Wet Paint!

A 1' x 2' canvas with big fat sides. My biggest fan commissioned this over a year ago. She didn't want me to stress out over it or 'not enjoy it' so she insisted on not pressuring me.

Bad plan - so I told her daughter that I would have it ready by Christmas in case anyone in the family wanted to surprise her.

Always need a deadline.

Addicted to Painting Large Stuff

I'm rather bummed out to not be living at the theatre now... : ( Even though I'm supposed to be involved in a brand new *paid* mural!!
I'm a team gal

Close up of stump in foreground Detail of castle on a mountain.

The Old Woman Who Lived In a Shoe

Striking the set.

Almost made my blood run cold from time to time but I'm optimistic that many pieces will live again!

Been immersed in set painting off and on since the end of August and this is one of the results. Thankfully, TwinB was available to assist on this backdrop (16' x 40) and I was completely unaware of the ammount of sets that needed some rather extensive work. I'd really like to just live there and keep working instead of hopping in and out of the situation...would cut down on prep and clean up time by at least 25 %. I can see my future - or hope I can - as a little Paint Gremlin - developing and realizing the dreams of others.

Finally: fruition

Approximately 18 months from concept to completion - here is Kildala Mural As A Done Deal

It looks kind of piddley here. But it's not.

One step remaining and that's to apply the nasty resin clear coat on just the right day and finally the unveiling *with dancing*. I tossed around the idea of choreographing a generic folk dance for the school, to a medley of traditional music. But that's a little ambitious...the Tetley Tea Dance perhaps?

Many Eyes & Fish That Fly

This here's the study for Many Eyes & Fish...

Had to consider it done enough because we're hanging the exhibit tomorrow; that would be 'Here Fishy, Fishy'. This second annual event celebrates all things fish and fishing related and is held in conjunction with the Kitimat Fishing Derby (other wise known as Rape the River in some circles)

don't want to sound whiny but I can't seem to photograph my stuff - esp. on watercolour paper - in a way that's at all flattering.

Birthday Bash

Celebrated my 50th birthday by helping with my brother's roof in Calgary. He had cedar shakes on top of asphalt; the weather was hot and most of the bodies old or inexperienced so tear-off took a couple of days. TwinB worked valiantly for the first morning, developed heatstroke as usual and took a good 36 hours to fully recover.
Found some interesting things up there such as an old bone probably from a cow (just a small section that some bird had lifted from someone's garbage) and the hind leg from a very young jack rabbit. There was so much good composty dirt under the shakes that ('nother)brother Alex and I agreed that the simplest solution would be to start a roof top garden right there with the supplies at hand.

The 'elite' crew

2 grade 7s (French Immersion...I love them!!) carefully apply their finishing touches to the main kites. I drew the designs on it myself in chalk and Erin and I have been painting and touching up various parts of it. I rigourously maintained a 'students only' policy for the boards representing the different classrooms but the 2 large kites were a different matter (partly to save time).

Grade 7 examples

this is a partial section of one of the 2' squares that the older grades worked on. That over there at left would be an English rose, then a Japanese carp and on bottom are 2 options from the Portuguese image menu.

newly hatched art

This is one of the boards for the Kildala Elementary mural with sections painted by K's and 1's. (1 foot square - each student was given 6" to paint their image). The grade ones in this class had been researching birds and so were eager to paint their chosen bird in their area. I remember 'an eagle' and 'a yellow warbler' and 'a robin'...their teacher told me how astonished she was with how her assignment had grabbed hold of everyone's imagination and that they'd been studying the living daylights out of their subject. The flowers were painted by the K's as their contribution to our Kildala garden.

Influences (b)

yesterday was the final class for the after school kids at the rec centre.
One girl thought it would be lots of fun to try a Picasso style painting so I ran with it. Didn't have any examples or oil pastels with me so everyone ended up veering off into surrealism. A teeny, tiny grade 4 - grand master of the Garfield - pieced together an intentionally mangled character (reveled in the twinges of discomfort it elicited from a couple classmates) and when she'd completed that proceeded to draw a skull.
I ask how often she draws skulls-
'this is my first one' she peeps.
How could she go from Garfield to skulls and mangle-ment so abruptly? Just as I was starting to get a little alarmed it suddenly came to me...
Right...Guest Artist Erin

And I think we just created a kindred soul who will crave that little thrill you get when
you know you're making the viewer squirm.

Influences (a)

Invited Guest Artist Erin to my Thurs afternoon art class for kids last week because we were exploring cartooning.
A week or 2 before that I noticed one of the girls drawing a very good Garfield and noted that since she could draw Garfield that well it was time to develop her own character (and this pleased her immensely!)
The gals came up with all sorts of cute and clever concepts and Erin entertained them with her classic Erin style
< see there??

Married Forever

Mr. Hutson and I just celebrated our wedding anniversary. I think it's been about 800 years but we both agreed that it only feels like 200.
;)
The actual number is 29 - yes - twenty nine years.
yikes

At this stage of the game if I catch him gazing intently at me I know it's only because the earrings I'm wearing look like they'd make such darn good fishing lures.

Lurky-Loos

Hey!
At least one of you lurky-loo's better stop to say hi!

I'm waiting....

*arches eyebrow*

Erin Unravelled

As a side piece to Erin's poem and my painting, I eventually put together a poem of my own. And as usual it took me a few years to complete.
I paint fast but my goodness do I ever write slow.

I don't want Sylvia Plath I
just want my daughter
at peace inside her skin.
I don't want to wait
as the world shifts and shreds, I hang;
when moment staggers into moment
I hang
in an endless, airless fog of dread.

