state of siege or no picnic

George, balanced solely on his haunches held this pose for nearly 20 minutes. I don’t know why I called it state of siege - I could have called it marooned on solid ground or resistance or endurance or persistence or suspended animation or tipping point or god knows what.

vine and compressed charcoal on bond or cartridge - 18" x 24"

 Perhaps I was thinking of Toronto this weekend and the uncharacteristic unleashing of vandalism that occurred outside the G20 security zone during what was primarily a peaceful demonstration  of peace activists numbering as many as 10,000. There were representatives on behalf of Oxfam, native aboriginal groups, the Stephen Lewis Foundation, Save the Mothers in Uganda, etc - and as well a small malicious group of anonymously dressed persons in black hoodies known as black bloc. 

It’s conjectured that the so called black bloc -  anarchists, have no commonality, they could be anyone and everyone including  some agent provacateurs planted there by the police themselves.

See articles:

http://gu.com/p/2txz5  http://gu.com/p/2t2xq

Afterthoughts:

I was in Toronto on Wednesday  and cycled through a seemingly endless corridor of high chain link fence making my way west to where my daughter lived. I passed massive groupings of police everywhere, many on bicycles looking like fun loving boys and girls, scouts assembled for a picnic. 

I stayed over on Thursday with the intention of going to Robarts a huge U of T library for a book on Isaak Levitan. The library was closed – the entire university was closed! I barely made it to the AGO in time  knowing that it too would be shut down Friday afternoon until the following Tuesday. Then I headed back to Hamilton. That was wise because on Saturday Union Station was shut down and I would have been marooned. Marooned!?

Yesterday I watched a video by an independent jounnalist on Huffington Post,  Brandon Jourdan, I was immediately struck by how threatening and intimidating the police looked in their riot gear - visor shields and weaponry.  That was a transformation from what I saw when I was there on Wednesday. No picnic indeed. All that securigard, the fence, the 20, 000 police – the cost – a mere one billion.

Couldn’t the esteemed leaders have met, conferred, convened  through the advanced high tech of teleconferencing, skype? Too modest? But think of the budget – one billion - they could have saved? $$1B 

The sun is just

This is a cliché of course the young man explained to us in beautiful English as we stood in line, waiting for our bus to arrive at Estación Plaza Eliptica to take us to Toledo. He approved the dirty white gardeners hat David was wearing – he elaborated that in Spain they have a saying – the sun is just, it shines with the same cruelty relentlessness or lack of mercy on every one  - so a hat is definitely a good idea. 

wax torso approximately life size cast first in plaster and then ciment fondu

I worked on this piece for several months when I lived in Toronto, building up the wax over a wood, metal lathe, burlap and plaster core.

The idea for the torso was that of a pivot,  of the body moving around itself as in dance and specifically flamenco. Nevertheless while we were in Spain we didn’t leave ourselves enough time to take in any flamenco or bull fight. I was reading In Our Time by Hemingway while I was there , some of his stories describe the strange obsessive fascination this ancient and cruel ritual had for him.

I hope we can return to the south of Spain in late fall and take in some of what we missed this spring.

But not to complain - the time spent at incredible museums in Madrid and Barcelona swept us away!

two tree gestures

  

pastel 11" by 14" pumice ground on illustration board

I did this pastel two years ago around this time in late spring,  – an oak tree I believe which had an incredible amount of character, I ought to go back there – muskeg swamp beside the rail trail off hwy 52.  I remember how relaxed I felt, sitting in front of this magnificent tree without a coat on,  one of the very  first really warm days. I was able to sit with my materials spread around me as though I were at a picnic. It felt luxurious.

This weekend we’re off to Spain for two weeks, Barcelona and Madrid. Making a pilgrimage to Gaudi, El Greco, Goya and Velasquez among others. While it’s nice to look at art on my computer it doesn’t compare to the physicality of standing in front of the real thing. It’s one of the reasons I resist  working from a photograph I might take, which becomes a copy of a copy of a copy.

Yet I'm not going to Spain without my camera or my recently acquired ipod touch with skype. Oh so brilliant and yet mindless these gadgets! It seemed to take forever to get the hang of it. Yes, at times I fall into the 'oi' syndrome - the voice of complaint -  but then miraculously I recover into the wow and yay  syndrome. One fluctuates as it were.

gesture of a willow tree early March 2010,  9" x 11"

Kozawyk farm near Waterdown

pastel on rowney pastel paper

rest along the way

 seated figure carbon pencil 18' x 24' Fabriano paper

This was another theme pose. The same person who conceived of the Easter crucifixion theme  presented us with the  notion for this pose – he wanted to ‘drama it up’ as it were.
It  was a three hour pose with breaks for all of us to stretch and for some of us to sharpen our pencils.

So our model last Sunday was meant to be a pilgrim taking a rest on her way to Santiago. But in reality the model at the end of the afternoon would just be heading back to Grimsby, a lovely town to the south of us on the Niagara escarpment – where there are vineyards and wineries. And at this time of year - orchards of fruit trees in blossom! That indeed would be worth a pilgrimage. 

landscape and the unexpected

pastel 8 x 11 Spencer Creek - Tuesday, April 20 2010

I spent two afternoons last week at Christie conservation area,  which is where the Spencer Creek runs - off Middleton Road between hwy’s 8  & 5 on the escarpment above Dundas. Both were sparkling, idyllic, sunny days.

But Tuesday was a bit of a shock. When I got home around 4:30 there was no David to greet me. He was at a fire on our street one block to the west of us. It was the city architect’s cottage, the fire started in the huge addition he had just built to the back  of his house.

 

The architect's cottage on Stanley Ave just west of us, Tuesday April 2010

The consensus was that the fire likely started around four, just half an hour before I got home. Everyone was in disbelief. The librarian at Locke library on the corner of our street said she heard sirens and thought dismissively, hmm you don’t often hear sirens on Locke street. It never occurred to her to make the connection that the fire could be  in our neighborhood!
Another woman a few houses down, said she smelled smoke but thought maybe someone’s barbecue had caught on fire. At five I walked over to see for myself.  Flames could be seen through billowing, acrid,  smoke on the cottage roof. The local CH news was there and people were snapping pictures with their cell phones. Nothing in the house was salvageable but the firemen were at least able to prevent the fire from spreading to the houses on either side. And mercifully the family was safe - thank god for that! Still, what can I say - it was horrible. 

farm on fourth concession

chalk pastel 8 ½” x11" - fine pumice and gesso ground 

on generic water color paper

On Tuesday I met our landscape group at Andy’s farm off 4^th concession. I was glad I wore boots. The place where I climbed over the roadside fence to set up my easel was muddy and wet in spots. There was a long row of weeping willows trees beside the bank and growing  right in a system of shallow flowing streams. I was late getting there so I didn’t do much exploring. But it’s a very old idyllic farm beautifully cultivated, comparable  according to  another Andy to the south of England. This farm still has twenty or so sheep who go wading in the streams, but Andy who is now retired has sold most of his flock off. When I arrive two biggish dogs greeted me and the more hyper active black dog is thrilled to be jumping in and out of the streams constantly for the three hours that I was there – which is nice because if I were alone he/she would keep me company. 

portrait bust

portrait of Lita life size - ciment fondu 

click on image to enlarge

This is a portrait of the woman who taught my daughter voice for several years, before she went to Montreal. She herself is a fantastic singer of Schubert, Mozart, Straus, Mahler – you name it.

There is no patina on this particular cast. I never got around to doing it. Maybe one day.