Special Guest: Northern Harrier: Oct.1, 2011

A Northern Harrier sped down from the sky and slammed into the window of a local shop. The harrier may have been chasing after a smaller bird. A young man protected the harrier from the local cats as she hopped around in my back lane. The appropriate authorities were called, but they didn’t have the facilities or manpower for a bird. I took in the harrier, and she slept soundly through the night. The next day my girlfriend and I attempted to release the bird in a park. She couldn’t fly. We would have tried again the next day, but sadly the harrier died in her sleep. I buried the harrier in the forest. My painting of the harrier (right image) has been donated to a World Vision fundraiser.

Betty Leaves in Grace/ New Books

Betty Weller, our Step-Grandmother, who famously yelled at her wedding, “Don’t you dare call me Grandmother! I will kill you, I will kill you all!” was actually a very gentle and generous woman. Betty recently passed away shortly after her 99th birthday inVictoria, B.C. She stopped driving at the age of 93! Betty married Raymond shortly after our Grandmother, Babs, passed away fifteen years ago. In her eighties, this was her first marriage. Betty and Ray were the best of companions, leaving us with many great stories.

This page was created for my e-books to be launched early in the new year. I have 7 formatted so far. Two stories have been imbedded into another, making a total 12 stories, 9 of which no one has seen before. This was inspired by the iPad, which my brother kindly purchased for my birthday. I’ve been hard at work ever since – more 14  hour days, but it is a delight. The opportunities offered by the e-reader could be monumental.

Random Acts of Poetry: Work is Crew

It was that time of year when the poets crawled away from their desks in Thunder Bay. We were a frightening bunch of catewaulers who stopped pedestrians and sometimes traffic with words that shook and blocked the normal routine of people’s lives. We weren’t sure what kind of state we left them in, but for poets, nearly any effect is worthwhile. These performances were organized by the Definitely Superior Art Gallery. Dozens of local poets and songwriters got involved. Featured here are (anti-clockwise): Nolan Smirk, Sara, Renee Terpstra, and me, the blowhard with the electric blowhorn.

Sideline: Extra Work in Two Local Feature Films

90% of my time is spent at home working on my books, so it’s good to get out and meet people. I had two short non-speaking roles (valuable seconds!) in two local film productions. The Big Fin Hall is Kelly Saxberg‘s www.shebafilms.com one hour docudrama celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Finnish Hall in Thunder Bay. I play one of the few cops who raids the Hall to acquire unionist/communist propaganda. We drove off in a 1920s replica car. Fun stuff. In Rodney Dwira‘s film, 10-57 www.alphabetproductions.com a full-length police movie, I play a plainclothes Missing Persons Unit detective (and didn’t fire a shot! Rats). Actors came from Toronto and some of the crew (graduates from the Con College film program) from Vancouver. Angela Pye is my partner in the shot on the right. Release dates are in 2011.

Europe 2010 – Six Week Tour

This trip was made possible with the sale of a large cartoon painting from my temporary gallery in Thunder Bay. Thanks Brian! The photos above are of Berlin, Helsinki, Liepzig, and Vienna. I also visited Bologna, Stockholm, Dusseldorf, Roermond, Frankfurt, Antwerp, The Hague, Maastricht, and Amsterdam. My trip was extended due the Eyjafjallajokull Volcano ash canceling flights across Europe. I visited many art museums, and spent many hours every day walking the cities, often getting joyously lost. I saw work by some of my favourite artists. Inspiration came from all over. I made friends and had a few good interviews. In Roermond, Holland I stayed with friends I made in Bologna, Barbara and Gerard. They were fantastic hosts while I waited for the ash cloud to clear, but I stayed a little longer to see a couple more cities. The Netherlands have wonderful bike paths and I did a lot of biking in Roermond. I hope to return soon.

ITALY: 2010 Bologna Children’s Book Fair

Around the corner from where I was standing was a wall illustrators used to post their business cards and samples for publishers to view. (Photo below.) On all sides, reproductions of great art for children’s books were everywhere. Hundred of young agents, illustrators, writers, designers, from all parts of the world attended. The Dutch Party at the Corte Isalano – an inner-city palace, was invaluable. (Photo below: read my news post on my website for more details.)

