Day in the life of an artist

 

William is learning how to be an artist this summer. I make sure he works every day, regardless of whether or not the muse is with him. This evening, having been informed of a new deadline yesterday, he is spinning words into a pitch for a art exhibition for himself for next year. As always, these are long shots. It is tying him to his chair even though he'd rather be reading in the gazebo or watching a movie. Midnight will come soon and it will either be in or it won't be. The chances of success when you don't submit is zero. Fingers crossed. 

Leesa Streilfer

 Leesa opened a show of new work at the Dunlop today. Great crowd at her talk, which was structured as a conversation between her and curator Wayne Baerwaldt. Some interesting discussion about the differences between this work and her previous Dunlop solo show in 1997 (Normal). The old show was angry and was directed at men. This show has less anger and is directed at women. Later a big group of us went to Crave for supper. 

Building bird puppets

Earlier this week, William put in an application to make a bird people show out of Access Tv. He toured the facility as part of his CJTR radio position on Wednesday and ended up meeting the person running that stuff, so all seemed well timed. Today he started assembling the first puppet for the show within the show - a bird soap opera. Took a while to get things working, but on the right track now. Has a number of dolls to strip for outfits for these characters. Got word that Access doesn't do scripted shows, so that is a setback. 
 

Italian Star with mom

Returned to the Italian Star with mom and got sandwiches this time. Mine was spicy, because those are amazing there, but I made sure mom's was mild (she couldn't eat the mildly spiced herb chips we bought there last week). Also had cakes from Cafe Francais. 
 

Security camera

 Reports from neighbours about some thieves led me to impulse buying a camera yesterday. Painted it today. Not inspired, but feeling out of practice too. Perhaps I'll do it again once it is deployed. 

Yard party

 Had a few people over to yard this evening. Kevin, Allan, David, Lara, and Noelle, Weather was great. Garage used for food and "the kitchen" part of the party. 

More purchases from Gale's

Today I switched from my android phone to an iphone, something I'd never intended to do. However, my bottom of the line Samsung was causing me lots of problems taking pictures. It often didn't respond quickly (or at all) to pressing the trigger. Pictures would often get lost if you turned the phone off too soon after taking one. Overall, I was frustrated. Margaret canceled her mom's iphone 13 and gave it to me. It is red, which makes me happy. 

William did some more shopping at Gales while I waited outside playing with my phone. 
 

Perogie making

I cooked up potatoes last night and today I went to mom's and we made 9 dozen perogies. Mom rolls out the dough and I do the rest. Takes me about one minute per perogy. 
 

Geremy, too much in the sun

Playing a game on Sunday afternoon at Geremy's house. We needed to be out of the room for some secret set up to take place so sat on Geremy's deck for a while. Not much shade in the neighbourhood yet, being a pretty new build. Saw a rabbit. 
 

Kentridge in Saskatoon

 In Saskatoon for the day for a CARFAC mentorship meeting and came early to see the William Kentridge exhibition at the Remai Modern. Jill, who I met as part of the CARFAC sessions, is based here now but has been working with Kentridge for years. They have set up an entire print studio in the gallery and are making new work under his directions. Pretty insightful. 

Italian Star pizza

 I took mom on some errands and we ended up at Italian Star (which she'd not been to the new store and possibly not the old store). Picked up some pizza and ate on her balcony. She wants to go back next week for the sandwiches. 

Pie

 Rhubarb is back in season, as is more and more fruit from "away". Margaret made a couple of pies. They disappeared fast. 

New juice lids

 The lid wouldn't snap off so I kept turning it. The result was tearing the lid right off of the juice. Why did this happen? Because they redesigned it to do this, to not come loose. There is small print, but who reads the juice container. Ridiculous. 

Dolls for clothes

 Gales is closing at the end of this month. William and I have been shopping. Today he bought some dolls for their clothing. He's going to be creating a puppet soap opera with his bird people and at half price, these clothes with dolls attached are cheaper than just the clothes. 

Father's Day

William snuck in and deposited this card by my bed in the middle of the night. It is me as "Pickle Gerald" in reference to Rick and Morty. We had Fred over for brunch later. George hosted a bbq at the house and so we also went there. William and I cut out early to play some Apocalypse World. Busy day but lots of nice moments. 

