I buy two, I felt justified to buy one and proud of my self control. She's a clever one. Then I bought brushes and paint and more canvas and oh god, it was like coming out of an AA meeting and heading straight for the liquor store. And it was WONDERFUL!
Time to go gesso that panel. For inspiration and to sooth your weary head from my daily ramblings, take a look at these stunning photographs of paint mixing with water from This Blog Rules. Gorgeous pictures and a blog where I guarantee you'll be wasting oodles of your time.

Tapsalteerie

I knew I wasn't the first one to notice there appears to be Jesus fish in Lucky Charms cereal. So, with a simple google search, I found myself browsing through some entertaining and ridiculous discussions regarding the symbolism of the marshmallow and cereal shapes. Noted were: pagan references of moon and stars, the marshmallow rainbow of gay rights, Irish Catholic Leprechauns and Yoni's. TPN, whoever you are, you win with, "they're magically religious!". I believe the shape is a fish for fish's sake.

If I was the agnostic, liberal equivalent with the same degree of opportunist crazy like Glenn Beck, I would be able to rant on my own show how General Foods have their own insidious agenda of using the Jesus fish symbol to convert the wee ones to the religious right. Much the same way Glenn Beck ranted against the communist symbolism in American architecture during the gilded age. It's all too bizarre to even make sense, with the usual insult to historical accuracy and to...brains. You can watch the nonsense here (if you really want) . New York Magazine art critic Jerry Saltz challenged Glenn Beck to curate his own art show. All tongue in cheek, yet if Glenn Beck did curate a show with a big venue, I have no doubt that it would be a financial success, bringing in both those who despise (but are curious, like watching a train wreck) and those who support him. Would that make a mockery of art? Does it matter? It is all so tapsalteerie*.

*You may all blame Dinah for the obscure word.

Obsession

Random and obsessive. Two words I get. I come from a family where members have attempted to read every book in the library alphabetically, buy shampoo based on a complex numerical system and I myself have my own obsessive project of trying every fair trade coffee brand and roast in the grocery story alternating continents of origin. (Africa, South America, Central America and repeat). Don't' ask why. It just is.

It's no surprise then that A.J. Jacobs book, The Know-It-All, One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World, has me gleefully engaged. Jacobs chronicles his ambitious attempt to read the entire Encyclopedia Britannica from A-Z, all 33,000 pages. His book has a randomness that reads like a blog, a smart, hilarious blog, one that you wish existed and could read everyday. Truthfully, it would be better as a blog than a book. But with popular blogs getting book deals like this one , it's superbly entertaining.

In the spirit of my new favourite book and giving myself permission to be as bloody random as I want for NaBloPoMo, I'm asking for a single word from you readers as a launching point for a post. Consider it like an Illustration Friday but with words not pictures, actually I'll photograph something relevant. Does this sound desperate? Maybe. I can't help it. I just hosted a birthday party for almost a dozen 8 and 9 year old girls. My brain is fried. Also my kids have found the Christmas Cd's and have been subjecting me all weekend to a tinsel coated Burl Ives and Bing Crosby torture. Help me! give me a word, humour me.

I won't leave without something art related. Here's a piece that took a certain amount of obsessive precision, the invisible car. For artists, art collector Anthony Petullo writes about his obsession of collecting self taught and outsider art.

Cleaning Day

Instead of bore you with the details of my need to be entirely domestic today, I'll leave with a related clip from one of my favourite films of all time. If you haven't seen it, you must.

Big Hair and Junk Art

The wind is savagely blowing outside. Part of our new fence has blown down and now the power is threatening to go out so I'm making this short.

I really like this song, Myriad Harbour by The New Pornographers. The animated video is deliciously trippy, a graphic style similar to so much art I've been seeing these past few years, promoted on this art blog. And c'mon, little people running out of giant hair? - who doesn't love that!

This one is for Paula. Found object artist, Leo Sewell, makes tight, recognizable forms out of junk. Love it.

