no time like the present

hi all it was my b_day yesterday. I turned 34. I have been pretty busy. for the past few months I have had a full time job in a kitchen on the military base here working in the Mess. I also have been getting ready for the Works art festival in Downtown Edmonton. I am on day 5 and I am not burnt out yet but the festival runs from 11:30 am till 9:30 pm from June 20 to July 2nd. that calls for some long days. I got a case of meal replacement shakes to get me through it. here is a load of images that i have been doing. here is dead kitty. dead girl angel, the display of my set up and the awesome new wall we built

Pin ups

I am on my way to Calgary to meet with the people from Suncor and present the painting. And my bestest of friends lives in Calgary and she asked me to do some Pin ups for her. She always loved my Vanilla cowgirl I did several years ago. so i did one with a back ground of hares and swirls, a soft painting. I also loved the lyrics from Peaches "I'm the Kinda" I wanted to put a girl boxing in front of the lyrics of the song. Here is the text and both paintings are 24" by 48"
I'M THE KINDA THAT YOU WANNA I'M THE KINDA THAT YOU WANNA I'M THE KINDA THAT YOU WANNA I'M THE KINDA BITCH THAT YOU WANNA GET WITH I'M THE KINDA BITCH THAT YOU WANNA GET WITH CAN YOU HANDLE IT? I'M THE KINDA BITCH THAT YOU WANNA GET WITH I'M THE KINDA BITCH THAT YOU WANNA GET WITH I'M THE KINDA THAT YOU WANNA I'M THE KINDA THAT YOU WANNA YOU WANNA PREDATOR GAMES, THE HUMAN REMAINS A WORLD PROVIDER, HE'S STANDING BESIDE HER ROCKIN' THE FOX, JUST GETTIN' MY BOX GIVE IT A WHIRL TO MY URBAN COWGIRL KNOCKIN' YOU OUT LIKE ROCKY BALBOA DROWN YOU IN A FLOOD DEEPER THAN NOAH KNOCKIN' YOU OUT LIKE ROCKY BALBOA DROWN YOU IN A FLOOD DEEPER THAN NOAH I'M THE KINDA BITCH THAT YOU WANNA GET WITH I'M THE KINDA BITCH THAT YOU WANNA GET WITH CAN YOU HANDLE IT? I'M THE KINDA THAT YOU WANNA I'M THE KINDA THAT YOU WANNA GIVE IT A WHIRL TO MY URBAN COWGIRL

OIL SANDS

Here is a painting from a photo that i found on Suncor's website and I asked permission to paint the image and they loved the idea. here is the finished piece. it is 30" by 40" in oils.

grain elevator and power lines

This is a winter scene, since these monuments of farming are going extinct I decided to do the painting in muted tones with just a gray scale. With soft color in the sky like lavender and aqua-marine blue there is more drama played in the heaviness of the sky. Stay tuned more to come.

Pumping units

I am starting a new series along side of every other project I am working on. Anyways I am working on a body of work for the summer season and a festival I am in in the summer. So I am working on the industrial landscape, which is fitting for this environment and I have plenty of resources. There is a pumping station just down the road. I know in halifax I worked on power lines, oil rigs and light posts. This body will be an obvious extension but more graphic and will be more oil driven. I will be looking into the architectural imagery of the industrial landscape. Anyways here is some of my first ones. any comment??

Profiles Gallery

Here is a pic on some of my paintings that are up in the Profiles Art Gallery in St Albert. my cat caught a bird yesterday and thought it would be a good idea to eat it inside, Yuck. He ate everything but the wings and bones and then went outside and came in with a mouse and ate it tail and all. Then he walked straight to his dish and ate more food. what a pig.