Digital Art Show at DEFSUP: Dec. 5 to Jan. 16, 2010

Carol Cooper and I had a show of our digital images in gallery 3 of the Definitely Superior Art Gallery, in Thunder Bay. Samples of Carol’s many series can be seen at www.compasswebworks.com. Carol continually plays with new programs and applies what she learns to new series. Most of my work in this show was created with specific functions in mind, such as creating a theatrical image for a brochure or monoliths as a submission for a sculpture competition. I love dropping people into surreal scenes too.

Recruitment Campaign

With Michael Rapino (CEO of Live Nation Entertainment) and Shy-Anne Hovorka (singer/songwriter – www.shy-anne.com) we are aiding our alma mater in recruiting students. A great honour.

Rarely are artists featured in billboards (rock star status in Barrie – along with bus shelter and subway posters in Toronto!) Students at LU are wearing T-shirts featuring The Boy from the Sun. 3,000 Ts were handed out for free in Toronto. I’ve got a few I’m proud to wear. While biking a child saw my shirt and yelled with possessive authority, “I have that book!” I yelled back, “I wrote that book!” The boy’s older sister burst out laughing, as her brother grimaced like he’d been bested.

Art Zoom: Revitalization and the Arts

I’m organizing 50 artists, musicians, and writers into 20 retail locations, including galleries for this annual event. I’m taking over from local artist, Linda Dell. Art Zoom is a great way to get hundreds of people into shops and seeing art they otherwise wouldn’t without this event. The Thunder Bay downtown cores need help and the arts, as everyone knows, has proven to do this very successfully.

Constellations Art Show: Aug. 21 – Dec. 23, 2009

Over 100 original works of art are on display at 12 St. Paul St., Thunder Bay, ON. Over sixty people attended the opening and I get about 30 people a day. Special Thanks to Dorothy Hanson! And thanks to Shaw Cable, CILU Radio, The Source, and The Chronicle Journal.

Christmas with LuAn Mitchell

I was a guest at the “Banff Mansion” over the Christmas holidays with LuAn Mitchell, one of Canada’s most famous entrepreneurs, and one of the top 40 in the world. LuAn and her wonderful children made me feel at home.  This was my first trip to Banff. LuAn is now a writer and speaker who was the owner of Mitchell’s Gourmet Foods. LuAn gives talks and attends events all over the world. She is a philanthropist and donates her time to worthy causes. I had no idea who she was when I asked her out for a coffee in Victoria. We met waiting for an elevator. LuAn has been a great inspiration.

Science Fiction Pilot Images

Actors will be green-screened into these  images created for my brother’s upcoming project, a pilot for a half hour sci-fi comedy series. The image on the left is from a photo of mine taken in the Metropolitan Museum of New York. The Egyption hawk is from the Montreal Museum.  The computer room is from an old collage I did for a literary journal. Bottom left is from an oil painting I did for my poetry book. The ‘Space Dock,’ right, is from a photo of Peel station in Montreal when I lived there. I had to erase all the people standing on the platforms. Planets, actors, spaceships, and backdrops can be added and changed in these scenes and all made to move. These and a couple more images took me 16 hours to produce. 

Northern Writers Festival

 

Me, Steve Heighton, Heather Cariou, David Hayes, John Geddes, Alistair MacLeod

I had the honour of reading before Alistair MacLeod at the ‘Sleeping Giant Writers Festival.’ I read my short story, ‘The Archer.’ Alistair read from his novel, ‘No Great Mischief.’ I sat in on Steve’s great poetry workshop. Heather was full of advice. My workshops were packed with enthusiastic future authors. I wish I had more time to chat up the other authors. Special thanks to the organizers for their invitation.

‘Spacesnake’ wins people’s choice award!

