the good the bad and the ugly, Canada's Fed election 2025

 its funny reading the comments on political youtube vids the last few months...And today is no different.

I just watched a vid on why older folks are leaning to the left center and the younger gen is leaning right...off the table. Its pretty simple math though. The schools don't teach our kids to read or do simple math anymore but are instead in favour of blue ribbons. Schools don't get funded the way they used to so no surprise kids simple skills leave a lot to be desired, then add social media and what do you get the attention span of a knat, 30 sec or less. How did we get to this scary place? According to CUPE (in 2018 myth buster) Federal spending on PSE was half or less than in 1993. Remember the term "the dumbing of america" from the 80's...well here we are (have a look over our shoulder and the southern border for an era check).

I first voted to stop Mulroney and his free trade Nafta deal, in part because he just seemed to comfortable in his suit and tie, and he was telling me to pull up my socks. Well im no scholar, but the math he was "splaining" sounded, if you really listened, as though he was going to solve our problems by spreading our wealth, jobs and hopes across the americas (including mexico). Now thats all fine and good but that also required spreading the poverty from other places to here...maybe it wasn't poverty, maybe it was mismanagement or both. I'll leave that up to you to figure out, bought a home lately?

That brings me to today's news, that the con party leader Pierre held a rally last night in edmonton alberta that had a rough estimated crowd of 10k or more bodies (damn impressive as canadian politics go). It will be interesting to see how or if that turns into seats, but thats kinda beside the point i have no crystal ball. the vid I saw was discussing why the older gen was leaning center left and the youngsters were leaning to the right. commentors seemed baffled as to why this is...well Ill try to clear that up for you here. Firstly if you were there last night the white heir-ed guy (pun intended) that introduced Pierre, was non other than the infamous Stephen Harper whom brought you such hits as the record of 181days of prorogued parliament, the gutting of our veteran affairs offices (half or more across the country) I have no idea who he thought that would help, but don't think it did. That guy really made the country happy..not! But he wasn't done (these things may not be in the correct order but thats not he point). Some other gems Harper was responsible for were un-protecting 1200 waterways, firing civil servant scientists and researchers that kept us environmentally safe from things like the polly mine pond leak (at one time i made jewellery, cast gold and silver, nothing that came outta that tailings pond was good, in any way). That white haired old guy also did his best to erase some of our questionable history (his preverbial book burning). I remember reading about it but didn't think much of it until the research I was doing on a first nations chief suddenly disappeared...it was just gone and hasn't been seen since. if youre irritated now read on. After his various omnibus bills and proroguements...people were not happy. He tried to force a law to prevent protestors from picketing his office in Calgary (a group of people larger than 2 or was it 3, talking crap outside his riding office was to be a criminal offence) in the name of "making things better".

His con predecessor (mulroney) brought you "Nafta" (thinning out your wealth and wages and spreading the poverty), lets not forget the GST (which was a half percent more than the previous tax which folks voted him in to reduce) again, "making things better" for canadians. I will give credit to Harper for cutting the GST but it really only benefited the wealthy imo, as it didn't make me any better off. The younger gen don't know who the credit for their misery ought to go to...so how can you blame them for not knowing and falling in line with con catch phrases and the boy who never had a job or was it that he couldn't keep one??? doesn't matter unless youre going to lead a country of 30mil or so or does it. We parents could blame them but really its our fault (insert Dunning Kruger syndrome perspective here). I can still envision the image of Pierre out glad handing the Ottawa and carstairs Ab. protestors and that freedom parade to where???/ To where merica is today???? I'm sorry, but really? I don't think flaunting health regs, more cops, tax cut for investors, no more vaccines, the measels and ugly american style politics is a particularly wise position. Considering the cons for literally years, think and have said canada is broken...we have survived strikes, plagues, Freedom to fascism parades, and now tru...well, you know, the orange man...Sure JT had some dick-ish moments and made mistakes, but he got us here, and we didn't die or starve for the most part...we remained whole-ish until a few days ago.

Many years ago there was a pretty good guy named Jack Layton, he was the leader of the NDP and he was super "*issed" at all the none sense Harper was producing like it was a job. He almost won by taking a very aggressive stance and finished the election as the official opposition in 2011...Sadly he died and was replaced w a corp lawyer kinda guy, that tanked the party. Jag Sing, has done a great-ish/bad job of keeping the libs in check, "without" tipping the apple cart, unfortunately they spent to much time doing that job to put together a road map to a more progressive and prosperous canada. Sadly we here "in the great white north" still have issues with "the other" (especially on the prairies) so the likely hood of a guy sporting a badge (of his choice of god) everywhere he goes (and being brown probably) doesn't help...but that doesn't mean he couldn't win, it just means itll be harder. I thought they did a great job of torching the libs feet, although turning the heat up might have helped things to move a bit faster and farther.

Now the Libs, yes they kinda sucked and were bad at a few things. They did a crap job dealing with Harpers unfinished biz, a bit of their own and took a beating for it and still, managed sunny ways to a degree, I'm still waiting on election reform though. With great bitterness and displeasure I'll almost quote Mr. Harper, Marc Carney is the right man for this financial-esq job right now. Now Mr. Harper said that a life time ago, but again Mr. Carney is the right man for where canada is today. Ya he's older, and from the prairies and still, I really don't think he'd screw us in the present. He's got $$$ and is also suffering at the hands of "dare I say his name". Sure he's finance guy (which ya is kinda scary) but he's no school boy with no real tangible work experience, like one of the aforementioned leaders...He solved/navigated the financial task at hand for britain recently, and 20ish yrs ago for canada so he well skilled to do it again, only with even more experience than before.

Preston Manning, Stephan Harper and Pierre have and always will stand and sing the same songs with the idea's and likes of merica's great "Pumpkin King (yes when someone threatens to boot F my door I think im allowed to be petty like that).... We need progressive not regressive...I'll take Heir Harper at his word the first time, Mr. Carny is the right man for the job (hes a money guy with a proven track record). oh lest we forget, the cons sold off Petro Canada bringing us higher gas prices, which was good for us right?...then 20yrs later right after he's elected prem on a recind the carbon tax platform, Kenny says the Fed carbon tax really is the best option consider whats at stake (only said it once on cam and it was the day after he'd won)...Pierre picked it up, spun it, and ran to the freedom to be a fascist parade and anywhere else folks would have him.

Yes the libs dropped the ball many times, was it by design imo probably not, where as tearing things up on purpose in the name of what, austerity or is oligarchy a better fitting term or plan. In this fast paced world its easy to forget all the joy and prosperity the cons have historically brought the highest and lowest of canadians...but in these strange times I somehow can't put my finger on one good thing the cons have brought us...if you can think of any let me know...thnx in advance!

I guess the best way to end this is prob a summary... ive missed listing so many gifts from the "right to con party" (pun intended)..but I'll try.

If you want a leader that sews division, makes stuff up, raises taxes and gifts breaks to top investors, sells off/or guts fed agencies and programs, speaks democracy and acts as fascist wanna-bes then maybe the Cons are the party for you.

If you want free health and dental care, at least a chance at a decent job and maybe your own home, min wage protection, ei, an education, unions, social security/programs, rights, and governance not designed to push you into the mud then you have either the NDP or the Libs parties.

Propaganda is a powerful thing working as insidiously as gold fever. I encourage you to research my musings and fact check me if you doubt my points..

Is Culture in its Death Throws...hmmm

Is culture in its death throws.....(I'm not sure if this is a rant or an article, you be the judge!)

Recently I was shocked to read the literacy rate/ required- understanding level for popular music being produced today is roughly at a grade 2-3 reading level. Hmmm 20 years ago it was 7-8 if my memory serves correct so what does that say about us as a society. Don’t answer that yet. 

In the last year I have read a couple more disturbing articles...one about a long time gallery closing down (run since the mid 50’s) and a 80-ish year old sculptor woman in NY city (lost her space after 45yrs) that by her sole presence helped to keep culture alive and re-generated a marginalized area into a trendy neighbourhood... so trendy in fact that property values/rent climbed to the point said sculptor woman (and others artists in the area) could no longer afford to live where they/she had lived and continued to work for over 40yrs (which basically made the neighborhood sustainable) . She now has/had to move out of state to find a live work space... There are many other examples of this (which imo is sad). To me the majority of the monies in art should go to the artisans not the administrator or management or the like. The artists do the work after all...the rest well it could be done by the volunteer body of most supporting groups. Of the folks I spoke to "Paid " management/admin is where most arts funding goes...very little actually hits the pockets of the creators .....unless its to an artist (if you can refer to them as that) that is famous for gallery floors piled high with sand/dirt  and or garbage, as some kinda statement....Its garbage and sand ...like hello!!!!!

