Wednesday, December 31, 2008

new year

Well, here we are again, together. About to jump headfirst into another year of our lives. I usually takes this night pretty seriously; I'll have my resolutions all set out, some girl to kiss, a strong belly full of booze and good times on the mind. But as I sit here now, listening to all the bustle outside of my window, I'm slowly realizing that tomorrow is just another day, and that tonight is no different than the last.
Coming off of one of the most radical and complicated years of my life, I am in the mood for setting radical goals for myself. One being, is a springboard that stems from one of my all time largest fears: bad news.
If I sense the smallest bit of disappointment coming my way, I avoid it and shove it to the back of my mind, right about where the Savage Garden lyrics sit. So I've decided to grab life by the nuts and face this fear. Procrastination is another good one, but that comes with the fear of bad news. I've decided to punch myself in the head every time I catch myself consciously putting off something important. Well, maybe not in the head, but something. Aside from those majors, I've set forth a bunch of miniature goals as well, but those are for me to know. But enough about my babying, I should also mention that I had an excellent 2008 and look back with some pretty great feelings.


Something else happened a year ago exactly that I'll never forget. I was out with some friends in Nathan Phillips Square here in Toronto, waiting for the fireworks to ignite and plowing through the thousands of people that fill the square every year. There was a large group of us, so we took the beads off our christmas tree and made, basically, an idiot rope for us to all hang on to.

Moving along, I ended up meeting this paraplegic guy who was trying to enjoy the night. We ended up talking for a while but I could see his head was really cold from all the snow, so I decided to give him my toque. Later, during the fireworks, this group of guys were passing this huge holiday joint around and some of us decided to smoke it. At that point, I offered some to my wheeled friend and he totally accepted. So there we were: freezing our cans off, attached to a glitzy rope, watching the fireworks and embracing, and spoon-feeding a paraplegic a massive bud.
I said, then and there, that this was to be the funniest story of 2008 (only minutes after the bell had struck twelve), and I concluded last night that it really was. Hopefully I'll see this man later tonight.
So friends, from me to you, have a great night and enjoy whats left of the year. I had a good year, and the economic recession was probably one of the highlites. Seeing suicidal Wall St. dicks flood the front page of every newpaper for almost a year put a true smile on my face, because when you've got nothing, you've got nothing to lose. Don't forget your toque either.

Monday, December 15, 2008

monday morning


I had another great day in the studio today. Early start, cup of coffee, full generator and some of my favorite albums to listen to. After I emptied out the piss bucket (this space is underground, don't ask) and cleaned some dry brushes, I got to painting. The most difficult thing I think in landscape painting is revisiting a piece after around a week. Sometimes I need to paint wet-to-dry, so I need to allow the paintings the time to dry out a bit. Colors never seem to match and it's a massive struggle sometimes to get back into that palette and understanding what was where and how they've melded together in the past.


It's cold down there this winter. I can see my breath while I work and it drives me to distraction because I'm constantly warming my hands and blowing my nose. I'm starting to work my way into a more safe way of approaching chemicals and oil paints. It's not uncommon for me to wear plastic gloves and a cotton face mask, and I'll usually leave the door open to make up for my five inch "vent" that couldn't even ventilate a fart. Which leads me to my next point,

For those of you that don't know, I'm half way finished filming a mini-documentary about a trip I took through western North America early this past summer. One part of the trip documented all my painting research and sketches (as well as the trip itself), and the second will include the production of all the artwork, under certain circumstances.
Those being that I am willingly encasing myself in a concrete space for five days with no leaving and no sense of time, with the goal in mind of starting and completing at least six large-scale landscape works. I don't plan on leaving the room for this period which means:

no power
(because it's technically a storage space)
no sunlight (also meaning no sense of what time of day it really is)
no watches (because I think that's funny)
no mirrors (because I'd like to see the shit-hole look and surprise when I come out
no running water (again, it's not made for living)
and no light switch (there's no switch; it's a motion-sensor, which means I cant stop moving)

Needless to say, I feel as though I'm getting very close to undertaking this adventure, and it kinda scares me (those who know me well know that I've been talking about this challenge for years now), but it's also really, really exciting.

Sunday, December 14, 2008

a new low

I currently sit in front of my television watching something that I think is quite historical. I am watching Hulk Hogans Celebrity Wrestling, and it's the worst show that has ever aired on television.

The Lowdown: This is a reality show that basically revolves around washed up actors/musicians/athletes and radio jockeys. The goal of the show is to impress the Hulk and his panel of southern brothers. These wrestlers act out the stupidest wrestling sequences I've ever seen, all for the smallest amount of pride you can imagine

The Good: The Hulk is more orange than a tangerine, and you get to watch the worst celebs on the planet kick each others asses and lose all self respect.

The Bad: Everything. In the first ten minutes I'd never felt so violated mentally. I just saw Danny Bonaduce body slam a girl, right before he got leveled by the 400 pound boxer Butter Bean. I'm currently watching a match between Dennis Rodman and Dustin Diamond, aka Screech. This is ridiculous. And the worst part is that they look to the Hulk for approval after every body slam, in hopes that they won't get eliminated and be called a "jobroney" on national tele. Another crap thing is that, for some reason, the show didn't spring for the audience cheering sound effects, so the entire show has this weird quietness that just shows how unenlightening it really is. This show only furthers the fact that entertainment as we know it has hit an all time low. Nothing is new, everything is dumb, brother!



Selloutmania!