Wednesday, June 30, 2021

Last Day as Department Head



 Hot summer day. Not many people around, especially on campus where covid has restricted access to the campus. I wanted to paint this Linhof which I parked in this office two years ago. It is really heavy but also quite beautiful. The stand is amazing and I see very few stands of this nature online. My painting was rather rushed because I needed to spell off William who is hanging with dad while mom is out for lunch. William went and got his second shot of vaccine. 

Tuesday, June 29, 2021

Outside office


 Margaret and William had the common sense I lacked as I slaved in my increasingly hot office upstairs to get my last admin work completed before the end of the month while they took their computers out to the deck for the evening. William is working on his "Pud Cast" and I think wants to complete the next ten before he starts posting them again. 

Monday, June 28, 2021

Fun with super-8 camera

Last week Darryl Kesslar lent me a few cameras. I painted the first of them, a super-8 which had a label off the film box taped to it. Had some fun trying to match those details. This is part of what makes painting from real objects more interesting than painting from photos. 
 

Sunday, June 27, 2021

Second day of art tour


We continued (and concluded) our tour of art galleries and studios today. I purchased one of Edie Marshal's travel frame paintings (from the set of 1000). We also had a delightful talk with a folk artist who did some so-so paintings but very sophisticated metal sculptures.  The yacht club beaconed William. I think he should try to be their president. 


Saturday, June 26, 2021

Small town art tour



 Margaret is writing about a tour of artist studies and galleries that is happening this weekend. We drove around to about half of them. We'd have gotten further but were slowed down by the poor service and food at the scheduled Wolf Willow winery/campground in Outlook (avoid in future) but were astounded by the work of Shirley Pringle, an artist in Loreburn that we found at the end of the day. Bought two of her works. 

Friday, June 25, 2021

Joe's camera


 I finally had the right opportunity to borrow a camera belonging to Joe that has been sitting on the top of a shelf in the equipment room. It is a 1930s 16mm Devry camera, the only one I've ever found. Simple box shape, but great to have a shot at painting. 

Thursday, June 24, 2021

New Bar-B-Que


 On father's day we bought a new bbq. It came with free assembly. Today we picked it up from Lowes (thanks to George Bessai). We've been through a couple of lower end bbqs over the years which we've bought because they were on sale or whatever. They last a while. This isn't a super expensive one, just a couple hundred bucks more, but I can already tell it is gong to be more reliable. 

Wednesday, June 23, 2021

Farm and visitors




 Went to farm in late afternoon. Carl and Frank Bessai came in for a couple of days and George recruited them into building a new outhouse, the first new one in about 40 or 45 years (the old one is full). 

Tuesday, June 22, 2021

Brett and Jaelle


A few months ago  I met Brett, who is visiting from Ottawa this year, through Barb Mader and he lent me some interesting cameras. Today we had him and his wife over for a very interesting visit with lots of lively conversations. We also discovered that we also know Bob Bjerke and in fact they met William once a couple years back at Bob's birthday party. 

Monday, June 21, 2021

Bubi of Bubl?


 Borrowed this weird little 36 degree multi-camera device that I thought was called a Bubi (booby) but on closer examination saw it was called a Bubl (booble or more likely a bubble). 

Unrelated, Sherry and Jessie came over and we had our first ever meeting with all three of us in the same space leading up to Jessie entering her Phd program. 

Sunday, June 20, 2021

Father's Day



Booze and a much needed small serrated knife (good Heikle version of one I broke a while back) for Father's Day. Went to visit my folks and set up Netflix at their place, then bought a bbq. 

Saturday, June 19, 2021

Gong art event


I popped in to the AGR for a few minutes and found myself at the start of a gong performance by Stacy Bliss. It was relaxing and somewhat beautiful, but my mind was rather cluttered when I came in and still cluttered when I left. I sent William to experience it after I got home and I think his experience was similar. I'll need to go back to see the gallery show in more detail when I have time. 

Friday, June 18, 2021

Visiting and errands

William came with me on errands today, starting with returning a camera to Steve and talking about a sound wave idea he has. Then headed to Audio Warehouse to get an optical cable I need and a fix for my mom's tv and picked up 4 cameras from Geremy. 
This evening we visited Gertrud and Fred and took a look at the beginnings of the road repairs in front of their house. The messed up storm drain has been a hazard since I've known them - 30 years - so it is about time. Then we dropped off a camera that I won't otherwise need (now that I've painted it) for Geremy's daughter to use (since one camera he gave me today won't seem to power up). 