After spending a fair bit of time on Youtube searching out good guitar tunes to learn I came across an incredible number of video’s of “homeless people” with almost unreal musical talent...which sorta (makes me wonder &) brings me to my point in this piece...which is this, “How is it that most of the real creative talent has been marginalized to the street...for the benefit of..... what or whom?” because I’m not sure of the benefit if the reason you move to an area for environment is removed. Kinda like moving to a park area and ripping up all the tree’s???? Or in the case of the musically inclined removing the (broad term here) “instruments” from said musicians???? I’m sorry if I offend anyone with this remark but “I prefer tunes with more than 5 different words in it” (and no I don’t have a solution). So if you mix this with the “how are we going to stay afloat” remarks and mur mur’s from the corp arts and culture community (ie; galleries and museums) I think their question ought to be how do we increase the awareness of the “intrinsic value & relevance” of artists and creative people in our society "AND" how do we reward their efforts since art making is a very financially risky biz (keeping in mind that if not for the creatives we would all be sitting naked in the snow/rain under a tree...freezing our “bits” off!). Originality or quirkiness ought to be supported & celebrated !

Now we come to another element in this...somehow the art, design, music, literature (culture etc..) has become verbose in description and toothless or weightless in substance. I always laugh when listening to an interpreter describe reasoning in an art piece or an abstract art piece. To me if your work is not easily discernible/understandable you haven’t done your job or finished yet....”One word of explanation etc... explanation should not pick up the slack (this kind of work cheapens all “imo“ and helps accelerate the loss of art tool and technique knowledge and skill .....in other words it “dumbs” us).

 Art is the spice and grease which makes our world more comfortable and interesting ...not to mention easy to look at. If we continue to be politically correct by glorifying and celebrating mediocrity and “deep as a soap-dish” art and culture we are doomed to a future of dry, starchy, color & spice less hash. This age of “instant or easy” everything could be a fabulous thing but if we are not careful we could extinct regional (identity) culture and replace it with schlep (or sloppy irrelevant art).

 My thoughts are basically we as a society ought to be re-evaluating what we regard as valuable and how we go about identifying and rewarding it. Will our art be easily/obviously identifiable as an artifact or will it appear more like accidental rubish....this evaluation will not be solely up to you it will also be those of the future. So when you are creating or curating for what ever the reason remember, what you do will at some point later be measured AND you won’t be there to explain it!

    Quality is designed...it doesn’t just happen don’t you think?

Design & Iteration (don't let your big head get in the way of success!)

I have an Idea!
So you have an idea and are now going to save the world with it......hmmm you think so do ya lol.

When I look around in the world today I see alot of sloppy design and it kinda worries  and makes me mad. Now I have a special interest in my example but I will try to stay nice and hope this educates and inspires.

 So in my previous post I mentioned higher learning and Mooc’s.
  The adventure and shot (s) that caused me to re-evaluate my thought process and thus summation was my bewilderment at some of the creative endeavors of my city’s council and subsequent projects designed (in theory) to make our community more attractive and (?) sustainable. Our CAO was a pretty astute individual but these things persisted and now he has been (illegally) fired. Upon receiving some very personal negativity to my queries at city hall I sought higher learning or an unbiased referee/ judge. As I had mentioned I did rather well (in my search) which gives me the confidence to write this (from a point of wisdom gained over 30yrs as a artist/designer).
  This place we call life is a rough experience and it is in our best interests since we are in the age of specialists to take that into consideration (and use said specialists) as we go about saving the world...

Now some of the idea’s put forward by me were used but only in a vague way and thus the end result is less than favorable! So to the topic of this post....

Just because you have a bit if design theory or have taken a few classes does not mean by any means that you are qualified as a designer. Ok you can arrange the living room too ...but still! You have a flare for the attractive but what you probably lack is experience and there fore you suck (just like I “did” in the beginning). That's not to say that you will always suck but when I look around I can see not much thought has been put into ( or maybe not enough thought) your project/designs.

 So new rules of thumb (as it were)

1) does your design visually enhance and balance in the environment it will be placed, displayed or will be used? ( you don’t want to over power anything....or do you?) 3 out of 5 random people must think your design “rocks” or its back to the drawing board for you! (does “your”solution fit the problem?)

2) Is it faddy? (like a “pet rock”) or cliche? if so your on the wrong track so start again. (faddy is not durable...notice pet rock sales are down lol...)

3) do you have the knowledge base to do proper or adequate research to be sure your design covers the who what where and why parts of ( ? ).......Will it meet the need or just your own magically thunk up issue? if you answer no to this start again or hire a better /more experienced designer.
4) Iteration is your friend and should be slathered very liberally all over your design in such a fashion that it is obvious to the seasoned designer that it was done. (couple things to keep in mind about iteration...what “you” want and what you end up with often will be something different than the original vision (which is good). Iteration is the key! When I design something I always draw/sketch out the idea(s) and then flesh them all out into something i can show people. The more iterations of your idea, product concept, image or ad etc the stronger it becomes. We do this to save money, ourselves from wasting time, and to ensure we have done the best job and covered all the bases within existing constraints.). Kind of like “measure twice cut once” only measure many times and test etc...before you commit to one design or direction
5) Geo-design is a term that in my opinion is “used to explain the relationship between geography and environmental design” in other words “geographical design”. But I think a better use of the word would be to not limit it to Geo spatial Intelligence, rather use it to describe the relationship between good design and the method used to achieve that end. In Geodesign we are taught that all things are related and or dependant on one another in a symbiotic way.....and thus the need for iteration & balance. An imbalanced boat has an increased chance of capsizing. Just sayin!

6) opinion other than your own is immeasurably useful and should almost dictate what you do in one way or another. Why you ask? well it may be your idea but the public that will use it, look at and potentially hate it ought to be consulted and taken seriously don’t you think (especially if they have skills & expertise you don’t have. Good design is about smart, practical, and durable/sustainable solutions to problems or gaps of service etc.... not about ego...oh and remember most respondents to you idea or market tests will lie about 25% of the time so if you get 3 of 5 to say yes etc...you can be sure of the value...demographic section tests are helpful too!

7) practice the word “No”...learn to embrace it....good design takes work...and lots of it!  Critique is not criticism its how you say, or are told “this could be better”. Remember “no ego”! Good design is about clean ergonomic form or solutions (imo).

8) This is the most important part..... Good intentions and enthusiasm do not a designer make. Some folks have it and some do not. There are many more things that must be taken into consideration when designing something than I have mentioned here, and just because you know them still does not give you the “skills “ you need to wield said knowledge. (here is where I will try to be nice....If you are an elected official please try to remember you have won a popularity contest....and in that end you are not a designer even though you can apply for and get a grant or lets think big and say you ran a hospital in your former life...sorry you still are probably not a designer.

So should the idea bug bite be prepared for an outcome you did not expect (within reason based on the kind of solution you seek), along with unexpected work and 11th hour changes. If you are going to make something make sure its sustainable, is a good fit according to data/test results, is beautiful and clean in form and does not reek of EGO!

 Good idea's require good design & execution, they (and buckets of money) also can be wasted by inexperience....

Mooc’s & Higher Learning.....

A little more than a year ago as a result of bashing heads with folks at city hall I decided to discover whether it was me or them so I went back to school as it were...to check my facts. As it turns out I did rather well (imo) 75, 8?, and a 96 with distinction). To me I vindicated myself....but so far there is no movement from city hall in a direction that would suggest they understand what they are doing ....I’m more educated and they...well they are still just council....

The route I went in search of enlightenment was Mooc’s....oddly all the courses I was interested in were offered through Penn State in the USA. Now that I am kinda comfortable with this form of education I may pursue some engineering courses...just to be sure of a few other things.

Now the idea that you can take a course from a higher rung school without actually having to attend on campus is fab...but imo it is a bit much to expect me to “pay” for a course that is going to be graded by fellow (as of yet uneducated in this field) students. I didn’t pay for the courses I took so perhaps I am being un-fair in regards to how assignments are graded...In my case I think I did rather well considering I only did 2/3rds of the work (started all 3 courses in mid/end of week 3 of 8-10 week programs)...and still managed to pull the marks I did .....BUT!!! In each of the courses I did I had to give higher marks than I was comfortable with giving when the/a student did the absolute bare minimum in effort. In another case I received a low-ish mark for some very complicated work and felt that some of my peers lacked a basic understanding in the area and the techniques I employed. To me if I was paying for these courses I would be beyond mad at those particular grades or marks.

