'tis almost time to WASSAIL!

Old apple tree, we wassail thee,
And hoping thou wilt bear
For the Lord doth know where we shall be
Till apples come another year.
For to bear well, and to bloom well
So merry let us be,
Let every man take off his hat,
And shout to the old apple tree!
Old apple tree, we wassail thee,
And hoping thou wilt bear
Hatfuls, capfuls and three bushel bagsful
And a little heap under the stairs,
Hip, Hip, Hooray!

my favourite celebration this time of year - the wassail - we'll drink homemade cider and sing to the trees out in the old orchard to ensure another fruitful and successful year to come!

my wassail of choice?  West Croft in Brent Knoll, innit.

TIIIIIIME TRAVELLLLLLLL

the clocks have changed, it's pretty fascinating. we've changed time, we've all travelled one hour, we've added 60 minutes. i always thought time was a sacred cow, but it turns out that we can just tweak it a bit when we need to, so it's totally arbitrary.

i really wish that sacred cow called MONEY was as open to a li'l tweakeroo, or a big tweakerama when times came a-calling....

this great (and rather dashing) man can time travel. i hope i am around next time he comes visiting. he claims his people have ended death, disease and aging.

...aaaaand another thing....

busy business

what a busy month of October - Cafe Pyrus was the perfect setting for the paintings I've popped out so far! I hope you got a chance to see it!!

what's that?
you didn't?!
well don't get your knickers in a twist, because Dan Forsey of The Tannery School of Music in Kitchener has bagged Hayley Schmalz AND me for a double header! we'll be schmoozing with you riff-raff on Friday November 12th from 6 - 8.

Hayley's work is basically amazing, if you haven't seen her etchings have a warm up gander at these.

6 week show opening TUESDAY! at Cafe Pyrus!

ch-ch-check this outttt!! all the amazing paintings i've been working on this year are on show in Kitchener from Tuesday 'til almost the end of October. this ART SHOW coincides with amazing CAFKA - the biennial contemporary ART FESTIVAL of Kitchener's very own! do an art crawl, and stop for some tasty mental refreshment at Pyrus.

Vlad The Impressionist.

vladimir nikolic is an inspired and whimsical genius!

and furthermore...

Summer Flings!

it's like a giant weiriod kinder surprise.

this beetle was shot in Victorian times by an insect hunter.

this was the first girl to ever use a camera.

none of these folks are going to be home in time for tea.

the yellow one is called Wizbit.

Einstein is the smaller of these two dudes. his bezzie is Playboy.

this explorer lived his entire life on the interior of our planet. in this snap he is wearing the suit his parents sent down to him at age 13.

inspiration station

 what the fun?! where the fudge have you been? who the funk do you think you are, stoppin' in here as and when it suits you?! treat this blog like a hotel, you do, only come in to eat your dinner and drop off your laundry!

i've been sitting here waiting for you to stop and spend a minute and listen to some stories about the thunderbirds (a mated pair have spent the spring building a set just outside my window, and they've been incubating a clutch of eggs - any day now and there will be a family of juveniles!). some buddies managed to get a pic with a fledgling juvenile on an unsuccessful first flight from the set. that bravado evaporated pretty quickly when the little champ came to!

anyway, after you last stopped in, i've had quite some time to myself. too much? no, it's given me wonderful opportunity to do some painting from memory! and in doing so recalled this relaxing afternoon on a childhood trip to the Welsh seaside town of Caerphilly...

that was actually the last of the family holidays, as i remember...

in and out.

oh haiiiii.

i actually just got back from this alien invasion that took place at twilight yesterday over the arizona desert.

sssssso...anyway, while i was there i got a booju and sat back under the canopy of waking stars and listened to the emeralds...oh no...wait...just emeralds, watching and whittling an owl pendant out of my limited edition vinyl copy of invisible touch by genesis. i've never actually listened to it, analogue is retrollectible but obsolete.

the whole experience left me with this faint residual terror, which seemed to hang perfectly over those abandoned horses.

rumbustification, part deux!

during that brief sojourn i metaphorically and mentally battled the beast that now resides in the hellish briney deep beneath our pirate galleon. it took forever. i was exhausted. i still am. but it was totally worth it.

also though, during that time apart, i came across something else which struck me as having potential for betterdom - what do you think? those horses seem really spooked. by something. otherwordly.

i actually really wish i had a horse. a real one.

definitive betterdom!

what a lazy blogger!

narrrrrr not really. in the lull between reporting my findings to you i found something that i thought i could make EVEN BETTER!! i am pretty excited to show n' tell.

i found this fairly majestic picture of a pirate ship, apparently idling in some hellish twilight zone:

(i'm using a super little camera - a harinezumi 2 - which adds some patina to the patina!) i let this sit on my wall for a while, soaking in the piratical rumbustification of it, before deciding on what make it even better. and whether that was even possible....

(you can tell i think it is better by my smug little dot-dot-dot!)

totally wiz!

so many collaborative efforts in the world!

take this beautiful bridge for example, made even more beautiful wrapped in acres of golden fabric, like a beautiful gift from Christo and Jean Claude to everyone who sees it. like their wrapped walkways, it's totally Oz (Wizard of, not the country).

one of my alltimehandsdownfavourite sculptors is  Do Ho Suh (i'm not going to lazy-link everything for you, but i'm so excited about his contributions!) hailing from South Korea and lives in NYC.

beautiful, intelligent, witty, his work kind of reminds me of you!

jean jackets.

ok i have an idea. what if i take something that already exists, and add some extra bits and pieces that make it even better?

like this jean jacket.  it's much more radical like this.

you can do the same with anything.
i saw this amazing red phone box, made even better with this delicate reminder taped to the side.

i didn't call my mother. sorry mum! i love you!

this normal old bit of wall gave me 8 extra lives. you can walk past as many times as you like - unlimited lives!

just think, all these everyday things are actually even better with extra bits added to them.