I Has A Grandkitteh!

Here is the newest addition to our clan - a thricely inbred kitty. The name's Violet - 'Vile' for short. She has an Uncle-Daddy going back at least 3 generations, but who knows? - could be even farther than that.
We bonded. She's attached to TwinB who has a way with children and animals especially those of the maladjusted variety.
TwinA requested that I be in Calgary for mother's day since all 3 of my offspring reside there. It was a good visit though exhausting what with all the cooking, cleaning, laundry and organizing of personal space. I have to admit I haven't felt so darn maternal in a long, long time.

Mad Pride

http://www.sfu.ca/madcitizenship-conference/sponsors.htm

TwinB was pleased to note that Gallery Gachet has used her image 'Scatterbrain' on a website for a conference called Madness, Citizenship & Social Justice that will be held at Simon Fraser University in June.
She says she feels like a legitimate Crazy Artist now.

Near Death Experience

At least that's what I suspect it could have turned into had TwinB followed through on her plan to drag her little friend here downtown on the C Train decked out in this fashion. Even sans make-up and confrontational clothing I think his very presence in Alberta is risky.

On the positive side though -this is the healthiest I've seen him looking in a long, long time - due to a tendancy to keep sticking various poisons in his mouth.

- as TwinB once put it "...it's always such an egg and spoon race with him"

She'll try to be a little more careful with him in future.

Happy Place

So tell me - what does one do when 4 or 5 projects are pending over the next 2 or 3 months? I'll tell you what one does - one works on a completely unrelated painting.
Nothing innovative, nothing important to convey...just a watercolour depicting one of my favorite places to be on a hot August afternoon and that's under the jumping bridge at Hirsch Creek.
The fact that I usually have a favorite person or two with me whenever I'm there doesn't hurt either.

A Return to Sweetness & Light

Alien creatures on an alien planet with the grade 2's.
One boy chose to depict his creation living beneath the dim light of a black hole type sun, while another fellow placed his deep in an ocean.
I guide them through a process where we try to brainstorm ways to mash together characteristics from 2 or 3 very dissimilar animals, then compose an entirely new form in a (somewhat?!) believable fashion. Extra points as always for inventing a name for the organism and its planet.

Double Whammy

when the storm clouds gather in xxxx's head, it can change the colour of her hair. when the hurricane rips apart her inner landscape, turning streets into toxic streams of debris, she'll strip our surroundings down to bare, shining sterility, the smiling picture of perfect order. right now our apartment is so clean it should be bleached holy white. xxxxy cut her hair off today and swept it into the trash. these rooms are so clear, so empty you could choke. you shiver to think of the chaos inside when she's made the outside so pure.

TwinB was describing her sister 2 years ago when she wrote this, but it probably could apply again today. I wish TwinA could have been satisfied with the drastic haircut. I wish she would have remembered to call me...but then like she said, she wasn't really in a thinking kind of mood. TwinB tried to reassure me with "they're more like beginner cuts really..."
I just didn't expect there to be so many*.



*about 3 dozen - picture a 4" wide lattice from hip to ankle

A Closed Door

Kildala Elementary will be closing June 2009. Within a day of the announcement one anonymous 'artist'/malcontent contributed their own unsolicited image to our mural.

I kind of feel the same way; I almost want to build on this, however, when the weather gets warmer I will drag my paint back down there and fix it.

Once the school closes, children will be expected to walk to one of 2 remaining elementary schools and that walk includes a kilometer long hill. In our weather. There was the occassional day when my kids were young when I didn't feel comfortable sending them the half block to their school. 30 centimeter deep puddles in the snow will do that.
Many families in Kildala don't own cars. Some families don't have parents who'll wake up in time to send their kids to school.
wtf - they're expendable.
Who'll even notice?