In the afore mentioned case my marks improved the more flesh the project took on and there fore required much less explanation for my peer’s to understand what they were looking at....(this would be my grade of 75 that I am referring to lol).  So I think should you pursue higher learning through Mooc’s and your going to hand over some hard earned ca$h you may want to make sure your work will be marked by some one that knows substantially more about the topic than you or your peers. Now this does depend a bit on the kind of courses you want to take...are they serious topics or fun kinda things  in which your mark is rather moot as long as you learned something and had fun.

To close this topic I can say that Penn State did a great job presenting the info and made learning the material enjoyable so I strongly recommend the Mooc route and in particular the “Geodesign: Change Your World” course through Penn State. Not exactly what I was expecting but a very enlightening course ....and also the “Design: Creation of Artifacts in Society”. If you are a designer of any kind you will benefit from both of these course's regardless of how long you have worked in these two fields

don't Dis the Artist if you ever expect their help

Well its happened again or maybe its me! I’m not sure but I‘ve dealt with this many times over the years. So I was at a meeting of the Biz Development Comity that I volunteered to do. Anyway it was the first meeting of the signage comity and I asked what we were going to sell with the signs they intend to put up, “the community” was the answer I got. I’m still shaking my head over that as I honestly figured these folks had a clue since they were talking budgets choosing comity heads etc...
  To bring you up to speed, I “crashed” the second meeting as I wasn’t invited to the first (because I won’t belong to a biz marketing group that doesn’t use even close to best practice mentality) lol... Being me and not being afraid to ask for more information so I then proceeded to ask how we could come up with ideas to sell a thing with no definition of what “it” was....and the response was “look we aren’t here to discuss a plan we are here to come up with sign idea’s” ...Like helloOOOOO!!!! So then I spent the next 20 min explaining the process of design ie that there is a way to come about answering those design target questions with smart reasonable and logical thought, and therefore personal feelings based focus groups have no place here (unless they have marketing or graphic experience) as this is about money, not one persons the community’s as a whole. If you choose to go by feeling then you are probably doomed before you start...plain and simple
The old adage "if you fail to plan then you are planning to fail” that doesn’t include the effects of a bad plan though... So then our esteemed leader says I think we should stick with the History theme..(he runs a restaurant in his non-functioning historic hotel). I suggest that 30sec to a min (which is how long it takes to drive our historical “DT Core”) is about how long you can expect involvement of the tourist driving through town and after that there is nothing else to keep them so we have to tell them somehow of the things not so obvious, but talking about signs with out an overall plan of what we are saying and to whom again is cart before the horse. None of this goes over very well with my 2 fellow comity sitters lol. b So before I get thrown out on my ear I mention that it is quite normal that biz owners know nothing of this as they are busy with their businesses and unless its in advertising they might never know any of this! So then I’m asked what I think and I pretty much told them....then we started talking about ease of marketing etc... Then our esteemed leader says “So can you sketch up those idea’s for the next meeting? ”   “Sorry no I don’t work for free” I respond ( i suppose i should have said "you weren't paying attention to any of what I just said were you"). Then our leader then says “well I’m volunteering and not getting paid”   I said  “I’m here too or had you not noticed”.
Now like I said is it me or them? Creating artwork to sell a product is one of the talents I poses, but before any line is draw there are alot of questions that need to be answered as any good designer knows and most biz owners don’t. To the biz owners of the world A) doing it for yourself is ok if you have no choice, (but honestly just because you like to sing does not make you a good singer) if you can hire a pro even if its just to consult...its in your best interests (a volunteer is even better as some is better than none. B) If the designer suggests you should “zig” when you would rather “zag” then odds are they are probably right and getting all hissy won’t make a bad idea good. Emotion has no place in this other than (hopefully) the buyers end. I chose to help choose the path our community takes rather than just watching them all go in 15 different directions at once and basically waste money on an unrealistic unconcerted effort. With any luck I will be able to bid on some part of this at some point but for now I will try to ensure they can see the the forest for the trees and have a direction  rather than just a wish that they keep throwing money at....For some reason (must be emotional) they are offended that its easy to see the mistakes if you have trained eye’s. I respect who they are, that they too have volunteered and are probably pretty good in their fields of employment or business. To me its sad that most artists are only respected as long as it free. Would you hire the guy in town that bakes the best pizza to build your house? Probably no so why hire/have the carpenter build your pizza? Most of life is not a free lunch. The point being the comity head was offended that I should want to be paid for what I do as a business..... In my mind I agree’d to consult not take everyone out for lunch my treat. You market what you can sell (and easily deliver) and it may not be what you want it to be or what you think it is! As a community we need to think of the whole not the individual. We have things here most communities would be envious of and we do nothing with it! Smart design = smart results not just pretty pictures or words for greedy people......

Huffington Post's new manditory FB account link... censorship, Soup Nazi or just faking un- biased.....

I don't pretend to be any kind of journalist or some such thing as I am what I am and I call it as I see it period. As of late I have become very interested in politics or what ever it is that they do in Ottawa in that pretentious group of builds. My interest has grown so much that I now spend a fair bit of time every week trying to stay informed and after not that long, I discovered I'm not the only one that adamantly believes a bit to much jiggery-pokery is going and have started commenting on articles where I feel I may have something to contribute. With that said when I first started reading what Huff post writers and bloggers had to say I was intrigued and after a awhile I started commenting once I felt I new what was going on. At first all was fine and good I started gathering a bit of a following but as of late I have had to re-word my comments (make fluffy) or remarks so as not infer or imply anything other than how nice the clouds look today over ? to the point that there is virtually no reason in commenting at all unless you totally agree with said article or as I mentioned before comment on the pretty clouds overhead that has little to do with or allows the sharing opinion.

To me this kind of censorship is worse than mussleing journalists! Now a month or so back Huffintonpost changed the format of their comment section to allow for more "conversation"/censorship and pretty much as soon as they implemented this "new and improved" format my comments (that would be all of them) were now being screened for what exactly I'm not sure but I can't comment on the colour of a flower pedal with out the word police being all in my thesaurus which I suppose is ok-ish. I don't know about you but I am/was having trouble speaking my mind in a way that conveyed my point properly. Something funny (if you can call it that) happened....I almost completely stopped getting fav's on comments, no more new followers etc and it suddenly dawned on me that my posts were not being posted or were being buried....but that didn't/hasn't stopped me (I'm just that way!)

Can't say what your friends are like but most of mine from what history has shown me, they are not to interested in politics..... Or they keep their politics very close to their chest as it were......So "we" just don't talk about it as "its far to upsetting and they are already bitter" lol. What caused me to do this post is the following...
Today after reading an article on Huffingtonpost.ca I was alerted to the fact that "NOW" in order to "like" or "fav" someone else's comment everything remains the same (no actual additional "verification"). On the other hand they "NOW" insist that you have to be linked to FB where ever word "you" type in the comment box on Huffpost will be posted to FB, apartently in the name of responsible conversation. Seems to me this is "Soup Nazi" type behaviour or perhaps more like censorship through peer pressure (idea being if you won't say it on FB you won't say it...which is sorta true). I will not make my friends or rather anymore of them, dump my FB feed as a result of Huffingtonpost.ca's loosely veiled censorship through fear of personal reprisals. They suggest it will allow for responsible commenting but in my opinion it s a backdoor kind of censorship because they are going to post "ALL" of your past comments too I'm guessing on FB. So needless to say I know most of my friends have no interest in politics and you can be pretty sure this has nothing to do with responsible commenting more to do with tracking who says what about what....Sorry Huffingtonpost Canada but I'm not playing alienate your friends while making yourself a target on FB nor allow you to single me out...thanks but no thanks if you really want people's opinion then ask for them...but if you think your the censorship board think again...controlling what is said does not change opinion...just saying! free the words and allow for differing opinion which does (contrary to what you think) allow for constructive conversation. By trying to control opinion you are little more (to me) than a purveyor of political propaganda cira 19??.

Negotiating the Deal or wiring a bike don’t forget your/the fine print!

Negotiating the Wiring......

