Mid Year Report

Happy Canada Day Everyone!

Here we are at mid-year and I have to wonder how you are all doing at keeping your New Year's resolutions. I called them New Beginnings this year and had three of them on my list. I'm not doing so well with the weight loss and tidying but I'm certainly having a great time keeping the third one. That's all about furthering my art.

I have gone out of my way to make sure I learn new things this year. As I've told you I took a course through Sketchbook Skool called Drawing Without Talent and really enjoyed it. I was so pleased to see a definite improvement in just a month's time.

Then I got involved with a group that met at our local library once a month. I was introduced to a lot of new mediums while we set about creating an art project for Canada's sesquicentennial. The work was all photographed and printed on shipping labels that were then stuck onto a map of Canada in a way that corresponded to the regions. The map was unveiled this past weekend with just some of us in attendance.

In the meantime, I took on a five-week course at Sketchbook Skool that, among other things, had me go sit in a public place and draw what was in front of me. I had never done that before and I thought it was great fun. It will be my new summer pastime. In fact, I just got invited to join a local group that would be doing just that each and every week throughout the summer months. A year ago I never would have considered accepting such an invitation but the Sketchbook Skool courses have given me the confidence to jump in with both feet.

I stopped by the Sketchbook Skool closed Facebook page to tell them about it. I was excited by this new opportunity and wanted to thank them.  They put out a weekly bulletin in video format for the students and they even mentioned me in that (from about the 1:20 to the 2-minute mark). While Dean of Students, Morgan Green, managed to put her own spin on things what she said rang truer after I actually experienced my first session with this group.

We met in a local park where there are all sorts of sights worth drawing. I expected everyone to gravitate toward something of interest to them, but they all clustered around two picnic tables. I stayed close to them but sat off to the side where I had a better view of a suitable subject.
I like to draw in pen and then apply a watercolour wash. I forgot my watercolours at home but did have my watercolour pencils with me, and a water brush, so I used those. One young gentleman was interested in this process so I showed him how it worked. Me! Not only was I exposing my scribbles to a known artist, but actually showing him how to do something! I'd certainly call that progress, wouldn't you?

Now, if I could just do so well with the tidying and weight loss...... Maybe another new beginning is needed for the second half of this year.

What have you accomplished so far this year? Or do you need to begin again too?

Artfest Kingston - How I Spent Canada Day

This is the season when all the art shows, studio tours and fairs seem to take place. We like to go exploring, and things like this make for interesting stops along the way.

This past weekend it was time for the the Kingston Artfest.  This is more than your usual outdoor art show.  While it had about 150 assorted artists displaying their work, it also had much more than that.  This is a very interactive event.

One could learn various kinds of drumming, for instance, as there was a different type of drum seminar each hour, all three days.  There was everything from a Beginners Rhythm Workshop, to Taiko Drumming between the hours of 10:30am and 3:00pm.  After that an open community drum circle was held each day of the festival.  I was really interested, but we ran out of time and the sky started to promise rain.  Okay, so I chickened out.

Nearby there was an opportunity to learn to sculpt in rock. That also looked interesting, but I'd want all day to work on something like that and we were only there for a couple of hours.

At one on of the booths, I saw a little girl getting a lesson in how to work a spinning wheel.











 There were also an assortment of art classes available, for both adults and children.  I always seem to miss the timing for the ones I'd be most interested in.  Perhaps I need to get my hands on a schedule ahead of time somehow.

I spotted one of our local artists, Larry Thompson from Greyweathers Press,

and was fascinated by some interesting crafts, like these ukuleles made out of tin cans.

I see a bright future for this young fellow.  I've seen designs cut into metal objects with a plasma cutter before, but he turned some old junk into amazing works of art.

Over in another corner there was the opportunity to paint on a mural.  I remember I was there a lot later during last year's event and it was getting pretty colourful by then.

I understand there were 20 picnic tables that entire families could paint on too. At the end of the weekend there was a silent auction to determine who got to keep them.

Habitat for Humanity was ready to teach you skills while helping to build a playhouse on site too. That was also to be auctioned off at the end of the event.

At the Easel Invasion, one could paint a picture of your own. An artist was on hand to help guide you, if needed.


Nearby was a poetry tent, if that is your sort of thing.  There was also music stage, and a beer tent.

The giant puppets were back too.  Last year I saw them being operated, as they walked through the crowd, towering over us. It's hard enough to work a regular sized puppet. These ones need more than one person each to operate them.

Then there were the stilt walkers.  Some people obviously have been doing this for a long time, but what they were doing there this weekend was teaching others to do it.  I saw kids with their feet tied to the stilts and wondered what would happen if they fell.  The instructors were there to catch, I suppose, but later I saw a group of three kids on stilts walking down one of the pathways toward the food area.  They might as well have been on their own two feet, they seemed so comfortable.

If you have never been to Artfest, you should go at least once.  There truly is something for everyone.  Best of all, it's all free.  It was a great way to spend Canada Day this year.

