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Dog Heaven
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Creative
- Hits: 1339
A friend, presuming competence, that generalization that because I'm good at my job and I'm terrific at holding my liquor I'm probably great at my artwork as well, invites me to paint the portrait of her beloved deceased dog.
Cue circus music.
Now I'd make the same mistake myself if I didn't know myself any better. But I accept the challenge - why not, dogs aren't people, you only have to realize a passing resemblance to the breed and people will invariably identify it as "their" dog. Not like people. Damnable people. People, you get a resemblance, eyes, nose, mouth, maybe even ears and a forehead, yet still they find something wrong. Dogs, come close on color, shape and size, and there's no complaining. This summer I'm going to set up at the Ferry landing and do doggie portraits, I'll make a killing, no complaints, I'm pretty sure...so this, this will be the necessary practice.
My art supplies, by grim necessity, are coming largely from "Dollorama". I've got to get used to the new color naming schemes, no Cadmium or Alazarin hues here, I'm making do with "Daffodil Yellow" and "Sapphire Blue" and "Pumpkin Orange". And Glitter, lots and lots of glitter. And you know, it isn't half bad, why ever in the hell did I need expensive top-of-the line oils and canvas when generally all I paint is shit? This is working out terrific...and I'm saving a bundle...
Attempt #1
At which point it was much admired and then she let me know her dog was a girl, hence the fire hydrant wasn't really a necessary prop.
I knew I could do better, and so I tried again:
Yeah, better, maybe, I'm loving the glitter, but not enough better, and so I thought on it for a while and went back to Dollarama for some better brushes. Acrylic brushes.
And I think I got it, maybe a little more abstract than she'd like, but it pleases me (mostly) and in the end that's all that matters...
You know, I watched a bunch of YouTube videos on how to paint clouds. Clearly it didn't sink in. But the whole bit about "Paint the background first" was a bit of a revelation, and upon reflection it kind of makes sense...
My Favorite. It doesn't get better than this. Dog Heaven.
Kitsch - Salt and Pepper
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Images
- Hits: 1318
I had a friend once who wanted me to buy her all the kitschy Salt and Pepper shakers I could find. She was going to open a restaurant. The restaurant never worked out, and I stopped buying them, but since then I've always noticed them.
Thursday, a trip thrifting south through Rossland and Trail - only to discover that the Rossland and Castlegar Hospital Auxiliaries are closed on Thursday (damn!!!) - and, looking longingly through the window of the Rossland shop, there are treasures inside, I can smell them, see them, it's the best thrift shop for a hundred miles, but not today....
Anyways, in one of the ones that was open I discovered someones Salt and Pepper shaker collection. Dozens of them. In every shade of kitsch imaginable.
Collected below for your enjoyment:
Because nothing says "early divorce" like a pair of wedding themed salt-and-pepper shakers. Notice as well the football and pots-and pans themes in the lower edge of the photo.
Hobos and Roosters, Bowling pins and balls, a pair of relatively ordinary glass salt and pepper shakers.
Made in Japan, Jimmy Hendrix? WTF? I have no clue, but I wouldn't want to eat anything sprinkled with that hair. Probably more in the line of "Grandma likes figurines, let's get her this....", as in the abysmally decorative, not at all practical.
A two-part salt-and-pepper poodle, trying to sniff it's own butt...
What can you say? They suggest to me a more traditional Asian aesthetic...
And then there's this. I checked the bottoms to see if they were Hummels. They weren't. Porcelain German kids sitting - when you lift them you see the joke - on the outhouse. Charming. The bears in the back, unglazed bisque, have a bit of cool to them, they hang on the branches of the tree...
And, finally, chipmunk or other forest wildlife in hat/right front. And in the back a trio of skunks with REAL FUR tails and "amusing" sayings on the pedestal. I don't recall the sayings, they really weren't that amusing.
There were more, lots more. Count yourselves lucky.
Suspiria
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Film
- Hits: 1706
Continuing the horror bent: Suspiria, good, 70's, high 70's style, Art Nouveau, vivid colors and imagery. The version I found, a little uneven on sound, and the overdubbing of the language is rather unconvincing, artificial, seems a little unsynced, but overall - definitely not the best, but you can see how it influenced later movies.
Trivia: I'd always wondered what became of Jessica Harper - the lead from "Phantom of the Paradise" - well, this was her next big thing. She turned down Annie Hall for this.
Curious.
LINK(Warning, Spoilers): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suspiria
Where in the world is...?
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: People
- Hits: 1361
He's disappeared, Batshit I mean, 1 month of the restaurant open and no sign of him. I start to get a little concerned, make some enquiries, in Riondel I ask at the general store, it turns out he slipped, fell, maybe broke his hip, at the hospital...they cleaned out his house in Riondel, didn't want him living there anymore, wasn't safe for him...
Call the hospital, but his alias, Kootenay name, it's not good enough.
And now to the troublesome task of finding out his real name. Ask about Riondel, no one knows it. Or if they do they're not saying. And here, I should note, is a big breach in Kootenay Etiquette - you use the name people provide you and don't ask any further. Lots of people around here have good reason not to give you their real name - from the draft dodgers, growers, and people with warrants outstanding, to the plain old "it's my party name", you take everyone at their word and don't pry.
But I gotta pry if I'm gonna find him...
Ask about in Nelson, a few carefully directed queries and I have it...
Pretty ordinary, a quick Google turns up thousands of results. (later research would prove that his real name - for the purposes of the interweb, anyways, is no better than his pseudonym).
Back to the search, rumour had it he was staying at his sisters...
Didn't know he had one. But on the first call it's BINGO.
And take him for dinner and catch up...
Found him, grown old overnight, he's been moved by agencies to Nelson, all of the doctors, nurses, chipping in to get him a place, furnishing his new apartment at a home up ... street, he describes it, he's tickled pink, loving all the attention and fuss he's stirred.
But he's of a sudden grown old, his hip, not broken but a pinched nerve, he's lost 14 lbs, the hip was minor, he was another 17 days in the hospital with pneumonia, he's telling the same stories he's told a hundred times, living in town, this will be good, easier to find him, to take him out, there's shows he'd love, the burlesque, drag shows, night-clubs, town will work a lot better for sure, but I can't help but thinking this newly found comfort will be the death of him...
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