King Ludwig in the parade

 

William as King Ludwig XI of Aviatrica as part of New Dance Horizons section of the parade for the Cathedral Village Festival. 

Preparing to be king

 William has been working for days on his King Ludwig III costume for the parade. While the mask and crown are just prototypes, the whole thing is looking good. 

Lunch with mom

 Mom was full of energy today. Lori took her to Costco first thing in the morning, but it was still a zoo. I came over at noon and took mom book shopping and toy shopping and for lunch. 

New bird mask design

Helping William with some materials today. I made a bid mask out of issue paper based paper mache, no wire, just a wax paper lined cone that I removed making it light and somewhat translucent. 
 

CBC interview

 Did a prerecorded interview with Laura Sciarpelletti talking about my paintings. It will air on Saturday morning.

Post exhibition painting

I won't add this to the exhibition. No real point. It would require too much work and no one would notice. This is a camera that came from someone who was at the reception last week. 
 

Painting purchase

 I bought this little painting of buildings by Eileen Lampard at the AGR show and sale a couple weeks back and got to finally bring it home today. 

William head shot

William needed a head shot photo for something and couldn't locate a recent picture so we did a quick session in the bathroom (yes, that is the shower curtain behind him. Sue me). Most were thoughtful but we were goofing around and I got an authentic smile out of him. 
 

Mother's Day

 William worked late last night creating a vende-dot style card for Margaret. I didn't make a card for mom at all, but I did take her to Creme for lunch. 

Last Mountain Lake Cultural Centre opening reception

I am very happy with the reception from everyone who attended the reception and talk for my first solo painting exhibition "Painting the Lens: An Archive of Process" today at Regina Beach. University President Jeff Keshen came early so I was able to give him and his wife a private tour. In all, at least 50 people came. Erik Hood and I did a Q&A style talk. Food was good, weather was good, conversations were good. Thank you everyone. 
 

Closed restaurant

We'd only gone there one, and that was at least a year ago, but we are saddened to walk past this charming Chinese restaurant on Broadway in Saskatoon to discover it is soon becoming some sort of hip place that we'll likely never darken the doorway of. 

Also, Craft Council is closed today so we'll miss the current show. Heading home. 

Griffin and his novel

 William introduced and interviewed Griffin at McNally Robinson book store this evening as they launched his first novel (second book) "He Who Would Walk the Earth". It went really well. William was dynamic and funny and smart, as usual. 

Saskatoon

 We're up to Saskatoon for a couple of days. Met up with Mike and ate at Goblin Burger which was really good but, and I hate to admit this, served more food than I should have eaten. I had the "short fuse" burger which was very spicy (they warned me, for good reason) as well as fries and a shake. I felt physically harmed by the ordeal. Wow, can't recommend it enough.

Mahdi Mahdian MFA show

 Last week I missed the reception for Mahdi Mahdian's MFA exhibition at the Fifth Parallel Gallery so today I made a special trip. HIs paintings are very powerful. The four self portraits behind him in this photo are life size. On top of the paintings, he displayed his sketch books, mostly pen or brush with in, and they are very striking. 

Gerda at AGR

 Gerda's exhibition at the AGR Outside the Box space opened today. Lovely works with images printed onto fabrics and papers and sewn together. Nice group of people out to see it. 

Car down block down upside

No upside to this car down block today.
 

Install finished

 Gallery is ready for viewing. It is not open for the next three days, but Maureen and mom came this afternoon just as we'd finished and were straightening each picture and moving a few around. There are 456 paintings up in the gallery. They are all on masonite. There are over 100 more but they are on paper or canvas board and would need different attention and preparation to hang and wouldn't look as good. 

Beginning to install

 Erik Hood and I started the installation of the paintings by putting a base line around both rooms, all spaced the same and at the same height. We then expanded from there. Got 2/3 of them up today. 

Margaret and the farm

 Margaret is beginning to figure out how what farm ownership will look like.

Exhibition poster

The poster for my exhibition of paintings at Last Mountain Lake Cultural Centre. 
 

Ready to hang

 I finished gluing all the hooks onto all the paintings. Didn't count them. There are a at least a couple dozen hooks remaining. 

