Hungry cat

 I went to mom's for a family meal with Lori, Al, and cousin Chris this evening, feeding the cat before I left. Margaret came home from work 15 minutes after I left and fed the cat again. When I got home, she started begging for third supper. 

Cousin Christine

Met a cousin we'd never met before. Christine (Chris) was the first born of mom's sister Mary and was given up for adoption. Mom has had some communication with her recently and she came to visit from Ontario this weekend. 
 

Tea with mom

 Picked mom up for a bit of socializing. She wanted to go to the christmas bazaar at her church. We had a bit of coffee and strawberry shortcake. She had soup that someone there made, which was probably the best choice. Didn't buy anything at the craft tables, mostly because mom is moving in a couple weeks and trying to divest of stuff. 

Lecture by Thom Parham

Dr. Parham came into my class earlier this week and gave a really good lecture on pitching and on story. Today he did a public talk through the C-SET (Centre for Socially Engaged Theatre at the University) about getting a career in arts. William and I went. It was good, but being under an hour it was also not as deep. 
 

New writing project

 William, Geremy, and I met to talk about new Chrismas special radio drama today. Keeping details secret for now. 

McDonalds

Had coffee with mom at McDonalds today. I didn't eat, but it was still strange going to one after so many years (decades?). The decor was so different than remember. No ball pit, no clowns, to hard plastic chairs. Food looked about the same. 
 

Dremel tool test

Tested using a Dremel took, at lowest speed, to cut foam core but it ended up being far to difficult to control due to it being easier to cut than butter. William liked the crazy results of the chair I cut (from his template), but I'm not so sure. 

Studio sorting

We all pitched in to get the garage sorted a bit so that the work areas have enough space to let the body and mind cooperate. 
 

Dance Festival

 William's film (the full five minute version) screened at the festival in Moose Jaw this afternoon. I had to cut out early and drove filmmaker Laura Taler (pictured above with a low aesthetic version of a scene from her new film) back to the airport in Regina. Very foggy all day. 

Moose Jaw Art Gallery

 Reception at the Moose Jaw Art Gallery for the "Winds of Change" exhibit with dance films. Included in the show is the two minute version of William's "Tea Time Tribulations" film with his bird people interpreted by dancers. 

New xmas lights

 Lights in the front have been getting dimmer every year. I thought that they would always stay the same, but ultimately could not deny the dinginess of them. We got some new ones today and installed them. They look nice. Later, after the sun went down, we looked out the window and realized that we could sit outside and read by their light. Blinding. Wow. 

Creating bird people chairs

 William is kicking into gear creating chairs and other stuff for the Neutral Ground exhibit in January. Everything is 1/6 scale to humans, but actually they are 1/1 scale for the birds. 

bonus painting day

 Painted with smaller group on bonus painting day. Did this Canonet from Wayne Selby. Lori just got back from trip to BC so caught up on stories about Quinn. 

Also took some time (no classes this week) to catch up on some stuff. Shopped. Bought a fish. William made a table. 

Pets

Installed a sliding shelf in the cupboard today, but, even though the cat tried to help, I couldn't finish because I was given 3 left hand sliders and only one right hand slider (instead of two of each). Frustrating. 

Allan came for supper. First time in a while. Talked at length about self-publishing a comic and how money might work between the people. No good solutions at this point. Noticed that my fish died at end of the evening. 

Lizard watching

 Looking for 1/6 scale lizard. This one will be big, which is great. Part of William's project. 

Another student film shoot

 Students working all night in a restaurant on their film. I spoke at length with the owner. Young guy with lots of ideas. Cold night so is great to have a controlable indoor shoot. 

Fred's birthday

 Fred turned 93 today. Margaret booked one of the side rooms at the care home and about 15 friends and family joined him for cheesecake and pie. My mom was there. Mooky played according (although when she asked him what he preferred to hear, he told her "silence is good"). 

Smashed artwork

 Two or three years ago, William sculpted this pair of bird people sitting on a chair. They were very cool but the clay was very impure and, even unfired, they needed to be fixed with large amounts of glue. Today I bumped them off the desk and they shattered into thousands of pieces. They are done. Very sorry. 

Dianne and Tobi

Dianne and Tobi hosted what was supposed to be a modest little film screening and tea at the RCMP theatre this morning. In fact, it was a big crowd and some amazing work premiering. The whose who of the film community was there. 

Afterwards, toured the possible next home of the Filmpool. It is an empty, gutting building which could be fine, but I've not been shown the price and I did not see other options that the GM toured and have not been told how this site would be better than the others, and I have not seen any other places renovated by this firm which would give evidence to the quality and care of their work. Overall, I am uncertain and would rather not have my name attached to any deal.  


 

Chaired a defense

 First proper snow of the year today, although it will be melting over next few days. This afternoon I chaired a defense for visual arts MFA candidate Sheldon Brown. Some very interesting photographic and video work. With the break happening right away, the committee all dashed and there was only minimal follow up and reception. Flights to catch. 