So fun with Bike wiring or what. long story short I have this xs650 that I’ve been looking at and poking at once in awhile. Now that most of the fabrication is finished I figured I should sort out the wiring. To start with its a 72 so its hard to find info specifically for it so I have had to try and figure out what what all the wires are for and what he things attached to are. No easy feat considering some things have no name or serial numbers on them.
Last night while staring blindly at the wires again (everything electrical works except for the indicators) wondering “what is it I’m not seeing?”. Its not like I haven’t done this before..(I suicided and shaved the door handles on my wife's “power everything” truck....talk about wire!!!!) So this should be a breeze right...not!
Wanting to be safe I have replaced the turn signal lights with 9 diode superflux LEDs (super bright!). The problem is that the flasher relay seems to work but does not affect the lights....I had the tail light flashing though at one point so I can’t figure out why I can’t get the turn lights to blink. Turns out “the purveyor of said bike” assured me all the wiring/harness’s and various required electronic elements. What he didn’t tell me was this harness thing was from a different brand of bike and a 750, so none of the parts match...(although they may work they are not factory in anyway shape or form.
As it turns out there is a 'slight" (lol) issue on some older bikes in that they are not set up for LEDs as apparently there is not enough draw (from the LEDs) to pull the power to lite the lights...no.... I’m not sure how that works but that's the case it would appear...... what has any of this to do with working out a contra deal for art, well actually quite a bit. The deal in this case was a bike for a paint job....most of the paint job was done (except the actual painting part). Said purveyor of bike assured me that everything electrical worked...this deal ended up being a “making a point” kind of thing for me...(we both got what we wanted sorta so its all good-ish but)  The next time I do a contra type deal I will remember; 1) inspect all "deal" elements thoroughly, 2) don’t help allow the client to purchase too much (it’ll cost you in long run), 3) art has real $$$ costs so there “always, always,always!” has to be some in the mix (often to cover the short comings of said deal elements as its often not what it seems), 4) don’t “ever, ever, ever”, let the client pick your materials (to help keep the costs down) as its just not the same (this is a new one) and never turns out as well as it could have.
 I know all this but for some reason I have to remind my self.......
                                     Happy Arting!

Standards!

Hmmmm......

While reading from one my fav web sources for info, the last week or so some interesting stuff appeared. Now here's some background...For many years now I have strived to produce thought inspiring,interesting, colorful, images and artworks. But this last little while I have noticed that our/my fellow socientans have absolutely no idea what is considered note worthy in the field of art, oooor maybe its just me! A month or two ago I saw an ad for the position of sculpture instructor and it kinda pissed me off. I think what it is/was , is that I have the skills but not the paper, and the more I thought about it (knowing lots of artists) I realized not many would fit the bill. None of the good artist I know have the paper either, so how would this (reputable) place find such a person to teach young impressionable minds?

When I first started doing art stuff I consciously decided to try and do what Warhol did (to create interesting stuff with everyday items) only I didn' want to sell crap just because I could come up with a good pitch/story , I wanted to do what I considered quality art. Recently I also read an article about how art has/is slowly moving away from skill to story or pitch under the guise of sophistication (thats my interpretation, of fine artists generally lack skills as in fine art looks like an unskilled kids "designed/produced" it) and I tend to agree. Digital art is well I'll share when I think I'm good enough with the tools to have an opinion.

What I read and saw shocked me! The art and images I saw really lacked skill (imho) and what folks were getting all excited about was well the equivalent to a grandma/pa getting all gooed up about G-childs first step...you know "Panda photo ops" kinda thing. The art just really lacked... except for one artist that was producing or rather re-producing really complicated photo images (ie imagine painting shadows and high lites  to represent wrinkled up tin foil). Not an easy task but not impossible (just photo-real with heavy detail) and not original. Anyway the rest of the stories included a 3 year old with a Sony dslr camera that was the pride of his parents (and apparently all that witnessed his tiny greatness...except me)etc... Another artist was receiving great acclaim for some of their work, the example was an image, painted in dark rust/dark red colors. the image was basically a poorly painted window (canvas size) with 4 panes....And then there is the "fringe festival" and the act that involves 3 Mayo enemas......Now if that constitutes art there is something dreadfully wrong with what we perceive to be art.
"stolen from Wiki"     Wiktionary defines the noun 'artist' (Singular: artist; Plural: artists) as follows:

1. A person who creates art.
2. A person who creates art as an occupation.
3. A person who is skilled at some activity.

The Oxford English Dictionary defines the older broad meanings of the term "artist":

• A learned person or Master of Arts
• One who pursues a practical science, traditionally medicine, astrology, alchemy, chemistry
• A follower of a pursuit in which skill comes by study or practice
• A follower of a manual art, such as a mechanic
• One who makes their craft a fine art
• One who cultivates one of the fine arts – traditionally the arts presided over by the muses

A definition of Artist from Princeton.edu: creative person (a person whose creative work shows sensitivity and imagination).

In today's obvious definition of artist "Skill" (especially) and "Imagination" have very little to do with art. I could go on about what I've seen. I suppose the most tragic thing is we the people haven't a clue really as to what constitutes art. Since we Anglos invaded North America  our society is made up of many groups of people with different ideas so our culture appears to be just about as mixed up. I grew up around artist type people and though I got it, guess not! I (silly me ) always thought that an artist was measured in their ability to manipulate required tools to produce desired effect. Picasso produced some weird stuff but before he did that he produced some stellar still life images (that incidentally got him exactly no-where). Oh ya another example of unskilled art....there was this guy that "designed " a stainless steel rectangular block about 20ft tall 3ft thick and 9 ft wide with a twist... it was installed in a park by a steel worker... In the newspaper of that town's story about the art piece no one cared about the "artist" because he just watched the welder fabricator.....the comments were a reflection of this..."why"   and then " I sure like the way the grind pattern is done/finished (again the weld/fab guy) It was pretty funny.... What this thing was suppose to represent I don't even remember it was that relevant.

All this just kinda makes you wonder if this is considered art then what do people like myself call ourselves.....and do I stop doing art and just talk about doing it and describing it for lay-people to make for me if I want to "still" call myself an artist? I talked to a gallery owner recently that was telling me all about this sculptor that does farm animals (predominantly horses) and then "has" them cast for her.... I think to truly call yourself "Artist" you must be able to produce whatever it is you do from start to finish "And" show skill  in the execution with the tools, along with originality in style at least.

                      One would like to think there are standards to be upheld....even if only out of respect for those that persevered before us....... As far as the teaching gig goes I feel it s better to just do and leave the teaching to the experts (with the paper)...lol and I'd only show you how the tools work anyway so what would that be worth...

Stone carving: 1) not what I remember..........

           I've done a few carvings over the years and a recently (a yr ago lol) I went out to one of the old mine around here and found some nice looking stone. So I had taken a file with me so as not to grab anything to hard as I don't want to spend a month of Sundays working on a piece. Well it all looked good on paper...but not so much in reality...grrrr....I thought it would be a nice revitalising break from painting...hmmm

So there I am with my selection of chisels' grinders, hammers, files, air-chisels ect... and I have this one huge grinder that I call the beast (when its on the shear power/cyn force of this thing is unreal (its almost scary), and feels like it could just fly away), it was out too. I have a good look at this rock and come up with an idea and start in or rather try....Everything I brought out moves from one of the table to the other as I try different tools on this piece of "soapstone" but to no serious consequence..  So I will have to get some softer stone and maybe I can convince someone to show me where the soft stuff is. I'm no expert but I do know enough to be dangerous apparently and all my initial tests made me think this was the stuff. The last couple of pieces i did were from found stone as well and I had no problem. The only thing that did work were my air hammer/chisel and the "beast" .....only problem is I have a steel cutting blade on the beast and it was out of balance to boot so it was a nightmare holding onto it. If I go with an actual pneumatic stone carving chisel  setup instead of my air hammer chisels my guess is it will work out better and I won't wreck the chisel lol, nor the (not yet acquired) mason blade for the beast. By the way, when the "steel" cutting blade (lead edge) came apart it caught me in the foot and leg so remember; don't wear sandals choose work boots, put your safety goggles on as I did...

In the end I've learned you need a high cfm compressor if your going to use air tools as air consumption is quite a bit (and that is the way to go imho). You also need a really good dust mask (or fresh-air mask) as soapstone can have fun things in it like asbestos and that's really bad to breath in. But so is any ground stone/rock dust...can you say silicosis of the lung...(not much fun).Having the right tools (pneumatic) titanium/or carbide grinding bits are a bit pricey but they are second to none! To be safe, pic stone from a reputable dealer so you don't have the "hard stone" issue I just had unless of course you know something about stone. If the stone had been as soft as I had tested/thought it was I would have had it roughed out in far less time than it took to write this..... Any thoughts on soapstone turning hard? is the answer store in water? if so does it need to be dark as well?

Busy work & Canada’s Finest.