 

Fixing a kid's computer game

William went garage sailing today and bought a broken VTech Tote and Go Laptop Plus for 3 bucks. He opened it up, cleaned the battery area where there was corrosion, and got it working. Stupid game, but that is what he likes about it.
 

AGR with mom

Took mom to see William's "Cake" exhibition at the Art Gallery of Regina. We then sat in the courtyard for while. Perfect weather for us. 
 

Gazebo Cat (GC)

 There is a young cat that has been spending a lot of time in our gazebo lately. Very friendly. I'm trying to figure out if it is owned. It has a tattoo but it is so wiggly that I never got a clear photo of it. Certainly healthy. 

Philippe Mather

 Philippe is retiring at the end of this month. I therefore felt comfortable asking him to come onto William's radio show (he taught two courses William took but obviously there would no longer be any sort of conflict of interest). I have enjoyed every conversation I ever have with Philippe. He suggested that the discussion focus on Tintin comics. Unfortunately, William hadn't noticed that the recorder had stopped recording and they lost an hour of material. Philippe kindly stuck around and recorded some of the main points a second time. Nice afternoon and great to hear them chatting. 

Gold painting

 Painted a picture of a camera-shaped locket belonging to Noelle. It is gold but I don't have gold paint. I do have some silver paint, so it was mixed in with other colours. I struggled with this for a long time. The object is small and the shape therefore a bit soft and indistinct. I just kept layering and adding shadows and removing shadows, and adding and removing reflections until, almost unexpectedly, I was happy with the results. 

Marc LaFoy

 Marc in Regina for a funeral. We had him over for breakfast and great long visit to talk about current stuff. They days of talking about "the old days" is over. I mentioned the day at the end of grad school when he saved my bason with getting me onto an animation stand at LIFT, but he doesn't remember it at all. It was almost half our lifetime ago, and as we are 60, that's quite a stretch. Mostly we discussed his new studio and the artwork our kids are doing. Wishing the visit could have been longer. 

Fred

 Photo taken by Margaret of her dad reading and listening to music in his living room. 

Chrystene's painting

 I purchased "Rabbit Island" gouache painting from Chrystene Ells. Many secrets hidden within it. Delivered in person. 

Turkey

 Roasted a big turkey today. Bought it around Easter and have had it frozen since then. Need the freezer space so decided to feast with it. Froze half the white meat for sandwiches later and will make stew from a bunch of the dark meet. Our roaster won't hold much more turkey than this one without removing the lid. I cooked it upside down until the last 45 minutes when I turned it over, re-applied herbs, and finished the roasting. 

Wind storm

 Wind blew strong and for most of the day, taking down branches all over the place. 

William's gums

 William got a check up on his gums and gum care today in a last minute appointment. Not bad, but everyone needs improvement. Had some trouble a few years ago and don't want repeat of it. 

Unauthorized biography

 William is drawing his second (now a series) of "unauthorized biographies" of people we know. Lifetimes condensed to four drawings. This one is for Geremy Lague. The date on the strip will correspond to Geremy's birthday a couple weeks ago, but the need for the strip meeting high standards had delayed its creation for quite a while. It is the last one needed for William to finally catch back up on his daily drawings. 

Fixing road

In the fall, Dave's tree was chopped down and the water main fixed by the city. Today they started patching the road (very early in morning). Sidewalk remains unfixed. 
 

Coffee with mom and Fred

 Mom and Lori came back from Calgary last night. This morning we had coffee at Lori's house. Margaret brought her dad. Mostly we talked about the events of Sharon's party on Friday night. It was a tremendous success. 

William opens at AGR hallway

We hosted a last minute reception for William's Art Gallery of Regina "Outside the Box" hallway space today. The work is all new; a series of  nine drawings (coloured ink) of a bird person climbing through a window. The series is called "Cake", although during the reception the title "Cake Walk" was suggested and William regrets not having thought of that a week ago. Too late now. Saw lots of good people and had lots of good conversations (and ate some cake).