Sir John Eh?

A couple of years back a cousin of mine tried to convince me that we were related to Sir John A. Macdonald, Canada's first Prime Minister.  I had not heard of this before, and decided to try to find the connection.  My great grandmother was Catherine Macdonald, but if you've ever looked at the Macdonald family you would immediately notice that there are an over abundance of Johns, James, Hughs, Alexanders and Catherines.  It's not easy to keep them all straight, but I'm sure I did rule out any possibility of any direct line relationship.  His only son that survived to adulthood, Hugh John Macdonald, who became the Premier of Manitoba married, but had no children. That was the end of the family line on the male side, and any females would, of course, have changed names upon marrying. 

I've been asked to check out lines from Sir John's brothers, or even his father's brothers. I will if I ever get time.  But really, I suspect my cousin's parents just told her that to make her feel special.  I remember my own Dad telling me I was a direct descendant of some Greek royalty, but I don't believe that's true either. I'm sure he just wanted me to feel like a princess.

Last night we went to see a play called Sir John Eh? which was advertised as a musical comedy.  There was music, and the odd funny bit here and there, but mostly it tried to pass on historical bits about Sir John and his life and career.  He was a bit of a scoundrel and a well known drunk.  Here's a wee excerpt from the play:

John A.: I never took bribes for my own use. I may have spent a few tax dollars at Mrs. Grimason's tavern. On my constituents. It was the custom of the day. Courtney: But you did takes bribes.
John A.: To pass along to others. Of course. Wheels don't turn if they don't have grease. Buy a man a drink, you've got his vote. Unless he's a Methodist. Make him a senator, he's yours for life. Bribery is an essential tool of government. Let me give you an example. (Sets the scene) I was fresh from winning the election in '87, giving my usual "Canadians have spoken their minds" speech - "Not for sacks of Yankee gold," sort of thing ...

Shortly after that the modern day character named Courtney blamed Sir John for setting a precedent for all the politicians we have today.  A bunch a corrupt bunch of liers, was the gist of what she called them.  And it was all his fault!

The play went on to indicate that he managed to impregnate the above mentioned Mrs Grimason during a time when both his first wife and her husband were still alive. In fact, the play made it look like his wife died while he was at the tavern for the night.  He went away for several months and and when he returned  he had married a woman that the play indicated was such a snob her nose dented her forehead.  He claimed that was his biggest mistake, as he would rather have taken up with the widowed Mistress of the bar.  That may have just been part of the play too. Who knows?

I'm no longer so sure I want to find myself related to this fellow, though apparently he was quite acceptable as a man of the day in which he lived.

I do like one of his sayings, and will try to remember it when things go wrong.

"When fortune empties her chamber pot on your head," Sir John A. once said, "smile and say we're going to have a summer shower."

The way the world is going lately, it sure feels like that chamber pot has been dumped.  And hey, we could use those summer showers right about now, right?

Canada Day in Eastern Ontario

We had choices to make as there were Canada Day festivities all over the place.  We decided it would be a nice day to spend by the water, so we headed to Brockville for Riverfest.  It's been years since we've done that! We got to town just in time to see the parade.  Honestly, it wasn't any bigger than the one they have in Merrickville, but at least it didn't have as many firetrucks in it. I took a photo of that one year, and managed to get I think  the entire parade in just one frame of my camera. Kemptville has the best parade around these parts. 

The Dock Dogs competition was at Riverfest today.  I've never seen that before, and it was great fun. The dog owners throw something in the pool for the dogs to retrieve.  The rules state that the object must float, be none edible and be retrievable.  The dogs had all kinds of interesting toys to fit the bill.  Some of the dogs had done this before, and knew the routine. Others had never done it before, and thought twice about going off the edge of the platform.  That made things interesting as then the owners had to find a way to get the dog to jump into the water, without actually pushing or pulling them off the dock.  Only one dog flat out refused.  But later in the day, even that one figured out he was missing out on the fun, and jumped off the dock with no hesitation during the second round.  There was a competition to see how far they could jump, another to see how high they could jump, and a third to see how fast they could retrieve something from the far end of the pool.  A good time was had by all.....especially the dogs!

Other things we saw today were a karate demonstration put on by the Brockville Karate Club, various musical performances, and the Wildcat II, a boat that takes people for a wild and speedy ride....but it had some kind of problem and had to come back to shore.  Too bad too as I really wanted to see how fast that thing could go.

There was an area for children that had such things as a petting zoo, a pony ride, facepainting. There was also an area there where the budding artists could make chalk drawings if they wanted to.  Apparently it was not just the kids that were enjoying that.  Too bad all this work will be washed away in the next rain.

We went for a lovely lunch of fish and chips at Buds On The Bay and then went back to the park for another walk around (to wear all that food off) before heading home. 

This evening we went to watch the local firework display.  I feel like I packed the whole weekend into just one day.  I'll be happy to sit around and read for the rest of the weekend......or maybe just sleep.  It was a really great Canada Day this year.