The hearts filthy lesson

How I start most days, stretched in the sun, laptop....in...lap(currently on floor).  I think about the little projects I have on the go and which best suites my mind today.  If I decide that none of the them do, then I must bide my time with something distracting.  Like video games!  Until I realize I have shifted into a state I can work with.

I'm playing: Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time.  Waiting very impatiently for the release of Bioshock 2 & God of War III.

Bioshock 2 trailer:



I believe this is an old trailer but it's fantastic:



It lead me to believe that there would be some not so underwater play, though that isn't suggested in the latest trailers.  Still, sooo gorgeous.  I can't wait!

God of War III:



EPIC!

I AM THE BIGGEST NERD EV0R.

I've also been frantically searching for the God of War Collection,  the first two games remastered & released for PS3 on.....November 17th I believe?  I will definitely play both of them again... 

At last.

I dabbed & dobbed on this a bit more and called it complete.  I know, you're like: "What, there's a difference between this and the last WIP?"  The answer is....barely.....but yes.  Mostly I just wanted to move on. 

Up next: CAT ELVES. 

Can you even believe it?

Me & the dragon.

I am in love with this blend in a deadly way.  It brings me back through times that feel like dreams now. 

I can't stop watching it.  

A world that sits heavy, alien and permanent within your chest.

Machines

When I don't have a clear idea of what I want to do, I tend to just play around with simple shapes until little creatures start forming out of them.  With CG, I mean, not when I paint.  This is the very basic start of my next big project. 

The giant was part of my first "demo reel" that I did in school.  It bombed, so to speak.  I still like to bring him into new scenes sometimes & just plant him there a bit.  I think it's time for him to retire... 

A symbol of wisdom

I'm calling this completed after a couple of quick things.  It was a bit strange for me, I did something I don't really do.  Slathered random patches & blotches all over the canvas and pulled the image out of it.  I realized later on that it's exactly like something out of a dream I've had.  More of a combination of dreams involving seven lava jets exploding out of the earth and a demonic elephant named Nine that resides within an impossibly tall and terribly constructed spiral tower.

I suppose it makes sense.   

20" x 16" Oil on canvas.

WIP take two

WIP: Oil on wood panel.
13.5" x 10.5"

It's been a few months since I last posted a WIP. To be fair, I did whisk myself away to the west coast, Burning Man & the prairies for a good section of time...but I also have issues(that tear my head apart) when deciding whether a painting is done. My process slows to tortoise state, a dab here, a stroke there....per day....

I really want to be able to go "there", you know?  Alas, there is this wall I've built out of creative dread....must...not...push...self...to climb it........for fear of slipping off and landing directly on my spine, splintering it into one thousand pieces of failure.

Silly, I know.

Halloween, delayed.

For Halloween this year I last minute stuck a scarf on my head, blackened my eye, tossed some dreadful gold hoops through my ears and hobbled around with my hooked paw, claiming to be a gypsy pirate hybrid. I downed steaming hot cups of rum and headed for Modclub Orange, a night my friends put on at Blizzarts(Montreal).

The thing I love about Montreal is that no matter where you are, it's pretty easy to strike up a good conversation with a complete stranger. By good I mean, both parties are not desperately trying to impress the other/talk over the other and you actually feel like you've made a meaningful connection, learned something, made a new friend perhaps. Someone you'd give a little wave to if you were to pass them on the street. A little wave that says: We understood each other & we get it.

Situations I find to be rare these days.

My favorite costume was the monolith. I wish I would have caught it with my camera, swaying through the tiny entrance while the Cabinet of Dr. Caligari played all around us.

Wonder dogs, foliage & Big Daddies

Last weekend a friend and I set out into the crisp autumn evening with the intention of visiting The Underdog Club Gallery. This is an organization that supports local rescues and hard to place dogs by showcasing them & a fine selection of homeless dog photography. We had seen earlier in the day that an event was scheduled on this evening. Unfortunately our half hour walk in the icy wind and rain led us to a dark storefront, not a dog or human to be found. Drat!

It wasn't for nothing.

On our way back I spotted someone coming out of a building that I thought must be this gorgeous Westmount library everyone was going on about. It wasn't really the way the building looked from the outside, in fact, the entrance was extremely underwhelming, but more an adventurous pull, a soft calling like tiny hands tugging at our coats. Get.in.here.

So we did.

Inside was a strange blend of breathtaking moldings, lawyer lamps and industrial bookshelves. An out of place mid 50's couple giggled in the corridor and except for that, all was dead silent. Very few people were there. I felt that even whispering was too much for this place to handle. We wandered a bit, like dusty ghosts hovering from room to room.

Through a window, we spotted tropical plants.

"An Atrium..." Weirdy(my friend) noted.



We thought it a good idea to get a better look from outside. We went back to where we came in and found the atrium entrance through another very black corridor we had already passed. All of the lights were off inside.....but the hours stated that it was clearly a good time and this door was open to us.



It was a magical place, damp and old. It was like Jumanji in the attic and not a soul was around. We stepped back in time, into a dream, into the underwater city of Rapture. If Andrew Ryan's voice had suddenly spilled out of the flowers and pipes, I wouldn't have been surprised.