William still working after disappointment

Weather finally getting nice enough that we sit outside. William did some drawing. Still hitting deadlines, but since my department declined to support his film this week, he will not be able to even submit, so that deadline can be ignored. His big film is now, at best, two years out from shooting. 

 

Fourth year films

 Went out to valley to see Crocuses today. This evening went to fourth year films. William got some advice from Joanne on his project. Margaret talked to the university president, primarily about William. We have become "William's Parents" in his eyes. 

Picture hangers

Bought a jigsaw and some long 1x1 pieces of wood. Cut wood into 1.5 inch lengths. Hammered 500 picture hanging hooks into 500 bits of wood. 
 

Third year film students

Screening of third year film student work this evening. Was good. Some was excellent. I was surprised that not all the students had work showing, and some had two pieces. I had expected to see everyone. Those without films, didn't all come to the screening at all. These will be my students in the fall and they are a really strong group.
 

Painting class

 Another camera. Getting people interested int coming to see my show, but also determined that glue gun will not be strong enough for the hooks. Going to wood glue with the concern that they might not come apart again. 

Snow again? Really?

I really want to start getting creative and getting last work done for my exhibition, but working out in the garage is so depressing when snow returns this late in April. 
 

Painting wall mount plan

 Devised this system. Have tried gluing these on with glue gun, but worried they'll come off too easily. Bought 500 metal hooks on Amazon. 

Easter visit

 Margaret's nose is running all day. Not sure if it is a cold or spring allergies, but wearing a mask just in case as she visits her dad on Easter. 

Easter eggs

 I didn't help with these, but William pried himself away from the Telefilm project for a while and worked with Margaret on some egg colouring. 

Telefilm deadline

 The Telefilm Talent to Watch program deadline is the end of the month, but William needs a letter of support from one of the four Saskatchewan designated organizations. One is Paved, whom we've contacted. They haven't looked at them this year, but it is a stretch because William has never joined and has no history with them. It does occur to me that William really should join Paved as it is a multi-disciplinary group and a good fit for him. The second is the Filmpool. I thought they would be into it because there was excitement about supporting the program at the meeting at the end of March, but apparently by mid-April that tone had changed. The third is SMPIA, which is now called Sask Screens or something and they had a deadline two weeks ago under their brand new banner that was completely outside our radar. The fourth is my own department, and Mike Rollo has given William today as a deadline to submit for "our" approval. 

Support video shoot

 William and Geremy shot the support video for the application to Telefilm today. It looks fun and weird and cool. If nothing else, it will create conversation and as we know, all attention is good attention. I personally never want to fund the boring stuff, regardless of how capable it might be. 

Painting time

 Back to class and still in prep for my exhibition. This is a charming, albeit chinchy camera with a "Time Magazine" log on it. Undoubtedly a free gift with a subscription. 

William drawing

 William has multiple big deadlines this month, but also has daily commitments like his comic. It's not all fun and games being an artist. 

Classes are over

While far from being able to relax. with classes over, I did spend some time on the couch today... but not alone!
 

Margaret's photography

Margaret took some amazing photos today. 
 

AGR member's show

Member's Show at the Art Gallery of  Regina reception today. William has a portrait of the king in a gold frame on display. I purchased a small Evelyn Lambart and a glass banana by Sandee Moore. 
 

Classes end, art gallery events

Last day of classes today. Next week will be busy still, but then the term winds down quickly. After class there was the BFA exhibition. about 80 people there for the talks - 7 students showing. Afterwards we headed to Moose Jaw and saw Gabriela Garcia-Lopez exhibition. Good crowd there, although we arrived pretty late. 

 

Thirsty cat

Our cat Sylvie is looking older this year. She's also perpetually thirsty and wants to be lifted up onto the sink to drink. 
 

Painting class re-starts

 

Huge hole in sidewalk

 This was dug back in November but was quickly filled with snow and ice and one could walk on it easily. Since melting, it is a significant hazard. Waiting for the city to fill it. When is the weather good enough? Margaret put up barriers to stop people and cars from going into it. 

Birthday

Got a nice ice cream today as William and I headed to the theatre after supper and saw "Mickey 17" in an almost empty theatre. Movie was really great.