Swampfest ends and Halloween happens

 

No sooner had I unloaded the car did Geremy and Rory come by for our annual Halloween visit. As it is Sunday, kids are out early. Margaret set up the fire pit in the front so that we could be covid responsible without leaving treats unattended to be looted like last year. The weather was cold but didn't feel as bad as I'd expected - almost no wind. Lots of kids. I got a projector up that ran a variation of my swamp monster that was included in the Swampfest. 

Swampfest haunted swamp lab day 1

 Long and tiring day but William really did the heavy lifting, performing almost constantly for people who came to see the haunted swamp. 

Setting up Swampfest

 

Dragged a huge car load of materials to the Silt space but it doesn't look like enough. Set up took until 11:30. William's ghost idea took a long time to realize but in the end will probably be the best part of the show. 

Ghost preparation

 The only room to set up green screen was the deck. Shot what we could for haunted house before sun went down. Also a bit of Canister and Sawboy. 

Painting without time

 Committed to painting but time very restricted. Had a meeting in the middle of my session and need to leave for further meetings. Painting usually reduces my stress but is making me more stressed as it interrupts the work that is endless. 

Monster shooting

 Shooting some animation in preparation for Swampfest haunted house this weekend. It will be green later. 

Last outdoor shoot

Film 300, outdoor shooting, getting cold but spirits high. 

 

Bob Madeley

 June's stepdad, Bob, pass away this weekend. He was really nice and he was always tremendously supportive of June. He and June's mom got married twice. Bob had some serious lung problems that he was being treated for, so even though he was double vaccinated, covid was ultimately too much. 

Allan also came down with covid and will be in quarantine for the week.  

Dean Renwick vest

 William's new vest and bow tie are finished. 

William painting a small room

 After a frustrating first attempt, William dove back into this painting of a room, basing it on a toy cabin instead of on photographs. 

Last day with an old friend

 I've had this love seat for over 30 years. Great to nap on. I used to have a matching couch but it was in mom's house on 25th when she sold it and the new owners offered to buy it as well so I earned a few bucks when I really needed it. Anyway, new furniture arrives tomorrow and this one is on the way out. 

Chromed camera

 Difficult surface, the chrome. My photo of the actual camera has me in the shot. The situation with the painting wasn't quite the same, or at least I didn't notice it. This belongs to Jason Britski. I loaded it but haven't finished the roll yet. Better get to it as I will want to return it soon. 

In class shoots nearly at an end

 Tuesday class finished in class shooting (at least the outside ones). Next Monday, this particular project is done and I will need to do more content with them. I have lots of ideas, but my best ones have them inside in close contact. Next week's problem. 

Murder scene

 We were shooting in class today. Weather held out but won't much longer. I looked up to see a murder of at least a dozen crows. 

Visits for birthday

 Gertrud, Fred, Richard, Gerda, and (earlier) Geremy and Rory came over today to celebrate Margaret's birthday. Rory made a great volcano rainbow card and we gave her some magic trick toys including the rabbit in the hat puppet that gave William endless pleasure.  

Margaret's birthday and One Take Super 8

Margaret's birthday today. We went furniture shopping and bought a couple things to redo the tv room. Went  for ice cream, then I cooked up some steaks and we dashed off to the One Take Screening. Our films worked out well, especially William's animation. 

 

Live comedy on tv

 Margaret got a ticket for a live standup comedy hour by having so many air miles. She had to work and this was a live only event so William and I patched it into the tv and watched it. About an hour long and didn't really need the image - could have been audio only. Ivan Decker is always good. 

Fitting for vest

William went for fitting for his new vest that Dean Renwick is making. 

Quick and Dirty

Quick and Dirty, hosted by the Dunlop, resumed its face to face sessions this month. It was held at the Artesian. Some interesting ideas came up about play and fear that would be worthy of further thought. 
 

Creating a mystery room

William build stuff into a doll house to create a room to paint. Here is a preliminary imge. 
 

Fire alarm at Sherwood Dunlop

 When WIlliam and I arrived at Sherwood to see the new exhibition, everyone had just gone outside due to a fire alarm. A truck arrived and eventually it was all clear. Good show from Alana Bartol. 

Went home and had early Thanksgiving dinner, barbequing a small turkey. 

Inside a camera

 I did some painting at home, first time in a month, and re-painted Jason's 8mm camera with the door open. My vinyl has been almost untouched since August. 

AGR exhibition

 AGR had an opening for Saskatoon artist Lisa Burke which included drawings and stories created by people in the community which were then turned into animated stories. One of the participants was Karishma Joshi who was a master student in Journalism that I taught a few years ago. 

Contractor

 Contractor came today, brought the surveyor documents with him and did some of his own measurements and asked lots of questions. 

Early portable video camera

 Steve Wolfson brought a video camera, probably from around 1980, over to lend me to paint from. Talked at length about how many things are wrong in Florida. 

Mom's birthday

My sisters ordered a really nice cake for mom and I picked it up, owing to the fact that they were away on vacation together. The cake really was amazing (see image from yesterday in the frig).