Art auction this this saturday

I have my art in a gallery in the beautiful City of St.Albert. I live in the district of Sturgeon County (ward 4) in Lancaster Park which is north of Edmonton. St Albert is northwest of Edmonton and is 14 km from my house. I have my art in an up coming fundraiser and here are the three painting up for Bid two are small only 3 x5 (I call them snacks) and the larger one is 6 x12. I am excited to see how they do. I will have photos of the night of the auction.
flyer for the gallery's auction

JENN GRANT AND HAYDEN

Last year around this time we saw Jenn Grant in Fredericton at UNB. I know her from Halifax and we met through my friend Jason Burns drummer from Down With Butterfly the opening night of one of my shows. Jason and Jenn dated whether they are still dating I cant be sure, but he is a very tall guy and he is the first guy you see in her Dreamer video. I love her music, her voice is like a clean glass of water. Trevor is is basically my date on this one and he is like whatever chick show. so I mention "yeah and some guy Hayden is performing as well (I have no clue who Hayden is and I am like whatever some guy). Trevor is like "What, I have his Cds , I like his stuff, COOL" (i am misquoting terribly but whatever). Some website I saw mentioned admission is at the door and says 12bucks. cool.
So we go for dinner at Edmonton's best kept secret "Japanese Village" before the show
I am a picky sushi eater so here is my review. The teriyaki salmon was amazing and the tempura, the edamame was not freshly steamed nor hot and not enough salt. The dynamite rolls were great but a bit too big for bit size. The spicy tuna was a mush but tasted great. The seaweed salad was too fishy tasting. the price was reasonable but one roll cost $4 for 4 pieces and one small small scoop of green tea ice cream cost the same, so don't order the ice cream. It was a great place we will definatly come back but is is not in comparison to Sushi on Bloor in Toronto. where tea and miso soup are free and the ice cream is some time free.
After that we went to the concert and it was sold out before hand by ticket master, little advice don't trust websites. We were able to buy two tickets from people in line and price of the tickets cost $25 each. The concert was great and funny. I was in a church and the setting was beautiful dispite the uncomfortable seats. We got Haydens new CD In field & Town and it is really good.
if you want to listen to her music and see her video here is her link
jenn grant

DEADGURL ANGEL #1

Thought I would at least paint these images in my head just to see how they turn out. I know they are not for everybody but I think I this one turned out okay. Thought about detailing the background but I am not sure about it. I'll hold off on that for now. working on a new one right now the image will be up as soon as I am done.

Too cold for ice cream

This has got to be the coldest weather I have ever experienced in my life. I walk to work and I literally have to wear so many layers and I still freeze. It only take less than ten minutes to get to work but I have to run. It is too cold and dangerous to walk. We had a terrible storm on sunday and the cat door in the basement blew snow inside we had to shut the cat door because the temperature was too severe; in the minus 40's for three days. Tonight it will be -37 before the wind chill. the cat has not been out in three days. he seems a bit depressed, but hanging in. i let him out and he can stand a minute of it and comes right in. I have been keeping a close eye on my bird feeders to make sure they don't run out. I get chickadee, nuthatches and so many other species. any given moment you look at the feeder there are over twenty birds.
The coolest thing happened I saw an arctic hare and then the other day I saw a large snowy owl, and there are deer everywhere near the base. And I finally don't here the chilling howls of the coyotes. I assume that this cold weather is normal for a person from alberta, but not for me. I lived most of my life in the maritimes a land where walking through slush is a daily activity. it is so strange for me to see all the roads covers with inches of solid ice and packed snow. It like you could skate to work. Gosh I just can't get warm

january blues

I am just not creative or i am too picky with my ideas. I have over 40 canvases in my studio and i am just not feeling any drive to paint right now. how to be inspired??? it will come to me shortly right now i will just wait. I have a job on base that pays very well. it is keeping me busy during these winter blahs. Trevor is in Wainwright during the week days and comes home on the weekend. so i started drawing in the evenings and going to the gym to keep myself busy. I having been toying with ideas or images of the birth of angels in a contemporary thought. females that are dead and then sprout wings. i wanted the skin to have a hint of blue in the tone. I wanted them to look strung out or emaciated and exhausted from the pain of wings coming out of their backs.I don't know just passing images that caught my eye.