 So I’m a little off track with this art work lately since there is just so much outta whack in the world(I am working on something though actually a few things).
 Ok so in Canada if you “had” an issue with something you would grab some bristol/poster board from the drug store, an Industrial sized felt pen ....scribble your contempt of something on said board and hit the streets. (being mindful of traffic, horse drawn carriages, lawns private property etc...within reason of course)

So today/yesterday the coroners “Ruling “on the Polish guy’s (Robert Dzeikanski) death at the Vancouver airport in the arrivals area where the Cops tazered him (for brandishing a stapler) was published. The coroner rules that Roberts death at the hands of the RCMP a “homicide”. In the last few years there have been a few things like this happen. One street guy shot and killed, a result of two of our finest’s thinking that shooting him was the best way to disarm him... even though he was kneeling with his hands up (he was brandishing a box cutter and was mentally ill). Another disturbed individual holding up traffic waving a bicycle chain was shot to death.... sort of the same way (the tons of cops standing around could have easily over powered both these people).

Which brings me to this. This past Friday 3 adults and one 12yr old girl were arrested by (wait for it)................50 riot “geared up” police. They were being removed from their site of protest (A band office doorway). The/Their band (95% apparently) is/was protesting the councils lack of transparency and non inclusion in consultation re land and resource use.....and thus the 24hr a day protesting!
Also in the last few days another group of protesters..including a 74 yr old guy with cancer (now on hunger strike in jail).. again first nations people protesting lack of consultation and compensation for the expropriation of more of their lands/resources. (this time after winning the rights in court..lol what a farce)
Not to forget the folks in Quebec that were protesting...270 of them were arrested for unlawful assembly (they hadn’t really started their march yet and out of no where the guys geared up in riot gear appeared and just brutalized/manhandled all these people into paddy wagons and dragged them off to jail(and releasing them with a $600 fine). Unless this isn’t canada any more these arrests are un-constitutional. Not to exclude the g20/8 summit a few years back or the arrest (?) and detainment of a 20 yr old woman a few days ago for supposedly “uttering threats” against the Police spokesperson,”by” posting on instagram a photo of some “anti” police graffiti art (bust drawing of said spokes person with a supposed bullet hole in his forehead). Her release was dependant on her agreeing to stay at least 1 km away from the spokes person and or the police station until after her court date April 17. At least she’s getting a speedy trial before they lock this terrorist up (you don’t honestly think they are going to let a terrorist/criminal like her walk do you? why else the court date) Doesn't this all sound like busy work...you know the kind of work teenagers do when you come into a room an hour or so after asking them to clean up a bit and it looks the same and the "ager"  (moving really fast) looks like you just woke them up.

Now do you remember back a month or so the Fed announced new laws/rules to make citizens arrest easier.        Well that sounds all fine and good right?          ...you catch some guy in your garage ripping off your tools and you some how just lock him in there and call the cops... or you see some one grab/steal something and you grab them and hold them for the police right...no harm no foul you’d think right?
Wrong.......It sounded good though huh?
Well what it means is that now even a security guard can arrest and hold you (private police)....afraid yet...just wait a second....lets look at the simple rules law enforcement uses to detain you. You the citizen must be: in the process of committing, have just, or “might” in the future commit a crime. Ok how about now? That Tom cruise film where they arrest him for killing someone the day before...guess what that future is now. But....the national crime rate is actually on a downward trend and has been for a while. So to me the artist, that random guy just kinda observing everything..... it seems strange that Police would be all dressed up for the ball (in riot gear) with no one to arrest for anything unless perhaps a bunch of peaceful protesters...(?) I throw the ? in there because according to the media these"so called peaceful protesters" are thrown in with the likes of "the black block" (you know those guys dressed in black hoodies smashing stuff). If you watch some of the informative Docs on YouTube re the G20/8 summit a few years back ....well you'll see the bells of the ball are actually the police all 16000 of them. I really had trouble believing these were canadian police doing this.....It looked like some kinda "love in" interrupted by the police every once in a while plowing (really) into the crowd and dragging people out and stuffing them into vans and vanishing (not to mention the brutality of how they were dragged or plowed over)..

I'll shut up now and get back to work/art ..but really...         Are there no more substantial reasons and targets for the police to be worried about than "Peaceful Protesters". I can think of a few...and besides aren't protests something our elected MP's/MLA's are suppose to deal with..you know the voice of the people and all that... To me spending all that obvious $$$ on armoured personnel carriers and riot gear stuff is in support of "Make/Busy Work...You know the kind .
 When the police of canada get back to their real job I think in all fairness there will be alot of them in Ottawa, and I'm pretty sure they will all be very Busy and Occupied for some time..
                         Have you noticed "to Serve & Protect" isn't in production anymore.

Just sayin!
(this posts material inspired by the "Had a Right Dept" of Steven Harpers "Canadian Federal Government" paid for, "By You For You”!

Does the Canadian Government need an eNeMa? or is it a First Nations Copyright issue

     Yes, yes, I know this is suppose to be about art and it really is, this installment is about the art of crowd control all stealthy trench coat like and everything or maybe its just copyright issues.....

So Chief Spence has given up her funger strike and it would appear that anyone not a part of the conservative government in Canada (except +Terry Milewski,
   Terry gets Banok slapped by Bob  ) is ready to roll up their sleeves and get down to business and get these treaty's honored. I have a await and see attitude though based on what people are saying. In the last few weeks I have watched patiently to see some movement....in any direction but so far all I have seen is a whole lot of posing and talking, nothing different from the usual suspects.
               What bothers me the most, is that most if not all parties keep speaking the language of puppets when the camera turns to them (+Bob Ray was an exception...Thursday...good on you Bob!)  +Elder Raymond Robinson does a great job of explaining what the treaty's mean to him and his people (he was a funger/hunger striker too) So far I'd say Bob and Raymond are the exceptions in the last week or so ( if you didn't see it live you probably didn't see either of these clips  http://aptn.ca/pages/news/2013/01/25/robinson-doesnt-leave-quietly/

               As an artist I have always bounced to the tune of a different rubber band than most folks. But still I wonder where everyone is when I view the various different "Idle No More" round dances/marches/protests on tv. Maybe its the camera angle or maybe just its just subversion, I can't believe that many people watch Sun News. Are we Canadians really that asleep that we can't see what's really going on? Now I like to read (not sure about you yet) and in the last few months I have devoured many a book. Two recent (to me) books stand out in my mind at this time in history, Ayn Rands book "Atlas Shrugged" and a new one I just finished tonight - "SilEnt WeApons for qUite wArS" (author unknown)  Silent Weapons for Quiet Wars     A must read for anyone with a pulse.... as it sounds like a recipe for Nazi-ism anywhere anytime any place..it's truly frightening...Ever hear of Singularity well its the plan that Anon's the world over are trying to ultimately stop.

    . I'm just an artist but I'll tell you something terrible is up with bill c-11 & c-45. This SW4QW really seems/ed to be some kinda of method manual for subversion and subsequent control of the masses(insert ominous laugh here), it even suggests some of the little events (tests) we have seen in the last couple of weeks, months , years. example;  big expansion in the oil patch (new bigger airport too) but the prem of Alberta says on the news this past week there is going to be a shortage of oil (or something?????WTF). Could it be more look over here (misinformation) tactics... I mean why would china want a piece of a dying dirty industry????

     . Society was told Teslas was nuts and was perhaps even dangerous. Ya ok look around your house and think about that for a sec....you see that power pad your electronic device is sitting on, or the cordless tv? Well do you ever remember an "arms in the air like you just don't care" moment in the last few decades telling us about this great "new" EMF technology? I don't, and I think I would remember something like that. Seems to me that it is quite possible perhaps then that Tesla was right or at least more than on to something...around a hundred yrs ago!!!...I mean H3LL those guys came up with light bulbs (I'm going somewhere with this)

   . In 1919 a Japanese guy invents meth in a lab  History of Meth  Along comes WW2 and apparently the Japanese and Germans used it to keep awake and alert etc...not sure about drugs & the Allies but it would seem they used these techniques described in SW4QW this idea/manual. Its also not much of a stretch to draw a parallel to Germany's "final solution" for members of their society. I could describe a few allies  examples too but the Germany example is "generally" accepted true. Its all covered in this manual, "you know your soaking in it"

   From 1920-33 the US had a prohibition of alcohol...what did people do?   they drank even more...
In early 1900 society was beginning to blame their crime issues on the consumers of Opium, if you study addiction (imho) it shows that the laws about drug use are actually the reason for any/alot of subsequent crime and in actuality addicts can and have proven to have great value in society. So it again would seem  the short of it is that the laws that forbid drugs or dandelions are actually the root of the actual problem. China had a big problem with opium exporters and Canada wanted to help so they made drugs illegal making it that much more of lucrative business. The simple solution is a version of legal with no overhead thus removing as much potential to make it a money venture and thus effectively removing most of the criminal element... I would think the import export part of it at least. (anti-logic). Once you take the taboo out of it a bunch of people will get carried away and probably die but my guess is the numbers would level out relatively soon if you could have/grow it , use it but not sell it. I think  It would remove the availability of the drug by taking the big money out.  no money = no product,.. who works for free? You could perhaps do the same thing with booze (did I say that). Make, to much fun, to much work! logic I think or balance? (jmho) 1986 Ron & Nancy declare war on drugs..War on Drugs..look at Mexico now!