What could I do to make you unheed
those strange stray molecules
that gnaw at your brain
dismantling any sense of hope and safety
till all that remains
is a small brave self
hiding as if there were no tomorrow.

In dreams
my legs are scarred-
lined with pale silver gashes
like those that mark
your body
my heart
my daughter.

Actually she hates Sylvia Plath. And Shakespeare. But like an authentic little disaffected young citizen of the new millenium she's nuts about Bukowski.

Unnatural Curl

I painted this about 5 years ago to utillise sections of the not very good likenesses I'd painted of my Twin B and to feature a poem she'd written. Which would be...









I can lose hours
Just sitting and chewing my hair
One second leaks into the next
Like a faucet dripping
The same drop of water
Over and over.
I swallow time without tasting it,
Chewing the fat in my own company
Digested thoughts are lost
And as I carefully twist the blond strands,
The day slips down my throat
Without my noticing.
I can sit and chew my hair
Until my lips bleed.

We document *everything*

While searching through photos this evening in our Adobe photoshop general dumping site I noticed the pictures that Erin had taken immediately following her slice 'n dice last Saturday night. (Guess she didn't figure on the files being somewhere accessible - she never was very good about being discreet with anything though)
Blood covered her thigh and ran down to her calf. Bit of a jolt even though I initially saw the cuts the next morning and they looked rather nasty then.
When I took some photos today of the 'Ain't It A Shame' that she'd carved into her other leg she did mention that she'd already documented her little endeavor
...but I really wasn't expecting...that.

So why?
Why take the picture? I always hope that there's an element of 'been there, done that' if they can look back on the event.

Oh...right...they.
Also have photos of Twin A's foray into self harm. Pretty sure that hers was a one time venture, but then she always went a for a slightly less intentional but rather reckless approach to injury.
Which would explain the 4 concussions in her mid teens.

May 2-5

I ran around Prince George revelling in the fact that TwinB was not in the psych ward. From our hotel balcony on the 9th floor I could see the hospital window where she would sit and wait for me and visiting hours. I wandered to various places we had been to when she was allowed out for the day and enjoyed the absence of uncertainty and anxiety. I was anticipating being co-workers for Arts Umbrella the following week.
She phoned my cell while I was trying on clothing at the Bay. Not doing too well...I talked her down a bit then suggested that I let her know when I get back to the hotel so that she could phone me there. We talked for an hour and a half later that afternoon; she sounded better and said she was okay. Apparently she wasn't, but at least she waited until I'd been home for a few hours before succumbing to her grand melt-down.

Little Helper Monkey

Arts Umbrella is in town this week and I've been busy assisting with printmaking. It's been fun and informative yet exhausting and oddly ego destroying. Or maybe that's due to other things happening in my life.
My goodness I have 'big city' issues; I really feel like the po' country cousin.

TwinB had been hired to be another assistant on this project so I was looking forward to training together, working in different locations and comparing notes later but...she kind of o.d.'d on rum, cut herself up rather thoroughly and landed in emergency at 9 am Sunday which was orientation day. She finally stopped puking around 3 pm so at least I was able to attend the session. Just got her out of the hospital this evening (wed), so she should be able to at least volunteer for a couple of classes and get a taste of it.
(it's Saturday now and she's still sick. She managed to attend the 2 hour reception but it completely wiped her out. She did look fabulous though :) )

Can't really recall another week in my life that I'd been anticipating so much, turning out to be this friggin' grim.

Population: 1

Bumped into an interesting situation at the printers; a custumer in front of me was reproducing some old photos of the town of Butedale (which was an old cannery town at the mouth of the Douglas Channel) so I just had to snivel in to take a peek and worm my way into the conversation (tactfully!) and heard him explaining to the salesclerk that he lived alone there. She asked how many people in total still lived in Butedale and he finally managed to clarify "just one - me".
He noted my interest, we talked a bit then he offered me one of the photos (no doubt impressed that I knew all about Butedale) introduced himself and asked if I was an artist. When I confirmed that, he mentioned that he had my Wild Salmon up on his wall. This was a wee bit puzzling since I'd sold it to someone else and though had considered making prints I was pretty darn sure I actually hadn't. What he had done was to cut out the (front page fully coloured!!) photo of me with my 'Born to be Wild Salmon' and posted it on his wall.
Hey! My work can now be found in collections from Butedale to Kitimat!

Might be worth the effort to make prints.
Oh. And if you meet someone from Butedale, the name's Lou.

Kermode/Spirit Bear addictions

When we first saw this pose Erin dubbed it the K'mirra'minnit Bear

;)

Found out last week that my bear developed a bit of a drinking problem since moving up to Stewart; the owners kept finding him with an empty beer can taped to his paw every morning while he was displayed outside the King Edward Hotel. I think it's resolved now that he's been moved inside where the owners can keep a closer eye on the poor, addiction prone critter.

Hey - maybe it's genetic...

family portrait

this here's a crop of my famous painting
(cough, cough) 'Many Eyes and Butterflies'
It contains the eyes...well, not exactly contains but rather portrays the eyes of those near,dear and related to me. See my 3 kids?? Those 3 smaller ones in the upper left. Two blues and a brown. (maybe she's more hazel)

Surreal in style; minimal in concept

over here!

yes -

here!

over to the left a bit more....and up

yup
you got it

Hi. I do believe I started a blog here in February but I can't find it which is just as well. Thought I was being terribly clever in calling myself Old Blodger but obviously others have come up with that before I did. I Googled and was dismayed.
Behold the power of the internet! We can now confirm our lack of originality within seconds of hatching a bright new thought. (80,257 results in .12 seconds)