Happy New Year

Its been a while but here I am. I just got back home from a long and excellent holiday in Quebec and Toronto. We started off the holiday shoveling the roof's of my parents houses one roof a day. 4 feet of snow each we got a great work out. Trevor learned to Snowboard and picked it up very quickly. He has a bruised tail bone but it will heal ( hope). I am just getting settled into getting back to work here. I will be working on some new pieces of work completely different that anything that I have done before. As well as work on some old projects. I am having a hard time with the time change in the sun rise so far up north. I checked the internet to see what the time the sun really rises and it is at 8:48 am and sets at 4:33 pm. check out this site.
www.timeanddate.com

You're in oil country

Tickets for troops, is happening this saturday nights hockey night in Canada. It is military appreciation night and season ticket holders gave up their tickets to military member. it will be a sea of green. It will be cool to be there. The Rexall Place will be packed. We will be at the late game starts at 8pm and the Edmonton Oilers are playing the Chicago Blackhawks.

slide show

I added a slide show application so we will see how that works out on my blog page. I am updating my photo album as well. Here is three new painting of my oil refinery series. I like em.

Pinks smoke

Here are two paintings I did yesterday. The apple blossom is meditative and the other one is part of the body of work "Canadian Issue." I am not sure if i should shade the area around the guy so it is not so highly contrasted, or keep it so intense. I like it, never thought pink would fit in that painting but it looks pretty cool.

Windy Days

We had a wind storm yesterday and it was a whole new experience to cold wind. I am from the eastcoast so if there is a wind storm and it is chilly out with blowing snow. That wind is going right into your bones. Eastcoast wind is wet and chilling, where you shiver. The wind here was fierce and blew over the farm fields surrounding the base. It was intense shaking the house and I felt the roof shingles creaking. The lids on the recycling bins in the parking lot across the way bent right in half. But the wind was not as cold as out east, it was not chilling and crappy. But I hear it gets really cold out here, so we are in for it. I had a meeting with the base commander yesterday about being an artist in residence and it was short and I got good feedback. But things here are going to take a lot more time, care in wording, and paperwork. Hopefully in January I will be able to get access to there photo, Nyalas, TOW and EME equipment. Here are 4 new painting.

new red bamboo painting 8 x16

Just working on my my holiday line. Tonight we are going to a semi-formal meet and greet dinner at the officers mess. This will be fun. Still have a sensetive stomache from the flu so I don't think I will be drinking. Oh well. I will be posting the pic of the paintings as I finish them. All of the holiday painting are for sale so if you like one just let me know. Mostly they will be bamboo, sea turtles and apple blossoms. Well got get ready.

artillery painting

Trevor who is in the infantry was like "Man, why you make the artillery painting so cool?" I thought that was pretty funny. Finally met some people on base and hopefully I will be able to finish this body of work. I am starting from scratch all over agian moving to a new base making new contacts, presenting proposals. It is going to take some time but I am up for it. I also am looking into some galleries to carry my work and I am on the waiting list for a table at the Old Strathcona market. I decided to get a job on base and at least make some money. I will be working in the kitchen, I am shocked at how much I will be getting paid. It makes me a little giddy and fuzzy inside. Still getting over the stomach flu, yucky. I started a book club on base which will start up in a week. I hope to meet new people and friends. I was not that successful in Oromocto, so isolating there. I have a good feeling about this place so keeping positive. Thats it for now hope you like the new piece it think it is a break through in my style.

New work

Here are some of the paintings I have worked on this week. I have 7 more ready to work on and about 15 blank canvases. I am working on applying for different festivals in the area at this time. I am also looking in to any openings for submissions for group shows.

LONG TIME

Sorry for the delay in keeping up with my Blog. It has been a life changing experience to move out to Edmonton. We moved in alright and got unpacked and now it is feeling like home. Trevor went away to Wainright for two weeks which is 2 1/2 hours south of here. He just got back on Nov 1st. Here are some pic of the new sectional (with pull out couch) we got at the Brick. and the view of the gym from my house. Which I am not going to Today because I have the stomache flue and I feel like ass. I am trying to figure out what I can eat that won't grose me out when it comes up. So far its lots of herbal teas and cereal. I have been looking at Galleries to sell my art in and I am just painting mostly turtles, bamboo and apple blossoms. In time I will start on the military painting but right now I would like to get established in the city and have a place that will showcase my work permanently.