Spacesnake, the animated version of my book, won the people’s choice award at the Thunder Bay Film Festival. Jevon Kavulchuk did the actual animation with little guidance from me, so became director. Castle Keep, created for the Thunder Bay Police Department, is about a family returning to their home to discover they are victims of a break and enter crime. I did the story boards, direction, and images, requiring hundreds of paintings of objects, backgrounds, and characters. Story by Dennis Austin.

2008 Lakehead University Alumni Awards

Above: in conversation with Dr. Lorne Everett at the dinner for the 2008 Alumni Awards with my girlfriend, Debbie. Below: Dr. Fred Gilbert (LU President), Me, Kate Bird (founder of Career Essentials and one of Canada’s Top 100 Women Business Owners), Dr. Elizabeth Murray (researcher in life sciences, winner of many academic awards and a national fellowship, works for SemBioSys Genetics), Glenn A. Miller (Chairman of PenEquity – leading real estate development and management company), and Dr. Lorne Everett (former Chancellor) who was the host speaker. It was an honour to be in such prestigious company. A former English professor of mine, Dr. Gellert, gave me a wonderful introduction that night which stole the show, and rendered me almost speechless.

ART SHOW at the T-Bag

This year, 2008, I had 96 works of art at the Thunder Bay Art Gallery, mostly of from my picture books hung on yellow walls. Adult themed works for my poetry, portraits, and others were hung on white walls.  Above, three people are gathered by my most recent oil painting. Scott Pound, a professor at Lakehead U studies an image in one of my “drop sheets.” 

Kady MacDonald Denton speaks on opening night as we stand in front of my illustrations for Night Wall. Kady’s work for her popular picture book, ‘A Visitor for Bear’ was brilliantly displayed in an adjacent gallery.   

Seattle and Philadelphia

Steve Ball www.steveball.com with friends Paul O’Rear and Ivan Lee in Steve’s studio. Amazing music and a wonderful experience! Steve was an excellent host for a trip that I’ll always remember. See News for details.
Steve and his daughter Sophie are my hosts at one of the 85 buildings in Redmond, Seattle. Steve is responsible for sounds and music on Microsoft’s Windows Alta Vista Program. He hired his friend, famed guitarist Robert Fripp of my favourite band King Crimson www.dgmlive.com, to help him out. The modern offices were of average size with nice views of the forested exterior.  There were an incredible number of young people working in these offices, from all over the world – Canada too. They were very personable, bright eyed and eager.

In Philadelphia, with my publisher, I attended the American Library Association’s Conference where I met with many librarians to promote my books. Top Left is ____ of Milkweed Editions from Minneapolis. Top right are Jillian Tamaki and Mariko Tamaki (cousins from Brooklyn and Toronto) signing copies of their sophisticated graphic novel, Skim (GG winner!).  Below is a shot of the moment before a massive standing ovation for the winner of the Caldecot Award, won by Brian Selznick for his thick and amazing picture book, The Invention of Hugo Cabret, www.theinventionofhugocabret.com soon to be a film directed by Martin Scorsese.

Ceremonies at Rideau Hall for GG Awards

The group photo depicts seven anglophone and seven francophone winners for poetry, fiction, non-fiction, drama, translation, illustration for picture books, and children’s book text. Karen Kain, the head of the Canada Council and famous former ballet dancer is on my right, wearing Red. The Governor General, Her Excellency the Right Honourable Michaëlle Jean and her husband Jean-Daniel Lafond sit in the center. In the second photo I compliment Her Excellency on her choice of format for the dinner after the award ceremony. The format allowed everyone to mingle. I met talented young artists and had great conversations with security staff, military personnel, poets, and many others.
Canadian Poet Don Domanski poses before the award ceremony, claiming to be be very nervous, but looking calm. I stand with French Canadian illustrator Geneviève Côté and her publisher. Karen Kain was all too eager to pose with me and I blushed.

Parliamentary Library/ Michael Ondaatje

It was a great honour to sign a copy of my book, to be held within the beautiful parliamentary library. The head librarian, Bill Young stands behind me. Michael Ondaatje, winner of the GG for his novel Divisadero posed for a photo.

Visit to the National Gallery

 

The National Gallery of Canada had a few great exhibits.