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.