 

Thursday, June 17, 2021

Struggling for free time


 I know it is ridiculous to complain about this, but I've been  having difficulty finding enough time in the day. I really want to get ahead on my office work (I have a certain amount of pride in the idea that I'm concluding my term as head in two weeks with some accomplishments under my belt) and I want to get some work on Sock-Vile, and I want to paint some cameras (as I managed to today), and I want to watch some movies with William, and I want to get some work done around the house (like to doors the other day), and I want to be responsive to people who email me (and this is the part that seems most impossible), and I would really like to take a nap. Oh, I really want a nap. 

Wednesday, June 16, 2021

Walking around


William and I were stiff from too much tv (actually, there is no such thing) so went for a walk and checked out the new updates to the fairy garden.  

Tuesday, June 15, 2021

Door fixing


I spent much of the afternoon fixing doors. First was the screen door in the back which required its annual adjustment to be able to open properly over the new deck. I started with telepost adjustments but then dove into planing off the deck itself. It's better now, but still doesn't latch well. More on this another day. Then I thought I'd do a quick adjustment to the laundry door which also turned into a planing job as the wood is bowing from various pressures. This took a long time but is very pleasing. 

 

Monday, June 14, 2021

Deck table

 

Gertrud found a place in Lethbridge that had the deck table she really wanted, teak and folding and sturdy. Down side was that after ordering it, discovered that it was out of stock and it ended up taking a year to arrive. However, it is now here and she is very happy with it. Looks great. 

Sunday, June 13, 2021

Finished the Frenzy


 We cut our film project on the flatbed and recorded our sound down the hall at the Filmpool, finishing it up with a bit of video/audio using Premiere and got home shortly after 5, well within the 48 hours. Called it Orgy of Truth. It is just over 4 minutes long. 

Saturday, June 12, 2021

Shooting film



 William and I worked on different teams today. Shooting for me lasted from 10 when we got together until about 2 when I got home. The ground was very wet everywhere, even on the large full-sun lawns near the museum. Got a sunburn and could never sit down, but it went well and we had fun. William did a more complicated film with multiple locations and some blood (as seen on his face when he got home). He shot until around 5. 

Friday, June 11, 2021

Flooding and filmmaking


Rain came down all night and into the morning, creating quite a bit of flooding around town. We got some water in the basement but we were able to keep it at bay with a mop and a well placed pump in the back yard to get the water away. 

This evening the Filmpool's 48 Hour Filmmaking Frenzy began with our meeting and Bolex review with Jessie Short. The vaccine from yesterday, combined with struggling with water, has me beat. 
 

Thursday, June 10, 2021

Sharon and vaccine


Sharon came to town for a couple of days. Everyone converged on Lori's yard last night and tonight. I spent today in the line for my second vaccine. The wait was over 2 hours but I made a very satisfying amount of progress on the policy book I've been trying to edit. Nothing beats that time with nothing to do. 
 

Wednesday, June 9, 2021

Clearing the air


 Margaret ordered an air cleaner to help her mother's health. It arrived at our house today. Sylvie enjoys the box, trying to be big enough to fill the whole thing. 

Tuesday, June 8, 2021

branch fixed


 City came out first thing in the morning and efficiently removed the broken branch. It was 8-10 meters long and was pretty thick. They lined the bricked flower areas with the first logs so when the final big parts fell, they would do only minor damage. Quick and efficient. 

Monday, June 7, 2021

Branch



 Looked out window and noticed very large branch outside our house had broken and was resting on tree beside it. Any moment it might fall and hit street and sidewalk. Called city (it is on city part of property) and they said someone would come right out but no one did. We put out warnings. 

Sunday, June 6, 2021

Painting but little else


 Life seems to be getting more busy and complicated as summer unfolds. I occasionally can paint but my projects beyond that are all stalled. 

Saturday, June 5, 2021

visiting Fred


 Stopped in to see Gertrud and Fred for a while this afternoon. It's getting hot but everyone is still in long sleeves of course. 

Friday, June 4, 2021

Chrystene and Mooky



 Really great afternoon as Chrystene and I finally coordinated our schedules enough for a visit. Caught up on her animation project and other stuff. Mooky also came by and I was able to give her the screens from the house that we no longer will use (due to our new windows) and fortunately were not lost in the fire. 

Thursday, June 3, 2021

Elian hand processing workshop



 Watched (rather than participated as would usually be the case) in workshop on hand processing film led by Elian Mikkola as she demonstrated how she makes her eco-friendly developer from dates, oregano, vitamin C, and washing soda. Her results were very good. 

Tuesday, June 1, 2021

Work in hammock


 My dream has been fulfilled (smaller dreams this year) as I brought my admin work out to the hammock (which I'd replaced the other day, having lost it to the fire) and spent time just writing in the heat.