Saturday, February 27, 2021

Sylvie to the vet


 Since Nick died three days ago, Sylvie has been behaving oddly. She scratches in her box and meows for lengthy periods of time but doesn't pee. i took her to the vet today, the alternative vet rather than her regular one, and after a one hour delay, they had her in for three hours. Her bladder was too small to properly test (and thus a discount) so they had to guess as the causes (i'd prefer this - it is what my doctors do with me over half the time). I've come home with four medications and a much smaller bank account. 

Friday, February 26, 2021

Painting during painting lecture


 Watching a lecture by new painting/drawing prof Larrisa Tiggelers. I've been so swamped and/or distracted that I've not had time to sit still lately so I took this opportunity to also paint a second version of the Graflex National series ii. Lecture was mostly about minimalism and postminimalism. 

Thursday, February 25, 2021

Painting


 Yesterday, before Nick got sick, I did a painting from this very early SLR, a Graflex borrowed from Brett Stevens. I'll likely do a second one of this camera. I've searched for the image online but not found it yet. Must be rare. 

Wednesday, February 24, 2021

Nick the Cat - the final day


 Six and a half years ago we adopted a cat that Sean Whalley had been caring for out his back door. His name was Nick and we never changed it. At first Nick was very shy and scared and I thought he didn't like me. That changed over the years. He enjoys some milk after I finish cereal. He watches Tv with me and William. He loves his face scratched. 


Nick had a stroke and major blood clot today. He was paralyzed from mid-section back. The vets said he wouldn't make it. Nick is gone now. I sat with him at the vets as the final injection came. I've never seen a pet to the end before. Mr. Guy died while we were on vacation. It's really hard. He was a good cat. 


Tuesday, February 23, 2021

William as Willie Loomis

Shot a little demo for class with William playing fever dreaming Willie Loomis from Dark Shadows. 

Monday, February 22, 2021

Returned fish


 I removed one of the adults (I think the female) and about 12 of the baby fish and returned them (without recompense) to the pet store where they can be put back up for sale. After everything settled, there might be as many as 10 more baby fish remaining in my tank. 

Sunday, February 21, 2021

Paining video camera


 Painted video camera from Philippe. I love the rounded nature of these cameras as they evolved. Did a lot of the painting with a fan brush. 

Saturday, February 20, 2021

Afternoon out with family



 Weather was great so William, Margaret and I took a drive around, attending Dunlop's shows at central as well as Sherwood and we dropped in on Terri and Xander for an outdoor visit. 

Friday, February 19, 2021

New art education art


 It seems that the art education students only hang new art every couple years. One hallway had cool photo representations of paintings that were generally pretty good and were up for over ten years. This week they all got changed at once. 

Thursday, February 18, 2021

Brett Stevens


 Finally met Brett Stevens who is in Regina as a visiting prof for Math from Ottawa. He's doing some really good restorations and modifications of cameras. He lent me three. Images to follow over the next week or so. 

Wednesday, February 17, 2021

Tuesday, February 16, 2021

Fish dublicating



Got two fish three months ago. A mollie and a pladdie. Different breads. They decided to mate anyways. I have over a dozen babies. Went to the pet store and was told that this happens sometimes but I could return unwanted pets. The babies should be sterile, but no guarantees of that either. 
 

Monday, February 15, 2021

William video project on the break


 I helped William make a miniature fake splatter of ink for an animated film he wants to create during this break. 

Sunday, February 14, 2021

Valentine's Day


 The expensive chocolates were worth it (and not just for being able to gripe about them). 

Saturday, February 13, 2021

more toy cameras


 While my painting of the kids on the page is truly terrible, I feel pretty happy with the overall painting of the unopened bubble making camera. 

Friday, February 12, 2021

Lazy day


 Break is about to begin so there seems to be too much to do. But not for the cats. 

Thursday, February 11, 2021

expensive chocolate


 Paid 35 bucks for a box of chocolates. After paying, I was passed the bad and almost passed out when I noticed how light it was. This stuff is $143.18 per pound (including tax). 

Wednesday, February 10, 2021

Tuesday, February 9, 2021

Kodachrome as black and white negative



 Shot this back in December with Richard's camera and a roll of outdated Kodachrome. It either has heat damage like I've never seen before, or the roll was double exposed. It's really difficult to interpret the images. 

Monday, February 8, 2021

Painting toy cameras


 The toys seem so much harder to paint than the real cameras. Perhaps because noting is really where it should be and the colours are all weird. Perhaps because my heart isn't really in it. This one is a "coin bank", part of Gerda's collection from Woolco. 

Sunday, February 7, 2021

tin can phone


 William was asking about the comparative sound of tin-can phones with other low tech or old tech sounds. I started to fall into dad-mode and make up answers but then had to admit that I'd not tried to make a tin-can phone since I was 8 or 9 years old and even then, I likely didn''t make it efficiently. So we made one. It's not great. The sound over four meters is just a series of vibrations that are hit and miss to translate into actual words. 

Saturday, February 6, 2021

Autodesk ReCap


 Upon Geremy's suggestion (and his pointing out of free academic usage) I loaded a number of Autodesk applications and began testing the creation of 3D images using ReCap. Things are looking like they are made of slightly melted wax in parts, but it's also really cool. The capturing of my basement room has a couple good spots but a bunch of bad spots. I'll need to keep experimenting. 

Friday, February 5, 2021

celebrating 30 years

 


We celebrated 30 years together with a nice meal and an evening of photographs, sharing memories with William of times a decade before he was born. 

Thursday, February 4, 2021

I am Cuba and Marvelous Mrs. Maisel

 Almost finished all the episodes of Marvelous Mrs. Maisel on Prime. Incredible show. Margaret and I can't get enough. Also talking about long takes in Film 200 and showing some scenes from "I Am Cuba". Last night saw this scene in Mrs.Maisel referencing I am Cuba.





Wednesday, February 3, 2021

cereal painting


 Part of my series of camera paintings: a Kelogg's 110 camera (that functions but also doubles as a coin holder and a keychain) is the 175 different camera I've painted. Counting doubles, I am up to 216 paintings. 

Tuesday, February 2, 2021

Groceries



 Margaret has been doing all the grocery shopping lately. I might go to a store once a month (probably less). In the summer I went more often because I was working on house/yard projects and needed hardware, but I'm rarely buying food. Today we bent the rules and shopped together. I found the products and the product packaging a bit strange, like I'm suddenly in a different country.