Nuit Blanche

William, Geremy Lague, and I exhibited this mapped set of videos (about 40 layers looping on top of a static video background) for Nuit Blanche this year. Hope we can repeat it bigger next time. Reactions were good. I think it looked pretty cool. 
 

Gesso day

 

I've not been painting much this summer, but have not given up on it either. To be ready for the winter, I applied gesso to all my remaining panels, about 100, to paint on for the next year. 

The heat

Sylvie goes outside, gathers what strength she has to jump up on the table, then stares at us through the window until she lets her back into the cool house. 
 

Worst Star Trek ever

I have a soft spot for Star Trek and generally like most of it. However, it was serious trial to force myself to watch "Section 31" to the end. I don't feel I have the time to list all the problems in this tv movie. Suffice to say, it did nothing well. 
 

Memorial for Elaine Pain

 Drove to Cupar this afternoon for memorial for Elaine. While Darryl was rather distraught throughout, it came together fairly well. About 45 people attended including Don List, Dianne, Toby, Darrel Prohor, Cary, and a lot of locals. 

Apples

 Roasted a turkey. While it was in the oven, we picked about half the apples from Margaret's dad's tree. 

Recording music

 William recorded David playing a number of instruments for his dance film today. 

William's birthday

 Backyard party and fire, even though it was well over 30 degrees today. Most of the people we invited made it. Kevin met Mooky and they talked about juggling. 

Dishwasher ran twice

 

Testing day for Nuit Blanche

 Successful testing of the screen and the hardware and software for our Nuit Blanche show which is in two weeks. The wind was strong and I worried it would take the screen away, but we strapped it to a pole and it held. 

Apple tree

Our apple tree has been dying for years. The middle of the main branches are hollow with rot, as is the main trunk. I sawed it down with a hand saw this afternoon. William ate one of the last apples from it while he worked on the deck. I was bitten by a wasp. At first I thought I was stung, but it didn't swell and the wound was a half inch gash like from its mandible, rather than a point. Hurt, but stopped hurting in 15 minutes. 

 

Mooky's chickens

We went to see Mooky's chicken performance this evening. Lots of fun and lots of people. Popcorn with butter leaking out the bottom of the paper cone was great touch. 
 

Moose Jaw

Went to Moose Jaw this afternoon. We wanted to see the collection show at the art gallery. I think I've seen most of the pieces before. Almost felt comfortable. Had late lunch at Nit's. 

When we got home, we started picking up apples from ground. There are no where near what there used to be. I shook the tree to get the rest down and in the process, I broke a large branch off. Totally rotten. 
 

Preparing canvas

Bought a canvas drop cloth to use as a screen with the Nuit Blanche project. It comes folded and the creases were difficult to remove. I finally found that a hot iron and a spritzing bottle of water did the trick. 
 

William making a game

 William has been conceiving of a new video game. I'm not sure how it is played but I saw a piece of graphics the other day. Most of the work has something to do with riddles. 

Fireplace cat

 Sylvie loves the fireplace. 

Basement workbench

 I finally finished this workbench (except for putting some shelf boards on the bottom) in my tool room. Mostly something for when I need to hammer a nail or hand saw some wood during the winter. 

The shelf is something that came with the house - I believe it was in the kitchen bathroom we removed when we moved in. I put a new coat of paint on it and hung it here. 

Paul for supper

It's been a while since Paul was over for supper. Had some steaks then played Lovecraft Letter  until dark. 
 

Morning with mom

 I picked up mom and we took her sewing machine to back to the repair place. The problem with it was a simple issue of how to engage the bobbin, which was more or less user error. Mom seems to have forgotten this detail that she had undoubtedly done hundreds of times in the past. I then took her out to "Dad's Diner" then to a couple of art galleries (pictured below is the Lobby Gallery within the Performing Arts Centre with an exhibit of Edie Marshall's paintings. Then to Slate (summer show) and then to the store to get her a replacement cane for the one she says was stolen. William has begun decorating it so that it will never be mistaken for someone else's (which is likely what happened to the previous one). 

Work bench in progress

Many distractions these days, so my tool room work bench progresses at a snails pace. Did some work on the top with the electric planer, but think I should get back to it and get it really smooth. The biggest challenge is actually the room itself and the contents crammed into it. Difficult to navigate. 
 

Holiday Monday

Kevin was over for a while this morning. He's back from a couple weeks at the cottage and we needed to talk about Sabastian. Afterwards, we washed, sorted, and pitted all of the cherries, converting them into six bags of about 4 pounds each. 

Cherry picking

William and I picked 32 pounds of cherries from the Motherwell tree this evening. The timing was perfect. Insects hadn't started getting to them yet, neither had the birds. Weather was good. Missed about 10 percent that were too high to safely reach. 
 

Photo shoot with Chrystene

Helped out Chrystene on a photo shoot today. Studio rented was on Dewdney and window looks out onto the construction that has been going on for a year. Here is the view. 

Photos were looking really nice. Lighting makes everything very painterly, which is great since the goal is to paint from these portraits. 
 

Fantastic morning

 Having numerous scheduling problems, last night we determined that the only practical time for us to the the new Fantastic Four movie would be this morning. When I checked the listings at 9:00 am, I mistakenly thought that the only times available were around 9:30, which was too difficult given that the theatre was on the other side of town. There was, in fact, a 10am screening time so we made it there and had a nice time. Half way through the trailers, we noticed that no one had given us 3D glasses (or anyone else in the theatre for that matter). Margaret exited (missing the Edgar Wright "Running Man" trailer) and had this rectified for everyone. Liked the movie.