So November 2012 +Chief Spence of  +Attawapiskat fame goes on a funger strike in support of a group of 3 First Nations and one Anglo (I think) Canadian women known as +Idle No More. With the now added support Chief and then followed by a few more impassioned Chiefs the group soon swells to thousands and then sprouts side groups all in support of the need for the Canadian Government make good on some 200 plus year old deals. The PM says he won't meet with Chief Spence but she can talk to the minister in charge. She basically says nice try but if that's how you feel we will up the protest and wait til you change your mind. A week or so goes by and the PM changes his mind, and spends an after noon hanging with a few Chiefs that bit. They talk about all the great things they can talk about at their next meeting to be determined later where they will again talk about all the great things they are going to talk about later..sometime down the road.
In Canada there is a misconception that somehow tax payer's dollars goes to First Nations people and there it is just wasted      http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/politics/article/1240578--john-duncan-let-financing-for-attawapiskat-housing-fall-through-say-natives
So here we are in 2013 and this misconception is still being waved around like a dead cat. It has to be very apparent to all Canadians (unless they live under a rock) that the Federal Government of Canada (who now shamelessly has enlisted the media in a very blatant way) is up to something rather sinister. And you just know that something is wrong when protesters are gathered in the name of issues regarding public safety health and welfare and oddly enough that's the police's reasoning for removing protesters, kinda makes ya think hmmm.... I found the more I read SW4QW the more whats going on, here now, and around the world makes sense. We have agreed at some point to a police state with no rights. If you ask a cop their legal grounds for action against the protesters they usually say "Public Safety"they really can't answer what legal grounds they have to do anything to anybody
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8IP6d1XZtw&feature=share
   let alone the protesters (police not really knowing to much is part of the plan which allows them to be more brutal and dumb thug like) show me an example of how its not like that and I'll show you many more that prove it is(ignorance is bliss if your a cop in Canada).  Silent Weapons for Silent Wars is the most profound 40 plus pages of literature I have ever read and it affects everyone everywhere except I suppose Iceland....I have only found one example of some kind of success against this populous control misinformation, resulting in consented slavery gone wrong.

Iceland saw a problem a few years back and with a bit of pain it would appear they are free-ish and some real bums went to jail (maybe not the biggest ones but enough to make the start of a big change.
http://crazyemailsandbackstories.wordpress.com/2012/05/12/icelands-amazing-peaceful-revolution-still-not-in-the-news-backstory/

I claim to know nothing about American politics but this vid sums up how alot of people in Iceland felt and those sentiments seem to be spreading in Canada and in the US. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ds6Rmg9Uzf4&feature=share     Insert Canada in place of all American references and add "What if we just gutted our systems of Government and Banking from the ground up and fix it so it worked for all instead of the few!
But what do I know, I'm just an artist that thinks we are so screwed if we/all the people of Canada, don't do something rash and soon! What do you think? Don't just blindly believe what I'm saying...follow the links I posted read the info while its still accessible and don't forget to post an opinion (bill c-11 might allow the info to be blocked ie;copyright infringement etc..roflmao) Does the Canadian Government need an enema or is it just a First Nation's copyright issue?

Did Steven Harper really say" let them eat cake"

      The trouble with Canada is that back in the 70's we still had a glowing reputation (according to my recollection anyway).The world has had such a high opinion of us in the grand skeam of things I wonder what went wrong?
      A couple days ago I finished a book called "Atlas Shrugged" not sure whether it was suppose to melt my mind or expand it but one thing is for sure it really seemed to describe today on the planet. Now this book has some interesting idea's and it stops just short of where society is in this part of the world is. The elements in the book are not the same but the parralels are uncanny, even though it was written in 1957. Apparently Atlas Shrugged was quite popular and was thought of as Objectavist "propaganda" whatever that is. The book isn't really about John Galt but more about us. We used to think, produce, and make things. We still do sorta or at least some of us do but I'm getting off track.
     Here in Canada our government is in a tough situation with the potential for some serious trouble if they are not carefully respectful to and of, our indigenous peoples. Mr. Harper our prime minister all of a sudden (200plus years in the making)  has a problem in that the First Nations people made deals with our past leaders, and our leaders have purposely (in the near and far past) and perhaps even geocidally done their  best to screw glue and tattoo these indigenous people's into none existence. Let alone not honour their end of the deal, from the beginning. With the "Arab Spring" fun and games,jiggery pokery of gun law people (I gotta say in the US you can have virtually any kinda of gun known to man to protect yourself and carry it concealed in some cases, and yet some guy all dressed up and packing some pretty heavy fire power walks into a movie theater and whacks a bunch people and no one shoots back????? Locks are for honest people and armed guards in banks didn't stop bank robberies,nuf said). Ever hear of  "Idle No More"?
     This past holiday season Chief Theresa Spence of Attawapiskat went on a hunger strike because she basically ask the Government for some more Gruel for her band and they told her to "let them eat cake" basically... (actually it was housing but the results were the same). Now a while back four women got together? and came up with "Idle No More" (First Nations people's answer to the term" Mad as hell and not gonna take it any more", I don't blame them when you look at the real issues) It would seem that these INM people were going around and teaching fellow FN people and anyone else that cared to listen about what the Canadian Government had in store for them long haul. The more people they spoke to the more people began to think "hey your right! my hind quarters do seem to feel a little raw" but still a good number of folks are still responding to government rape by yelling "Thank you sir may I have another" I don't think that will persist though, considering one day last year we had "thousands" of lakes, streams and rivers and as if by magic we had less than 800 and thats just the start. Oh ya and we just penned a deal with China so they could, en mass and have a go at us too. We'll see how that goes but I don't think it will be pretty....
     In a few hours Mr.Harper, his body guards, the Governor General (the Queens rep) and his body guards, Chief Spence, Shaun Atleo (Canadian Grand Chief), and all of, some of, or none of the other chiefs are going to meet,or not at all. It would seem from the governments position, to do some more discussing about what can be done about the deplorable living conditions First Nations people have to endure, or was it the general lack of ingredients to make "black bread". In all likely hood the First Nation's people in all shapes and forms are" Idle No More". Like me I'm sure they have spent alot of time (my guess is a few hundred years) sitting with a phone jammed in their ear waiting for the "department of Indian affairs "  to come back to the office from coffee and take them off hold so they can get on with business. But since they have been on hold again for a year they just figured they'd come down to the office and see how its possible for 6000 government employees to be at coffee all day for a year, every year.
      Mr. Harper and his gang of merry looters are going to make history in the next few hours, and when his term as Prime Minster is up, actually by the end of the day "he" will have decided whether he wants to be remembered as a "HERO" or a "LOOTING ZERO".  It doesn't matter who's responsible for making it what it is. you wanted the job. now you got it, make it work..... First Nations people (sorry to break that to ya) are the first "Turtle Islanders", you might know it as Canada, but they were there/here first or at least before us.....So lets do the right thing by them and maybe by accident we might get our seat back at the UN big boys table....we know, you know, how to behave like a big boy, and we know, you know, what "respect your elders" means and since that,s how you want to be treated, act respectable your making us look bad.

Castles dreams & Popsicle stick budgets

Mural pricing info and preventing hard situations.

 I received a call the other day from a past client wishing to get a quote for a new mural. Now under normal circumstances this would be good news. Only this time the client is a non-profit. A few years back I was approached by members of the “non profit “ board. At the time, I was new to town and felt that participating in a community endeavor was good for all concerned. As it turns out the board came to me “hat in hand” asking if I would consider “fixing” an existing mural pleading they had no budget. So we all met at the museum one night and discussed said mural in need of repair. Well it didn’t need to be repaired as it was done by some well intentioned amateurs about 20 odd years ago. I did the only thing I could do......replace it. Turns out they spent 5 k on a steel chest, not that it matters but imho they really have no need at this point in the game.

Now in the spirit of good will, I did the mural at cost under the inferred idea that they would do some fund raising on their own for the next one at par- “ish”.          Silly me, I should have known better!
 So this time three of us get together and the whole exchange lasted 5 minutes or less. After doing some measuring it turns out that the new piece they want is three times the size of the first one. So this time they insist I give them a straight out price for the mural which is strange from these guys (I don’t give out written quotes, just basic agreements signed by both parties when it’s money time). So I give them the straight up goods and that was it for the meeting. .......hmmm! Did I mention the mural I did helped win them an award, (as I was told this past summer by another board member) so they probably got a bursary of some sort too which is great, glad I could help.....but!!!!

