floor cloth

Just a quick post of a shot of the floor cloth I painted with my dog lying on it.
Literally and figuratively.
Not the best photo, but kinda funny none the less....

Henry Rollins Last Night

Checked out the Henry Rollins show last night, he is on his "Frequent Flyer" tour, so spoken word.
He was really great, super funny and of course, smart. He has this ability to make things funny, but still talk about important topics and drive it home. I guess this is why its called spoken word and not just comedy. I think people went home with lots to think and talk about and thats always good. Pretty clever too, his ability to tell us, "Canadians are no better than Americans so shut it" without being confrontational in any way. In his self depreciating way, he manages to insult his homeland and our homeland, take us all down a notch and make everyone laugh at it.... pretty great. He talked for close to 3 hours straight, I kid you not. And no water. Huh?? At the end of that show he must have ran off that stage and latched onto the nearest water bottle with the force of a shop vac.

My friend and I hung around a bit aprez the show, he does a meet and greet at the bus every night. He came out and was super friendly with everyone. I failed in my groupie endeavour and just took a few shots of him from the crowd. I totally could have hung out to do the hand shake, but I guess I prefer to fangirl from afar. And lets face it, the part of me that isn't too shy, is just weirded out by the whole "celebrity/average people" thing. I am torn.

Anyways, as I "fangirl-ed from afar" I have to say he was so great with everyone, totally engaged with whoever he was talking to at the moment. Impressive. If that were me with people all around, taking pictures, etc. my eyes would be like marbles on a washing machine.....

Problem solved! The painting is of Danae (don't ask me about the spelling mishap, I swear thats what I was told!) by Artemisia Gentileschi in 1612. The painting depicts Zeus having turned himself into gold mist, blows in through the open window and impregnates Danae.....hmmm, the original "golden shower".....?

Hey there!
So the Doxa films were both great. The one, "Orgasm Inc." was shocking and funny at the same time, but mostly shocking. Really takes a good look at the major contenders in the pharmaceutical industry race for FDA approval on FSD drug treatments. Was pretty crazy. Its easy to see that "Female Sexual Dysfunction" is completely manufactured by the pharmaceutical industry.
The second film "Sin by Silence" was really moving. This is the one about the women who are in prison for murdering their abusive husbands. There were tears for sure, and just so you know, I'm not much of a crier. The women in this film, their stories....I think unless you've really been there, you can't possibly imagine what they've been through. Also, important to remember none of these women ever thought for a second that they would be where they are today. Made me wonder (as I often do after seeing these kinds of films) why I'm not doing something more important with my life.

I highly recommend seeing both films.
Check them out if you can!!

So now I have a question for you guys. I need help! I am supposed to come up with an analyses for this painting (see below) by next thursday. I have the name of the painting, but I cannot find out anything else about it. Who did it, when, etc. etc. Anyone out there have any input?? Please? The title of the peice is: DanaA.....

Hi there, just a reminder that the DOXA is up and running, opened on Friday. I have tickets to a couple different shows that look really interesting, "Orgasm inc." a look into the new, and some would say manufactured, phenomena of female sexual dysfunction, and "Sin by Silence" which is about women who are in prison for murdering their abusive husbands. Looks pretty intense. There are a ton of others I want to see, but I'm not sure how much more time I can make...there is one on Buffy Saint-Marie that I would really like to take in, we'll see....
I took a workshop on a material called "Foss Shape" last week, very fun stuff that supposedly is the new replacement for buckram. It can be used for millinery and armour and all kinds of sculptural projects. I will definitely be picking up some more of this stuff to have fun with. My studio mate had a full 2 day workshop on it, and brought back a couple really great pieces and some fantastic information. I'm posting the unpainted and very rough product I put out at the end of my 2 hour workshop, complete with blue pen mark. Nothing too special to look at really, but you can see the potential. It will fuse to itself, and harden into whatever shape you can mould it into just using steam.



Also, I want take a moment to plug the Georgia Strait Alliance, if you love our Straight of Georgia, go to this link and vote for the Georgia Straight Alliance to help them win a grant from RBC. Do it every day. These guys work super hard and deserve all the help they can get. Heres the link:
http://www.rbc-granfondowhistler-bluewaterproject.com/
And heres the link to the Alliance's webpage:
http://www.georgiastrait.org/
On that note, I'm going to post a peice I put together last year, it didn't get great reviews, too didactic, too whatever, but I really enjoyed putting it together, and I feel pretty strongly about the issue. I was inspired by the drastic state of the oceans, and all the issues surrounding it. It is mixed media, paper, paint, wax, rocks, fishing hooks, pocket watch, etc. on panel board.




And on a lighter note: Happy Mother's Day Mommies!!

Bonjour ma chéries,
I just hit up the "Make It!" hand made show at the Croatian Cultural centre, I just heard about it yesterday and today is the last day, but I believe they hold it every year. It was fantastic! Really great stuff and reasonable prices for hand made goods.
I'm sorry to be passing on the info now that its over, but I have posted some pics of the fantastic earrings I picked up for myself and for my friend's birthday. They are amazing, I had such a hard time deciding which pair to buy for myself, I wanted them all! Lots of vintage circus and curio type imagery. The gal who makes them seemed like a real doll too, so always nice to support not just the local artists, but also the nice ones!
Here is her website: www.phaulet.com
The earrings are all are double sided too, which I love. I picked the tattooed woman with the cycling women on the back for myself and the dissected brain and figure with the crazy flower for my friend.
Looks like May will be a busy month full of interesting lectures and fun shows. So I am looking forward to sharing!