Koulou

Although the weather was horribly dark and raining, it was warm and friendly inside, where I met the Crystal, the Manager. I showed her my collection of recent prints, and she was quite interested in representing me. We agreed on a 4-week period, from January 8 to February 4, 2020.

I went by again yesterday to finalize the paperwork, the weather had changed to sunny and cold, which was much better. Crystal was having a Christmas event, complete with Santa Claus and treats. She also plans other events such as paint-in's, workshops, demonstrations, and other holiday happenings. I bought a lovely little original pen & ink drawing by Stephanie B. Creative, matted and framed, for $38.00 ... !

Hope you can drop by in January! See their website for more information.

On the Edge

Mallards

Tangled

It is almost funny that the complaints originated from people watching hockey on television. There is nothing moral or meaningful about hockey, it is a brutal bloody game of fighting and continuous physical assault, slathered with advertising, flashing lights and lasers to make it look like a circus. It is gladiatorial combat on ice, only the warriors aren't supposed to get killed because their advertising contracts are worth too much money. Fist fights and team brawls are egged on by the fans, who clearly rank among the most cultured and sensitive folks on earth.

I confess that I do not buy or wear a fake poppy on Remembrance Day, and my reasons include:

In looking up the history of the poppy in this matter, there are also veterans who protest against the whole process, as it is used to promote military purposes, and they proposed that a white poppy be the symbol. Black poppies are also used as a symbol by an anti-war group. There are even more colours proposed by other groups.

I would like to be the first to nominate November 12 as our national annual Don Cherry day, a day on which we might contemplate our own hypocrisy. The wolves are howling in the woods, and they are coming for all of us ... ! So, please take a moment of silence to consider the true meaning of democracy while you can, thank you.

Note: Revised Nov. 22. Originally posted as "a minute of silence" now revised to "a moment of silence" in hopes of pre-empting any of the wolves from starting to chew on my throat because I may have inadvertently equated the amount of time (very brief in any case) allotted to the remembrance of Mr. Cherry's plight with that allotted to the veterans.

  
Noman on an Island, Standing Waves.

Michael was surprisingly quite interested in my queries, and brought out some early copies of the art school annuals, originally called THE PAINT BOX. The June 1926 issue had an article by Sherman, titled Places to Sketch, and the 1927 issue had an article titled Design Class in which Sherman wrote about being instructed by Varley in the class. Bingo, that was exactly what I was looking for! Maud Sherman had been a founding student at the art school when it opened in 1925. I shared my excitement with Michael, and he allowed me to have Maud as "my girl" ... it turned out that he had one or two "girls" of his own in the first class, especially Vera Weatherbie, his favorite.

Over the next fifteen years or so, Michael and I shared research results, helped each other with photo identifications, sent each other obscure newspaper clippings, collected whatever bits of art and ephemera came onto the market, and had long curry-filled lunches and dinners sharing our latest treasures and findings. My initial research on Maud Sherman expanded into research into her whole family (a work still in progress titled LOOKING FOR MAUD), and I went from collecting information on one artist to collecting information on the more than 19,000 artists now listed in BC ARTISTS. It is only with the help of people like Michael Clark that I have been inspired to accomplish this. Farewell and safe travels, old friend.

A view of the Sim Publishing table at the event.

Sim Publishing was mainly exhibiting a display of recent linocut relief prints, and had a good day ... selling about twelve prints. A small display of relief printing tools and accessories was also on display, which greatly helped to explain the printing process to a number of interested visitors. Sim also cut and printed a Wayzgoose MMIXX letterpress keepsake (with a goose), and gave away bookmarks made from a scan of the keepsake. Those were quite popular.

I absolutely love attending and/or displaying at this event. Not only is it "old home week" for a number of friends and acquaintances to get together, but it is very satisfying to demonstrate linocut relief printing and seeing people being inspired to try it themselves. As well, in the past 15 years of printmaking I have evolved a successful method for achieving excellent prints with "fat black" ink, and am happy to show other printmakers how I achieve my results.

Stages of the keepsake: pencil sketch centre, goose photo right, lino block layout left.

           
Labyrinth, Lions in Summer, Heron, Wayzgoose MMIXX, Winter Grass

Three painted doors in the Canvas Corridor

I hope that's not a fire exit.

Yellow line indicates approximate prior extent of foliage

A view of the Ferry Building Gallery, West Vancouver

While collecting a couple of publications for BC Artists, one of the gallery staff asked me why I was getting them. Then, she asked if I ever do any lectures ... next thing I knew we had tentatively arranged for me to give a lecture at the gallery on February 20, 2020. The talk will be on the early artists and photographers of the North Shore, and should be very interesting. Updated event information will be posted on the EVENTS page.

A view of the last piles of rubble being crushed and trucked away

Sunflowers, Pothos, Pothos Study, and a Peter Price "birch tree" vase with watercolour brushes

   
Please see The Adventures of NOMAN: COLLECTION

Two studies of knives that I own.

A little electric tour boat going by in Coal Harbour

Cruise ship season

Jazz evening in Barclay Park

Ben Enriques Trio with a fourth joining them

The lost Capilano valley with the Lions in the distance

Fishing in the salmon pools

Unfortunately, work continued to pile up by email and by courier while I was on site, so Friday was a busy office day for me. I started work early, and even worked through lunch, despite the rest of the office inviting me to go out for burgers and beer with them. At about 1:15 I got up to go to the washroom, and met the senior partner at the office door on my way out. He gave me a wierd look, and then out of the blue started ranting at me loudly while waving his arms around in the air:
  "I'M SICK AND TIRED OF YOU GOING THROUGH PEOPLE'S DESKS LIKE THIS!!!"
His hair was dishevelled, and he was almost staggering around. I was completely taken aback. He repeated his comment again, perhaps even more loudly:
  "I'M SICK AND TIRED OF YOU GOING THROUGH PEOPLE'S DESKS LIKE THIS!!!"
Then, in lieu of a response from me, as I couldn't think of anything to say, he yelled:
  "I WON'T STAND FOR IT ANY MORE! I WON'T STAND FOR IT ANY MORE!!"
Then he lurched off down the hall towards his office, muttering away to himself.

At that moment I decided that I was finished work for the week, in fact I was already working overtime due to the long days. I left the office without any further incident, and went up the street to have lunch. Within a short while I had decided to quit work. I went in twice on the long weekend to take my personal possessions home, and finalize my timesheets and expenses. I left the office key and fob and walked out.

The partner's behaviour was grossly unprofessional. He was either drunk or stoned or both, I thought perhaps he was taking a medicine that had conflicted with a lunchtime drink and was suffering from unexpected side effects, but who cares. Although I had personally committed to completing the $60 million dollar project I was working on, I decided that I was not willing to deal with this "issue" or his unacceptable behavior any further.

After further contemplation, I decided that I would take the entire summer off work, to relax, hike, work on drawings and prints, wander around taking photographs or enjoying happy hour at one watering hole or another. Hola!

The storefront

UPDATE: As of July 2020 a FOR LEASE SIGN is in the window of the Mousse.
UPDATE: As of April 2024 a FOR LEASE SIGN is up on the building.

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