Month: July 2014

This 1982 gouache just got a new matte and frame. It hangs in Danica’s office. Helen painted it when she returned to Vancouver Island after a visit with us in Toronto. It was inspired by her memory of a rainy day at the College and Yonge subway exit.

Whenever I see a solo female figure in Helen’s art, I take it to be a kind of psychological self portrait. Here, a lone woman has her head down as she climbs against inclement weather. It’s not too hard to see how an artist might identify with the image.

The police board has decided not to renew Chief Blair’s contract, a decision that pleases me. On the bad side, a careless driver has sent our popular city councillor to the hospital, knocking her off her bicycle at Beach Hill’s busiest intersection. The driver has been charged and, thank goodness, Mary Margaret will be OK.

A bridge over the mouth of the Rouge gave Peter and me a good view of a summer camp game going on in the waters below our bicycle route.
The kids were allowed to pick up the floating basketball and bring it onboard, but could only paddle 3 strokes before they had to pass. Goals consisted of two large plastic garbage bins, one on each bank. The bins were almost full of water which helped stability and also kept the ball floating accessibly for easy retrieval.
Great fun on a perfect summer day. The players were developing good skills, learning to cooperate and just having a good time.

We found more boaters on Frenchman’s Bay. Note to self: Take a real camera next time, The iPad doesn’t cut it.

Because I associate this kind of mural painting with slums trying to tart themselves up on the cheap, I feel unqualified to comment on the artistic merit of the designs being applied to an underpass on Woodbine Avenue. I have promised to keep an open mind, and I am trying. The spray painter is wearing a protective mask and that’s definitely a good thing.

Above the work of the hired street artist, a popular illegal “canvas” has been decorated by POM. Since the shed is on railroad property, the city cannot remove graffiti from it and designs last quite a while before a competitor claims the spot.

Theory has it that taggers will leave the authorized wall alone, out of respect for the artist. I’m curious to see how it works out.

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Not only was it cool and breezy, the bike path to the mouth of the Don River was fairly construction-free between there and our house. Good day for exploring new routes, I decided.

Today was Day One of a month and a half closure of Eastern Avenue at Leslie Street. The intersection may reopen by September 7th, but we’ll see. All of the major construction in the vicinity owes to preparations for the new 5-car streetcars slated to begin hitting our streets in August.

Click the image or this link and write a note to the future you. What’s important to you today? What’s a really big deal? Will you think so in a year? Ask yourself. How about in 5 or 10 years?
Maybe you’d like to predict some things, and see how accurate you are. Will that couple still be married? Will that stock go through the roof? How much will you weigh, and how much will a litre of gasoline cost?

Three volumes of poetry by Ruth Colombo will soon be published. While we wait to see them, I have mocked up the cover designs I did in collaboration with Ruth. She has long appreciated Gustav Klimt’s image of Pallas Athena, now in the public domain, so she chose it for the set.
The epic poetry, titled Sisters Agonistes as a group, depicts struggles through phases of female lives, from maidenhood, through the middle years of fertility and finally to old age. The form is classical and the players are figures and deities of ancient literature.
I have been reading the volumes as PDF text, looking up references frequently. A scholarly knowledge of Greek and Roman literature would certainly deepen understanding of these complex dramatic works. They won’t be for everyone, but I have found much that is accessible. Ruth’s writing is strong and well-structured, packed with layers of meaning.

http://youtu.be/-MmFIKI1HB8
From the guy who brought us Beavis and Butthead, only before that.

These sandy citadels won’t be around forever, so I snapped them with my iPad camera while bike riding in Bluffers Park this morning.

It was muddy down there after last night’s thunderstorms, but breezy, cool and dry. Great for a ride around the park. I washed up the bike at home and it’s ready to roll again.

You can see a dark strata line very distinctly on the cliff face. An ancient forest fire?

Erosion will inevitably bring these beauties down. It’s not just the lake, lapping at the base; myriad streams running from the land side are major causes of erosion. See the big V notch carved in the cliff? That’s runoff water chewing away. Apparently we lose about 300 centimetres a year. Several cliff top homes have already been condemned and lost.