Having done many meetings, there are a few things I have picked up....sometimes I’m wrong but not very often these days! This is what I think derailed the project:

Someone new (to the board with lots of plastic friends) knows an artist (that thinks they can paint murals, “some can”) and is pushing hard to send them work......so the meeting was loaded before I even turned up. Probably even before they called me.

Or

I’m bidding against......  a vinyl reproduction of a photograph! (which makes more sense in this equation).

A couple of things lead me to these conclusions:
 I could be wrong but I think not
first, I can paint what many can’t (that’s not say I can do anything but I have only had one complaint in almost 30 yrs), and there is no one I’m aware of any where near, that can match what I do in product or price.

What do I think I learned...hmmmm.
-If you do something for cheap/”the deal”, then expect to never ever earn more than that price point from that client no matter what they “say”.
- Never go out to quote on a job or ask for a quote unless you know what your asking for or doing exactly.
- Just because your friend is losing their house doesn’t mean they can paint murals at a professional level
- Some things just shouldn’t be done in vinyl, use the right medium for your venue (some things just look tacky no matter how "great" it looks on the screen)
- Don’t disrespect a mural artist by using vinyl all around a painted photo-real mural.....(unless its on a placard giving the artist credit and/or describing the mural its near! (it just looks tacky)
- Hire an artist/designer for artist designer work....it’s what they do! (yes I know you’re talented...but you may not or don’t have, the training!) The difference in the end results are “Huge”!  Product knowledge is a big help to achieve quality.
- If you are not confident enough to charge, (or prepared to pay if you’re a buyer) $35... give or take $10 - $20 either way, plus materials/rental equipment, per square foot for a mural then you should seriously practice/save your money until you are.
                                                  Murals are not for the faint at heart.
An additional thought, vinyl is not for museum displays, and museum displays are not a place to practice mural painting even though you can paint 20 x 30 inch canvases of cats, dogs or horses etc! (imho of course)

Totally Out There...Must be a Weasel "or" A Weasel dressed up as Gran Ma

And now for something totally out there

Not sure how to start this one so these be the facts!!

A neighbour of mine dropped off some _ _ _ _ _ at an art/_ _ _ _ _ store in town on consignment..( I also have some of my work in for sale in said store) About 4 months ago the store sold some of his _ _ _ _ _ _ and said they would pay him at the specified numbers of days down the road....No problem right? lol......

So today 4 months and a few hundred pounds of “BS” later, my neighbour drops by and asks me to help him pick up the rest of his consignment’s. So I said “ I take it they didn’t give you any more than excuses again today” he said “no they didn’t”......All right I guess we are going to pic up some art too while we at it!

Before I say any more about this I must give you some background...... there are few other artist in the surrounding area that have work in this store as well, so a few of us have been a little concerned that they might do a “runner” with our stuff and whatever monies are owed will just vanish with them! A few weeks back while in the store I noticed that a painting a friend had done was missing off the wall.....I contacted the friend to congratulate him on his fortune and was told he knew nothing of it.

 He dropped into the store about a week later (just a little visit to see how his art was moving etc....since he hadn’t been in, in a while.... lol) Long and short they said the painting had just sold the night before (lie) and that it was going to take  the usual amount of time to get paid out (45 days)......I must also say at this point (I heard today ) that they (the said store owners) are over a year behind in their retail rent at this point too. There is more but I’ll skip it as I think you get the idea! So anyway into the store I go and tactfully let the store owner know I’m coming with the neighbour to pick up his remaining consignment pieces and while I’m at it, my art as well...(based on the circumstances).....He responds with “Can you come back at 4” .....”Sure” I say “no problem”

At 4 we turn up.........With the neighbour's _ _ _ _ _ _ _ safely tucked into the truck I start the task of de-hanging my paintings and gathering up assorted prints and sculpture salted into the decor.... In the progression of gathering my stuff up I come to two large-ish prints (un-framed/rolled) that are layed out on two desk pull outs.....So as I’m inspecting the first print for damage (so I can sign off on the undamaged return of my work) the store owner comes up and grabs the other print (incorrectly) off the other sliding drawer and promptly puts a crease in an otherwise undamaged print and ask’s me what I'm doing......I turn to him and say........ ”I’m inspecting this print to make sure it has no creases in it like the one you just made!” “Looks like you just bought a print!”(Now the..... “totally out there” part)           He (the store owner) turns to me with the print still creasing in his hand and says “I didn’t do that !” (he quickly drops the print back on the drawer)....I respond with “ _ _ _ _ _, I just watched you do it ! “. “No I didn’t” he repeats.....”I’m not paying you for that little creese” and back and forth it goes.

Eventually he sorta takes responsibility for it and promises to pay me the wholesale price at some later point in time......”Hmmmm” I think to myself and then say “like you promised to pay _ _ _ _ _ _ for the _ _ _ _ _ _ you sold 4 months ago?” to which he starts to pedal............Now in the muddle of back and forth-ness in the discussion, he claims no understanding of how said crease could be considered damaged! (So I had to ask) If you have no understanding of what your actions have done, or even what your looking at/holding incorrectly how on earth did you ever think you were going to sell it and what made you think you could just pick it up anyway? he picks it up carefully this time and asks what it is and what makes it valuable....So then the art lesson begins (holy sheet!!!!!! and these guys have been in this biz for longer than I have, or so it is commonly thought!) and is ended with the question from me to him” didn’t you attend the archivist course last year for the museum volunteers so that they could handle similar materials properly?” He didn’t respond......oh by the way...while I was making sure all my paintings were in good shape I discovered a screw that "they" use for hanging paintings wedged into the back of one of my paintings between the canvas and the stretcher bars.........fortunately no hole or permanent damage! (I coulda screamed) No wonder they're bombing, careless disrespectful weasels!

So what to do?....we were friends....but to be told basically “ _ _ _ _ off !”  and “I didn’t see what I saw” for more than an hour what........ do ya do since silencing is a no no?
GBH? Perhaps, but that might be a bit much and not really “my style”. Beside I don't own a backhoe so digging a hole would be alota work. Can't say how I'm gonna handle this but I can say well maybe not.

 This little adventure has brought to mind a few from the very distant past......I think this is what learned though (again...grrr)  Here’s a potentially expensive education “heads up” if your a neub to the art biz.....

1. If the dealer looks like they are in trouble (they didn't) “they are!” Its way easier to get your stuff back than to try and sue someone who is penny-less. Also if your agreement seems kinda weird or none existent don't do it

2.Still don’t do business with friends lol...(cash only and no custom stuff)

3. Make sure you have and use a good clause for damage/losses/shrinkage and responsibility with dealer/gallery agreements.

4. Inspect everything before you deliver, get them to not only acknowledge receipt of artwork but also the condition and,....inspect everything thoroughly that you pick up before you sign off on receiving it back if applicable (it happens)

In the end I guess after spending most of my life in the art biz, I still have lots to learn & or remember!

lasting art sculptures in the modern era, art that lasts

The web as you know has a wealth if information on virtually any topic. While researching out a new technique that I wish I new more about, I read an article on the topic of "what is considered the longevity needs of modern art/art produced today", well not exactly but .....

   So here I am looking for a medium to cast my sculptures in that will last at least my lifetime and hopefully longer and I come across this thread in an unmentioned forum regarding casting in hydro- cal and how to make it last longer than just a few years. One of the respondents referred a study or a product that said in its description that society generally looses interest in something within 5yrs and that auto manufacturers produce vehicles that are only designed to last 3yrs. By at which point most things will have been broken and thrown away or the owner will have tyred of what ever it was and just pitched it out.

   Now I don't know about you, but when I buy something, it better last and I expect to have to pay for it. It just stumps me though that when I want to create a new work of art. I want to use the best quality materials to produce my finished piece. In this case its sculpture cast in,.... cast in,....... well I don't know yet. That's the problem. I cast in allot of different mediums hot and cold! But due to the wants of me needing a new material that can be finished anyway I like and can be indoor outdoor safe per say. Cement is to heavy and hydro cal is lighter but not strong enough to handle the weather. Now I could cast in metal but most people can't afford that sort of thing. So back to the cold cast materials.

   I have had some pretty good luck casting cement and hydro-cal materials alone and with additives (my own mixes, he he he) that include but are not limited to Carpenters glue, weld-bond, pearlite, vermiculite, fiberglass, latex, acrylic, enamel, as well as others. with varying degrees of success.