Carmen Richardson and AGR

Double art event again today. AGR opening first and then a talk by Carmen Robertson. Lots of crossover between the two, but Carmen certainly got the lion's share of the audience. 

Painting

End of our 8 week session at the Balkwill today. Will come back next week for a bonus though. I brought the seven previous paintings from this fall, each one done entirely with the limited colours of titanium white and paynes grey. 
 

Dan Crozier in class

Very interesting to hear Dan Crozier to talk about his history working in the art department as well as with the union. Entertaining and useful. 
 

Making my "student film"

 I committed to making my own part to the Exquisite Corpse film that I assigned my students. In the nature of being a student, I let the project slip my mind and nearly the last minute then shot it around the house. 

Student film shoot

 Dropped in to film shoot in one of the student houses this evening. They are ahead of schedule and thigs going well. It's my first time on a student set in a few years. They were very welcoming. 

After Halloween sales

William and I went out to the Halloween pop-up stores to see what we could find on sale. Picked up a few army helmets (WWII rather than the desired WWI). Picked up a new skeleton (having lost ours a few years ago in our fire). 
 

Halloween

 

We had 93 kids come to the door this evening, which is really good considering that the temperature dropped a few degrees today. I used some 1950s home movie of a bride with a toy skull superimposed on her face for my video. This reflects the corpse bride that is in our front yard. Geremy came by without family. 

Mom and quilt show

Took mom out to Regina Beach to see the quilt show. Eric gave a detailed personal tour for us. He humourously deflected mom's request for quilting patterns. We went for lunch at the golf course afterwards, then to the new Winners store in Regina - the largest store in the country. 

Carving day

We carved a few pumpkins this evening. I mostly scooped out the insides and deferred the faces to William and Margaret. You might recognize the middle carving is William and Emma's robot. 
 

Painting continues

Wayne Selby dropped off some cameras for me to paint. He tells me he found this box in his basement and I actually think this was a box full of cameras I'd returned to him back in 2020. I'm really happy to have a chance to paint these again. These include his collection of Minox spy cameras. 

Food sample day

 Margaret had to work this evening but she told me and William to go to the Co-op to pick up a few things because they were doing a special event this evening. It was the best grocery shopping day I've ever had. There were samples all over the place with food reps warming up stuff and chatting. A voice from the past called my name and suddenly I was talking with Jimmy about Tumbler's Pizza and getting multiple slices and extra sauce. I've not seen him in 20 years. 

Quilting for a car

 

Yesterday Margaret and William went out to Regina Beach for the opening of the new quilting show at the Last Mountain Lake Cultural Centre. A highlight is the quilted cover for an early 2000s Volkswagen Bug. 

Hanging with the cat

 

As I might have said a few posts ago, I've fallen behind on my blogging so am currently combing through my photos and pulling things from each day. This is the only photo I took on this day, so it must have been a comforting moment with Sylvie. Other than that, I don't remember what I did on this day. 

Comic convention at RPL library

Comic event at the RPL library today was really successful for William. He wasn't officially involved but he did talk at length with a number of people including Dakota McFadzean who agreed to come onto his radio show, as well as a few university colleagues who are looking for ways to focus their own lives and the seed of future collaborations is planted. 
 

William working on puppets

 William spent a few hours working with his mentor, Chrystene Ells (photo credit for image here) on rethinking the way he builds and uses puppets. 

Double events: Jessie Short and Lowell Dean

Lowell and Will Dixon

 Jessie Short

This evening Jessie did a dramatic reading of her script that she has been working on as a City of Regina artist in residence. It was my first time in this newish facility near the police station that is primarily for sports - and thus the event being in a gym. A nice group of people and full spread of food. I had to dash as soon as it was done so as to attend the Film Department's presentation of our distinguished alumni award to Lowell Dean over at the Artesian. Big crowd there and, similarly, good food. A bunch of my students attended, as well as a number of old faces including Will Dixon (pictured above with Lowell). 

William's radio show at donut shop

 Having been William's guest ten times this year, I traded in my punch card for a one episode takeover and brought the show to Country Corner. Geremy came by and the three of us (hosted by me) talked comics. 

Soundstage

 Soundstage tour today. Erin Dean of Creative Sask also gave the students a generous amount of her time. Everyone was really excited and positive about all of everything. A good day. 

Box building

Built the first text box for William's project for Neutral Ground. It was perfectly square but then we disassembled it to add glue and got it off-square. 
 

Kristin

 Kristin came to town this weekend. Obviously too busy to do much together, we did manage to have brunch at the Motherwell house. Katherine also arrived, taking a last minute flight. 

Saskatoon

 I drove William up to Saskatoon for his Carfac mentorship meeting this morning then hung out with Mike all afternoon. Bought some paint and brushes from Art Placement, some sliding drawers from Lee Valley Tools, and some used books from their "Giant" symphony book sale (which was disappointingly small).