holiday fun

My brother got me portable chopsticks for my Christmas present!
They may almost have qualified to be chindogu, but they have been marketed and sold, so they can't qualify. I have been wearing them around my neck every day.
I saw Eric and Kelly Thursday, back from the East Coast for Christmas, and we did a lot of catching up. I never have to explain myself around them, and we get each others' jokes and mannerisms. It's like my generation has it's own culture and diaspora. Eric says my new trumpet is actually a cornet, and Kelly's dad was able to unstick the mouthpiece. Eric played it for a good 2 minutes before the hammer came down - but he got a tune out of it...
Hot water is back, and better than before!
Off to Toronto today for a Tibetan VAJRAKILAYA empowerment. This retreat removes obstacles to Dharma practice and destroys the hostile forces to Compassion.

Merry Christmas!

I've had no hot water in the house since the 23rd, which means I've been shower hopping the past few days. Anyone willing to offer me some warm water will receive gratitude not only from me, but also from people next to me. All the gifts are exchanged but one, and I have a Uakti CD playing - Brazilian made instruments and Philip Glass composition. Mom made macaroni and cheese for Christmas dinner, and I've watched Better Off Dead, so I am basically in Laurie heaven right now (with Punk Rock Girl, of course).

Uakti (pronounced wah-ke-chee)

Big Black Oak desk

Today, I knew I had plans to take my neighbour to Toronto to pick up his son for Christmas. So much more happened than that.

Elizabeth called to ask for help to move a desk. An architect had donated a heavy oak desk to the Arts Council, but more people were needed to get it out and away. I told her I would wait at the Strega until the truck was ready. While at the Strega I drank coffee and shot the breeze with Edwin and some fellow reading some papers. He had a stack of photocopies and papers on the table. I said: "If you read all that, someone should give you a certificate." He wasn't a student, but an instructor from the University of Toronto, marking papers from a class on structures. Elizabeth and Matt pulled up, so I left. Joe Lapinski was walking down the street so I called out to him.

When we arrived at the architect's office, we realized we needed more bodies to move the desk. I recalled seeing Joe, so Elizabeth trotted to the Strega to see if he could be recruited. Instead, she returned with Jesse, the fellow who had been marking the papers. We also managed to snag a mailman away from his route.

After the desk made its way to the Arts Council office, I showed Jesse that the Fine Grind Cafe also had Art Under Glass. He and Rob started talking, and it seemed to me that Jesse was seeing about booking a show. Turns out he also teaches at OCAD. We may be seeing some outsider art in St. Catharines pretty soon. Elizabeth drove us all back to the Strega and Jesse picked up one of my business cards.

Matt and I went off to Toronto making bad puns there and back. I can't recall them all, but I do remember seeing a store in Oakville: The Merchant of Tennis. One stop at the Whole Food store for some cheese and vanilla tea, and then Toronto. Matt pointed out a few murals along the Lakeshore an old accomplice had installed on local storefronts. The highways were jammed up like a dog eating a peanut butter sandwich.

Coming in January at the NAC

Which one is the fraud? Come see these tiny science experiments before they find their way across North America. Young Mad Scientists will be examining these tiny paintings trying to figure out which one is a fake.

Up to 80 pictures will be on display all at once, creating the illusion of a flock of birds flying towards a sunset as seen through a large scenic window. Once over, the set will be broken into pairs, each set containing a 'real' painting, and a 'fake' painting. The young students will then learn one way science can be used to help art historians determine the authenticity of artworks.

Laurie Boese has been teaching art classes since 1988. He received his Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1994, and a Bachelor of Education in 1996. He has been entertaining and educating children as a Mad Scientist for over 5 years.

Linoleum

When I went to Weber's today, I discovered they do indeed have linoleum, lino cutters, ink and brayers. CVT is cheaper and cuts as easily as linoleum. Let's see how well CVT can transfer ink. Perhaps a maze.....

Art Under Glass

Art Under Glass is now an organizational member of the St. Catharines and Area Arts Council. Look here for more information soon. I'll be setting up a blog listing artists appearing both at the Strega and at the Fine Grind, as soon as I get this double portrait done. The openings can now be listed in the Culture News and the artists should be able to directly load their images and text by themselves. Perhaps Thinner Smarter Younger will be having a show soon at one of these venues?

Someday, my prints will come

What is it like to live in a town with a large art supply store? A store with clay, linoleum, silk screen ink, and brayers? Am I dreaming of a city that doesn't exist? My creative practice is, to a degree, necessarily, formed by my environment, and I am not complaining. I know that if I want or need a material or tool, I can go to Toronto, or order online, or Weber's can order stuff they can't maintain on premises.

Today I went to buy linoleum for making prints. There seems to be none to be had here, so I am going to try a 'composite vinyl tile' to see if it will carve readily, and take ink. I will find a brayer somewhere. Steve has loaned me his to use in my LTTA and Rodman Hall classes, but I would like my own. More clutter, but more convenient. There is a degree of whimsy in art that occasionally requires an immediate availability of tool or material.

I love reading about artists like Delacroix and Cavé, because of their confidence in tools they could acquire or produce on their own. I felt so 'capable' walking into Home Depot looking for art making equipment, knowing that Curry's is over an hour away, looking for lino, and walking out with CVT.

This urge to make prints IS partly due to a Christmas card making workshop I led last week at Rodman Hall. The kids drew on flattened styrofoam plates, which were then inked and pressed to paper. I think they look great, and so different from the computer printouts everyone else seems to satisfy themselves with. The cards felt fresh.