My Future Architect

Since I'm busy working on art pieces, which I hope to show you soon, I'll pass you over to my daughters at age 2 and age 4 to demonstrate some painting and crafting techniques. All the super cute stuff had to be edited out because my husband was in those scenes and wants none of this internet publicity. And I admit, maybe home movies should stay in the home, but I couldn't resist because it's my youngest daughter's birthday today! Her superb talent wasn't evident at the tender age of 2, but she's been using perspective and drawing 3D elements since Kindergarten, without anyone teaching her!!! Now, I'm busily researching the best universities for architecture in the country. What? You think that's too much pressure? It's even more miraculous since her mother's spatial sense and depth perception is so bad she's smashed up 3 cars while trying to park. (ahem, the beginning of oversharing has begun....). Until tomorrow, my friends...

Everybody wants to be heard

Years ago, in another life, I worked briefly as a Career Adviser for people on welfare. Some people hit hard times, others were unemployable with issues far beyond my capacity to help. It was a depressing job. In my off hours, to keep my sanity, I worked on little projects to entertain myself. One of them was a single panel comic I titled, Too Much TV. Recently, I found some of the old sketches. Here's one I quite liked, even though it's a bit dated - (and if I wasn't blogging everyday, I'd have the time to clean it up and add digital colour, ah well).

Now in the web age, you can make your own comics easily without drawing a thing and even do your your own animations with free online programs, like Pixton and Go Animate. Sometimes I just feel overwhelmed by all these random voices on the interwebs (like me!) crying out to be heard. My favourite online web comic strip, xkcd, says it best with this one -(click on it to get the full image)

Fishies and Birdies and Kinetic Waves

It's day 2 of the post everyday challenge. I have had so little sleep I'm in danger of OVER SHARING. I'm blaming this state on the caffeine in the excessive amount of leftover Halloween chocolate I ate yesterday. Today I've been cleansing myself with salad and plain oatmeal and perhaps some.....

FISH?

One of the wonders around my suburban wasteland is the salmon spawning in the fall. I'm too lazy to write out the facts properly, but basically salmon come back from the Pacific every year to swim upstream through the Fraser River to the same smaller streams and rivers where they were born. They have sex, lay eggs and maybe die. Sort of in that order.

We have a family tradition of going to Harrison Bay every year and witnessing this exciting event. All children need to observe nature, the cycle of life and especially, poke at dead things.

When the salmon arrive, so do the bald eagles to feast on them. The third largest gathering of bald eagles in North America this time of year can be found in my area. I had to stop to take a picture of the people who had to stop to take a picture of a lone eagle in a tree.

This one was taken before my new (awesome!) camera so I'll be exploring this week to hopefully capture some telephoto images. The bird nerd in me is doing a happy spazzy dance. The Fraser Valley Bald Eagle Festival Blog has current pictures of the area and the birds right now. I was thinking of taking a river tour, but boats and waves make me queasy. But these waves I LOVE, take a look at the stunning kinetic sculptures made by artist Reuben Margolin. Simply amazing.

The Old Folks

"Magda and the Crow"

Ellen Sereda

This is a drawing I did recently. Magda is someone my grandmother must have known. I've been archiving my family's old photos from Estonia, cleaning then up and saving them to disk. Some of you may remember this one:)

I'm really drawn to these faces. Most are related to me in some way, but the knowledge of who many of them are has died with the last generation.

Take a look at this at this one of my grandfather and company.

Zooming into the window we see somber old women. Spooky! Especially the face between the couple, a woman who bares an uncanny resemblance to Hitler.

I'll be back in Estonia sometime in the not too distant future. My siblings and I will be taking my fathers ashes to his home village to their final resting place. He'll be close to this guy, his uncle, Anton Jürgenstein, a prominent Estonian journalist active in the beginning of the 20th Century.

When I was a teenager, during the cold war years, a young communist Russian soldier stole the statue in an act of protest. Later, he apologized and returned it. And fortunately, with that kind of wimpy commitment, it's no surprise the system crumbled.