   As this seems to be a toss away part of our history I'm taking a stand. I want quality in what I buy and I'm going to create art of the highest quality. My advice to you is to do the same. So with that in mind I can tell you for sure, if your casting with hydro cal throw at least 1/2cup of carpenters glue into every 1/2 bag. Don't use pear lite or vermiculite they both float to much. I have yet to find a suitable sealer or clear to make it weather proof. So if its meant for out doors, cast with cement same mix as for hydro-cal. Don't use pre- mixed cement. Its usually too course for my liking. I like a 50/50 cement sand ratio. Be sure to seal it. but not before it has cured for at last 48hrs after demolding (including next day sealant). The mediums need time to De-gas/dry before you add the new material (clear or sealant) as the cast needs to be able to readily absorb it.

 Remember if you spend the time to make it, take the time reproduce a quality piece. Not everything has to have a "Bic lighter" life span  

Lipstick

So a few weeks back a buddy drops by and just happens to mention that he needs to go down to the coast to pick up his 5yr old daughter. There had been allot of snow in the preceding week so I asked which of his 2 vehicles he planned on taking to which he responded " Oh the 4runner" and I was forced to ask him about the safety aspect of said trip.He has new winter tires but the frame on this 4x4 of his is almost none existent not to mention more hole in than wheel wells. He says ya I know but what choice do I have. I have to go and get my daughter from my ex. "Ah the frame will be fine" he further states. But what really worries me is that the rusted out wheel wells  are going to attract attention and that will get me pulled over for a spot safety check and then I'll get a bunch of tickets that I can't pay, and the list just goes on. Not to mention what my daughters mother will say! So I have a half can of bondo so I'm gonna just fill the holes and I thought I'd drop in and see if you wouldn't tell me how to go about doing it. I said "your really going to do this and he says "Ya!" and I said where ? He says "Oh at my place outside" To which (being his friend and just having cleared the shop up) I said "No we'll do it here!"

So the next day he turns up about noon and we spend the next 36 hrs (none stop, no sleep) and use a whole bunch of my fiber glass and other art stuff to fix (actually recreate) his wheel wells. I won't bore you with all of that fun but I will pass this along. The work we did would have fooled the most diligent of random glances.

We remove all the masking and tape, open the door and roll the gleaming beast into the mountain crisp, winter air. My buddy smiles and says "I think we're done here and I need sleep! He heads for home to catch a nap before he has to leave.

Now the reason he has this 4x4 is that he lives up a mountain at the top of,  (being gracious) a goat trail type driveway. In which in the winter, there is no snow at the bottom. But at the house there could easily be 3ft. On this day luck was not on his side. He gets the bottom of his driveway rolls about a 100 yards up and suddenly there is this horrific sound of grinding and bending metal and his truck comes to a halt and then starts to roll backwards. He jambs his foot on the brake and jumps out to see what he has run over in the snow. He bends down on one knee and looking under the 4runner see's the drive shaft all bent up and the rear wheels out of whack. And on top of all that he now has to climb his 1/2 mile driveway. Fun times eh!

The moral to this story is don't waste time on junk, substrate, materials ect... Because no matter how much time or how good a job you do.....Lipstick on a pig does not make it "less a pig"

Directorslive.com a great place for Indie films & animation or a black hole.

When I work I often need interesting fodder for the mind and once in awhile I find it. Like today for example, I was looking for something to watch/listen to while I worked and I found " directorslive.com , what a score! The two pieces that I watched were "Darkwood "2008. A great little film about a guy loosing his house & the hypocrisy of the system ( www.directorslive.com/channels/films/darkwood-2008-a-short-film/ ) and "Madame Tutli Putli " 2007  ( http://www.directorslive.com/channels/films/madame-tutli-putli/ ) an amazing little NFB stop animation about a woman with baggage and a moth (to say anymore would wreck the story in which no words are spoken).

Now what I chose to watch was up to me, but I dare say you could probably find almost anything at directorslive.com . Both films are under 25min and streamed lagg free and crystal clear on my set up. I don't know if I was just lucky or what but both of these films were very well done and I expect that most will find them as entertaining as I did. So if you are an "up and comer" in either of these film styles this level would be a good place to reach for as far as low budget films are concerned. But whatever you do, make it your own!

Have a look and let me know if you think its a gold mine of inspiration & great indie flix or a black hole, share your favorites.

Snow carving warm-up 2010/2011 let it snow!

Snow is falling all clean and fresh and the almanac says we are in for the coldest winter in 50yrs. Lets carve snow, Calgary got a foot today from what I here. What do you do with it all. Well if you have a bit of time you can do all sorts of things with it but I suppose shoveling (stretch first , you've got lots of work ahead of you) would be the natural place to start, though I leave it up to you but don't forget the anti-freeze. Me, I'm going to re-read the past posts that Mr.Arnell was kind enough to share with us last winter. Making a big pile and hoping it melts just isn't my way. I want to do it right so its ready for some serious snow carving. I think maybe I'll order a set of those snow carving tools Tim was talking about and try my hand at it. And if we're lucky he'll show us some more photo's and snow carving techniques

So bundle up, stay safe, and if your in the back country this winter breaking all the high marks or the rules ( not that you'd do that) be sure to take your avalanche and GPS locator stuff. Because we want you back long before its time to mow the lawn in the spring and I need to know, is it snow carving or snow sculpting?

How to pack and sculpt snow (part2 sculpting)

Here you should be primed & ready for the fun part, carving and sculpting. As I said before I was expecting a bit more snow so I started creating a new pile because it seemed pointless in moving all the snow into one pile which was a long way so I made a second pile about 30 feet away at the end of the driveway. But again the additional snow never came and apparently there is no winter fest in Greenwood B.C. this year. So with the snow melting pretty fast I decided I’d better carve at least one of my piles I’d just have to change my design to fit with a much smaller pile. One thing I should say is that if piled snow sits (packing/packed, has no bearing) the icier it will be and thus harder to shape at it becomes as its more brittle, or at least that was my experience. The pile also sat for a long time too though.

About three weeks later the more snow never came, then one fine day I just started,

I figured otherwise all my work would have just melted away. In second image I have roughed in the general shape of my design and pushed some markers in as reference points for scale. As I said before the longer it sits before you carve it the harder and more ice it has. Here, it was warm during the day ( +3 to 5C ) and then coldish at night (-5 to -10 ) so there were ice and air pockets created by the buried grass and leaf debris heating up melting the snow during the day and freezing at night. In colder climates you don’t have the same problems with the ice but I had the right sculpting tools so it wasn’t to much of a problem. From here you just carve and sculpt your piece ( if you need to do repairs keep a couple 5gallon pails full of snow warming up so when you need it you can just grab a handful and use it kind of like glue/mortar but only when its below zero). I’m going to assume you already know a bit about creating art so I’m not going to go on about it other than to say that I just used pieces of kindling for markers.

Airbrushing murals leaves me a good selection of ladder type apparatus to choose from so I went with a two step bench, a ten foot step and a three bend scaffold ladder. Working in snow I found was a little like sand sculpture in that you can do allot as long as you keep physical weight and balance in mind all the time. It sticks to itself well but its not like clay.

In this 3rd photo I have spent a little more time working in the character of the face, using the markers again for scale. The scaffold you can see in the left corner I stood on to look at my work so I didn’t have to move a ladder every time I wanted to check my work. I had started out just using a pruning saw and shovel but as I have sculpted allot of plastelene I am used to certain tools, the characteristics, shapes and what you can do with them so I gave up on the shovels and kitchen utensils (their just to small). In a pinch they would work alright but if I were going to do this a few times every winter I felt it was worth the trouble and money to get some tools for doing this. So after a good look here on the net, I found nothing. Looking around the shop I found some steel and just made some of my own. A little cutting, a weld here a bend there, a bit of grinding and an hour or so of polishing the long day was over and I had come up with some handy tools. If you are interested in a set of large scale sculpting tools send me an email ( t@art-werks.net ), having the right tools made the whole process allot easier and faster.

This fourth photo shows a still rough sculpture (the head still needs some shaping) and how little snow there was.

These two photo’s above show the finishing touches being applied or rather removed. As I said before, I didn’t have all the snow I had wanted so this sculpture only sort of looks like where I was going with it. Notice the snow pile on the right, its the one I did in part 1.

In the end this was as far as I could go without more snow as I had wanted big wild blowing hair. Let me know what you think by leaving a comment.

These photo's and article are the intellectual and copyrighted property of  Timothy Arnell all rights are reserved and may not be used in whole or in part without permission. copyright 2010 Timothy Arnell.