Nuit Blanche Ottawa approaches ... 27 days and counting

large DtL Collective drawing, detail   graphite, charcoal, pastel, paint, ink

DtL (Drawing the Line Collective) will be performing drawing, sidewalk style, at Nuit Blanche Ottawa on September 22nd. We're going to be up all night, along with many, many other Ottawa artists in this inaugural Nuit Blanche evening for the city.

Drawing the Line is a collective consisting of three members: myself, Gail Bourgeois and Shirley Yik. More info, for the curious, can be found here: DtL
 

The best part will be doing a DtL project with my friends and seeing what happens over the course of the night.

our public drawing area at Blink Gallery with happy participants

The worst part will be not being able to see all the other art events because I am part of one of those events. Not such a terrible problem, of course, but I'll have to rely on the reports of others.

You'll be able to find us on 22 September 2012 - 6:22 pm – 4:23 am in front of the Ottawa School of Art (one of the festival partners) and up on the 4th floor of the school if we're not outside.

Tea for Two -- paintings for the tea room at the Burr House, Richmond Hill, ON

I was happy to provide the Burr House Tea Room (run by the Hill Potters' Guild and the Burr House Spinners and Weavers) with some artwork for their walls. 

I am installing the pieces tomorrow morning. 

There are 10 more in the works. 

All of these paintings are 8"x10" acrylics on canvas, all called Tea for Two. 

They will be shown in pairs. 

Some are more obviously connected in image, 

and others more by, 

shall we say,  

spirit. 

They will be on display in the tea room until the end of September, 2012. 

Tea room hours: 12:30 - 4:30 Friday, Saturday and Sunday until the end of November

Saturdays and Sundays only in December.

Drop by and have some tea and scones ($4.00! A true bargain!) 

Marvel at the artwork in the tea room! 

and in the craft gallery! 

(all made by guild members! and local artisans!!)

and on display in the main gallery where, (Oh!) I have an exhibit with the exceptional Doris Walter, sculptor. We're having an opening September 6th from 6pm-8pm 

so if you come by you can meet both of us 

LIVE! 

and 

IN PERSON!! 

Whatever Happened to the Chocolate Popsicle?

We've had a record-breaking summer of heat and dry weather here. I found myself, more than once, craving popsicles.

                                              

 This was the go-to treat when I was a kid, walking to the corner store with my friends, each of us buying a different kind of popsicle, cracking them in the middle and sharing the different flavours with each other. I wanted to do that with Chris the other day and I *really* wanted a chocolate popsicle. They were my favorite and I haven't tried to find one in years.

Maybe it's even been decades? But you know how the memory is, it's like no time has passed so I was positive I would find popsicle, and hoping to find chocolate ones.

the lowly orange popsicle serving as an icon of the venerable twin pop
shown here as a sterling silver charm

I'd even settle for the common orange popsicle if I had to, the worst of the bunch.

o

not the actual freezer where I bought the lifesaver frozen thingy, but very similar

 I walked to the closest corner store and peered into the freezer.

I was looking for a popsicle. The one I really wanted, but can never get, is the tri-coloured popsicle: blue, white and pink/red. They could have ditched the red part and just made it blue and white. That would be my preference. Sometimes you can get the blue/white/red in the "rocket" format, but it's not the same to me.

So I got a lifesavers popsicle-like thing today.  It was very yummy but triggered the popsicle memories of my youth.

Popsicle Pete! Where are you my old friend?

My popsicle quest had me trying to remember the last time I actually saw a chocolate popsicle.

fudgsicles are not popsicles

What happened to those?

It turns out that the popsicle I remember is actually called a "twin pop", developed during the Great Depression and made with the intention of sharing with you friends. They were discontinued in 1987. Sheesh. Apparently moms found them too messy and kids didn't get to the second half fast enough so they melted. Hello? Is this a case of "kids today" or what? Sometimes we didn't crack them in half but kept them whole and ate them like that and sometimes they melted CAUSE IT WAS HOT OUT and yeah, sometimes little kids get sticky gooey stuff on their hands. 

NY Times article on the demise of the Twin Popsicle

I think it was probably more likely that the company could make something smaller and charge the same price for it, thereby making more money. 

Popsicle Pete, CEO/CFO/Corp.

things-on-a-stick are always a good bet

I saved a few Popsicle wrappers a few times but never had enough to send away for anything. The wrappers were always super sticky and attracted ants like crazy, and held onto little bits of gravel. Then the goopy stuff got all over your hands and you just threw the wrapper out.

And as if on cue, after we finished our treats and were on our way home, an ice cream truck drove right by us. Look! Rockets right there on the back of the truck. Taunting me.
*shaking fist in the air*

Phooey.

BUT NO POPSICLES!

more on Popsicle Pete:  

 http://www.cracked.com/blog/the-8-most-baffling-food-mascots-all-time_p3/

Re-purposing my favorite Mobius-wear

I am trying to de-clutter my apartment and I have been going through some of my t-shirts. I have a lot of t-shirts and many are old old old, very worn, and I love to wear them.

Chris has been after me for about 5 years to get rid of this shirt in particular:

This is a "cyclist" shirt made by Tim Hunt and Karen Massey circa, oh, 2001? 2000? The shirts they made just got more and more comfortable, the fabric softer and softer and the design and colour always stayed true. As the shirt got older I started to use it as a "painting shirt". I have lots of shirts now, intended and unintended, that are painting shirts. This one just had so many holes that it was almost unwearable.

arm split open along the side

many different sized holes in the middle of the front

So what to do with this old favorite? I tried tossing it twice now and couldn't do it. So today I put it to work.

i

 After ripping it, easily,  into long soft ribbons

I used it to tie my tomato plants up off the ground.  Shown here is the true success story of my garden:

Cosmonaut Volkov tomatoes, which I direct seeded  into the ground.   

I couldn't believe when they germinated in the poor garden soil, and I couldn't believe when they flowered, and now I can't get over the tomatoes growing on them!

The blue Mobius shirt was soft yet strong and I felt confident enough to tackle even the most sprawling of my tomato plants, the yellow cherry pear-shaped tomato. Look at this mess of blue t-shirt ties.

Next year I will do myself a favour and get the tomato cages. 

Really, I'm just trying to get through the gardening year this year.

 It's been a long long long time since I had my own garden. 

But, I'll make sure to have a few retired Mobius t's just in case.