Thinner Smarter Younger

The blog now exists for Thinner Smarter Younger. I've alerted the members. Let this be a lesson to you out there! Things can happen if you want them to. To quote Walt Kelley:
"Don't take life so seriously, folks. It ain't no-how's permanent."

I kind of like the way Walt Kelley has the same name as Walt Disney. I bet Disney was never investigated by the Secret Services though.

http://thinnersmarteryounger.blogspot.com/

Pocket Buddha

ccebec
ddfaf

Mad Science is winding down for the season, but Start-up shows are back to enlist kiddies for the New Year. This week and next are about make-up classes and major kit switching. And i'm booked for a party in Hagarsville on the 17th. Road Trip! Christmas parties are starting too. I'm looking forward to seeing the Mahones on Saturday. And I have to remember to bring Monica her Christmas present tomorrow at coffee. It's sitting next to my keys, but it has been there since I brought it home, so there's a chance I will ignore it.

I traded a pocket buddha for some framing. Deal! Now I have to update the website.

from my messenger

australian revellers outside my window from 330am to 4am, oatmeal for breakfast, meditation in the Short Hills at 10 till noon, making Christmas cards at Rodman hall for 2 hours from 1-3ish, Fairview mall for Christmas shopping, cleaning the Mansion House til now, and Johnny Cash on the cd player

Arts Council Volunteer award

Merle rotated and replaced my tires in one day! Woot!
I went to the Strega for gnocci and then went to see the downtown arts walk on James Street put on by the Arts Council. The new Mayor was there, and Charles Gervais, and Virginia Hatch, and a whole bunch of others. The Arts Council had a volunteer appreciation award waiting for but I don't know specifically for what since I was mowing down fluffy pillows of potato pasta when they were handing the awards out formally. Rob had Maja Bannerman doing a performance at the Fine Grind, as well as the Art Under Glass, Stephanie Jones did sampler theatre performances at the spectacle shop across the street, Ernest has his Lego paintings (real lego to make Apple icons!) at the CRAM Gallery, and Suitcase in Point performed at a jewellery shop, and Elizabeth Chitty was at another. There was more, but I can't remember everyone.
Then off to see the Screamin Black Cadillacs at the Merchant Ale House. One customer had a bottle of Budweiser on the table and got busted since the place only serves beer from a tap.

Me noggin isn't the only thing looking bald

Hmmm. Looks like if I had waited a year, I wouldn't have had to pay to borrow a book from the Brock library. $50 was steep, but I reeeeally wanted to borrow that book. According to the Brock University Surgite! "Interlibrary loan annual fee waived for graduates". Just my luck. Alumni are eligible to borrow up to 15 items from the open stacks of the James A. Gibson Library at no charge.
I did manage to find the same book in NYC this spring for $10 US, and for the same on eBay after delivery, but these were both abridged versions. I will still recommend the Journal of Eugene Delacroix to artists, history buffs, and educators. I read it still once in a while for moral support. A book like that was intended to be read for generations, because peers and collegues aren't always understanding or appreciative of the finer points.
I talked to Ron Dale from Parks Canada on the phone today, after loads of phone tag. He'll be coordinating the celebrations to mark the bicentennial anniversary of the war of 1812. He told me to talk to Bruce Timms with the Region, if I am still interestedin promoting a Laura Secord Trail. (We have more government than you do - almost guaranteed).
Me noggin isn't the only thing looking bald around here. Time to go to Merle's tomorrow so he can rearrange my tires. The snow looks beautiful, but I haven't formalized my intentions towards donating my body to the Body Bank yet. Of course, I also want to donate my skeleton to an art college...

Right-pawed kitty

Made it to Ridgeway for the 9 a. m. Start-up show with time to spare. I was concerned about the snow because of last night. I saw 3 accidents on the 406, and who knows how many I passed in the areas that were whited out. Today the paper reported over 80 accidents. I drove last night for some distance on the 406 with no headlights; just running lights, because the regular beams were illuminating too much snow and I could only see inches ahead of the car. I sporadically turned on the regular beams to let cars ahead of me know I was still there.

I arrived at my second school today very early - an hour early, so I set up for the Start-up show in the gym and went shopping in Port Dalhousie. I still had the lab coat on so i turned a few heads. The lady wanted to know where I was working, and she asked me a couple of times. I got a table top prayer wheel. The cat a right-handed so maybe she can generate some bodhicitta for herself. She already considers everything else in the house to be a toy. The wheel is an elegant thing and spins readily.

(I considered the phrase "right-pawed" but opted for "handed" for regal matters.)

I met a client at the Strega today who would like some drawings done for Christmas - more later! Afterwards I helped Steve drive June Etta to the bus station. Merry Christmas June Etta!

All I can smell right now is coconut quinoa cooking in the kitchen.

2 carols for the kalimba

Lots of Mad Science shows this weekend. There is no room for passengers in my car because of all the show gear. I spent a few hours Friday night reading a book on how to get a book published. There's also a rumour floating about that cheques are in for the October planning sessions for LTTA. Sure would be nice if it's true because I'd like to pay my car insurance with it. Also listened to "The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway" a couple of times between naps.
Taught my self 2 carols on the kalimba. The notation is hard to put in this format. I am not really sure how to show if a 'c' is high or low when there are two in the same phrase, so this will be a bit of a game.

cegCgfedcd
cegCg
egCEFEDCbDE
bEgbDEDCbabC

Here's the 2nd:
cbag
fedc
ga ab bc
ccbaggfe
ccbaggfe
eeeeefg
feddddef
edcc
agfe
fedc

I can only assume people are looking at my submissions here, as no one has put any comments yet. My cat is too polite to step on my keyboard, so there's no documentation from her, yet.