Fancy dinner at Rooftop restaurant

Long story short, there is a chef who moved to Rouleau and was running the restaurant there. He was really good and occasionally wanted to break away from the regular burger fare that his place sold, so Jason Childs began some sort of dinner club there. This chef has bought (?) the Rooftop Restaurant on Victoria Avenue (near Broad) and is looking to turn it around (reputation wasn't good, I'm told). Jason invited us to the first Regina incarnation of the dinner party event.  I talked mostly with Brenda, a Rouleau sculptor and previously an administrator of numerous arts spaces/groups. Food was great but the room was too loud to talk much. 

Color out of Space

H.P.Lovecraft's "Colour out of Space" was adapted into a feature with Nicolas Cage last fall and it finally opened at the Rainbow. We attended opening night. Allan came along. It was pretty good, probably the best Lovecraft film I've seen in a long time. Some reviewer said that it seemed like each character was acting in a different film but this is one of the things that made it work. They seemed like a real family, a bunch of related people who, unlike the stereotypes, did not all think and act the same.
William was working on his chalk drawing again today, home only for this weekend. 

Donut

Went for a donuts tonight with Paul after the screening of Winnipeg animation at the RPL. The screening didn't have an introduction and no one gave out programs, even though Margaret saw nice programs that were for the event.
The time to go to Country Style is 8:00 pm. Fresh baking comes out then. 

more bellows

Second last painting class but I'm not able to attend the final one so this is the last session with Deb for a while. Did a second (slightly different model) old Kodak camera. 

Painting

Happy with this one. The bellows have always given me trouble but I'm starting to get the hang of them.
Went to Talkies with Allan. It was a skating film that wasn't too terrible, although it was too creepy when the 35 year old reporter started dating the high school aged main character. 

Unfinished work hung

William put about 40 hours work into this chalk pastel drawing over the break last week but still didn't finish it. To get it graded, he was required to publicly hang it. He'll take it home later in the week but it needs to return and stay in the hallway in the Riddell Centre until early April. 

Fire chicken

Barbecued up a pair of chickens in what William calls "fire chicken" style. It started a year or two ago when I barbecued an herb covered chicken on top of foil but at some point a hole opened in the foil and released all the grease that had pooled there and I had an inferno. Haven't set one ablaze the same way since, but the risk is always there. 

Photo shoot with William for printmaking

William has an idea for a photo-etching that requires a photo of him and a brick wall and some graffiti. The weather and timing were perfect today so we headed over to the warehouse area and did the graffiti in chalk (will wash off easily, which we attempted to do with puddle water having forgot to bring a plentiful supply of our own. Had to do lots of takes as I wasn't really sure what he wanted. 

William in new suit

William wore his new linen suit for his appointment with his doctor first thing Friday morning in Saskatoon. We then went art shopping and stopped at the Art Placement Gallery. In the art store, I was recognized by James Clow whom I'd not seen since the 80s. He's doing some great paintings and really interesting stuff combining potash and metals with paint.

Dinner in Saskatoon

Drove to Saskatoon for an appointment Friday morning. I wasn't feeling well but still really loved supper at Kao's Kitchen. Evening spent in same hotel we were in during the summer. 

Lori back to painting

Lori is back from a couple weeks away so was painting again this morning. I brought a rather uninspiring disc camera.

Holiday dinner

With school on a break, Allen came over early and we went to the late afternoon screening of Parasite then came home to the smell of the turkey I'd put in the oven and we had a nice feast. 

Talisman

Allen brought four of his friends over and we had a 9 hour Talisman game. I was doing very well for two hours then lost and rebooted as someone who never really got far. William was a surfer on the high seas. Allen was an owl. Fun though. 

Gentleman Farmer winter pick up shots

Picked up the missing shots for the Gentleman Farmer sequence I shot in the summer. Even though it was only -3, handling snow without gloves on the windy prairie was more than William bargained for. We were considering an extra scene but I was too numb to change rolls and he was getting frostbite. Got what we came for. 

Better to paint inside

I painted this little black standard 8 camera, which basically looks like a brick with a lens attached. After I finished, I wondered if Richard had left any film inside so I opened it and noticed that the inside is far more interesting than the outside so I painted a second version. 

Painted more

I'd hoped to paint a lot during this break. I think I'll manage an extra day or two, but probably not the obsessive daily grind I'd imagined. Too many other things to catch up on. 

William drawing with pastels

William's still life in pastels is just starting but I'm impressed so far with some of the painterly qualities he's getting out of it. Nice bbq steaks for supper but not really a big Valentine event. 

Paul at the Mercury

William has working late at the university and Margaret took a last minute shift so we met up with Paul at the Mercury for supper. Prices keep going up there, but the food was best it's ever been. 

Painting error

For reasons I cannot even explain to myself, I painted this Polaroid camera closed so that you cannot see the lens. It seemed like a good idea at the time but when I got home, it really bothered me. I repainted it a few days later.

Perhaps I was tired. Had eye doctor appointment for my replacement lenses before painting. 

New Landmark movie theatre

We took the big trip out beyond the east end of town to the new Landmark movie theatre. It was quite nice. Seats were comfortable. Overall, it felt like a huge conference centre that had been converted to a movie theatre, rather than a specifically built theatre. Some of my new students work there - one was on this night but we'd just come from supper and didn't want snacks and were just in time for "The Gentlemen". 

Lunch with Grant

Met up with Grant at Fuddruckers. Hadn't seen him since his wife passed. Feeling very sorry I've not in more contact. Lunch was nice though, talked like old times, expept all the talk of being old. 

Academy Awards

Margaret went to Joyce's final Regina Academy Awards party. Some surprises included the success of Parasite and the speech by best actor Joaquin Phoenix.

Film student Gala

William was at the film student 12 hour film challenge last week and this week was their screening and fancy awards gala. I've not gone before so was quite surprised at how much effort and fanfare they put into the whole thing. Quite a good time. The films were also quite a surprise, showing that the students have great abilities to be aesthetically and technically creative. Some of this work is more promising that films they worked on for weeks. Congrats all. 

Friday mixed views

Did some painting in the morning. Worked on admin and class stuff all afternoon. William had some sightings (above).

Christine Ramsay at Fifth Parallel

Group show at student gallery opened this week. Christine has been taking some classes so exhibited a series of her works. Very passionate projects about the environment from everyone.

February 5

We had a nice supper with family for our February fifth. It had started to snow so we didn't bbq. We went out for the evening to hear Allen talk about the influence of "The Dark Crystal" on his graphic novel. Eloquent.

Allen's birthday

Both Margaret and I had busy days without baking time so after supper we took Allen out to the east end to La Macaron for cake for his birthday and played a couple rounds of Coup. 

Charcoal drawing

I'm liking the largeness of William working in charcoal on big paper. I love his tight little drawings, but this is helping him have greater range, using his whole arm. 

snowmen

With lots of warm weather, snowmen have been common this month, but fleeting due to rapid melting. Great when they half melt before a big freeze. The wetness of the snow caused them to become almost solid ice and to hold in odd positions. Margaret went out taking pictures. 

Taste of Cathedral 2020

Annual Taste of Cathedral fundraiser for the arts festival. I donated a painting of a camera (on canvas) and it had 3 bidders (none of whom were family) so the work sold ($20). I won a door prize and so did Allen (he got odd Russian dolls, I got hand made scrunchies). Crowd was bigger and more apt to bid on stuff than last year.