Drawing week 3

We began today with 20 silent minutes to do our visual diary of the morning.  I seem to settle on a mood for my piece rather than narrative.  Today was melancholy and enclosed -- even shut off -- in the morning with Toby.  I noticed well before the teacher did that the figure looks like me as a child.  Not a surprise or a problem for me.

The presentation this week was drawing with red ink and a bubble-blowing set.  Art-making is meant to be fun.  That's the take-away from all this.  I still have no idea for mine.

Next we worked with "our" artist.  I'm Gabriel Orozco.  Another student as William Kentridge gave me an assignment that he (Kentridge) would like to do -- that I then had to tackle as Orozco.  I was to make a charcoal drawing of Toronto including a social problem that upsets me.  I began in a way that I myself might have done and had to regroup.  I drew on some photocopies from the recycle bin and included a homeless man begging on the street.  A bit of a mess.  Next week we meet at Allan Gardens where we will draw as our artist -- that is, use their materials and techniques.  Orozco is very much about found stuff, responding to what he finds, change.  We'll see!

Composition week 3

Over the week we were to continue working on our studies and then the final painting.  I did a fourth or fifth study in class and then started.  It sure is easier to paint on canvas compared to a photocopied piece of paper!  I'm finally getting somewhere -- according to the teacher.  The idea is to make a picture that is structural, that comes out or in or whatever from the paper surface.  Maybe I should have done hard edge circles or squares that pierce out and in -- that's what many others did.  Oh well, I'm learning with the project I've started.  The third one below is my painting which still needs a lot of work before the critique next week.

Drawing week 2

Like Composition we have four projects in Drawing class but unlike Composition these 4 are running simultaneously.  The first is the memory diary.  Today we worked with our non-dominant hand.  We'll rotate from week to week, left to right and back.  Later we'll transform the work in some way.  (This applies to all the projects.)  I have lots to go on for next week.  Greatly helpful  comments from the teacher.

The second assignment is a 5 minute presentation of a process of drawing that hasn't been done before.  We had our first presentation today.  The student showed us drawing with linguine, using it as a brush and a stamp.  Now I have a bit of an idea -- I'm in week 8.

The third assignment is about a contemporary artist who uses drawing in their work.  We drew names for this and I got Gabriel Orozco.  Some of  the other artists were William Kentridge, Christo and Jean-Paul, Jenny Saville, Banksy, Anthony Gormley and Anselm Kiefer.  We're to research our artist and learn about how they work, how they draw.  In week 4 we'll be at Allan Gardens drawing plants in the style of our artist.

The fourth assignment is done at home.  We're to produce a series.  I'm planning some self-portraits.  More on that later!

We also did an exercise today that was fun and instructive.  The idea was to show different ways to generate images.  We began with a stack of separate sheets of paper equal to the number of students -- 9.  Also some ink, two sticks and a q-tip.  Everyone was given a magazine.  We opened it once only and at random and drew on our first page something that drew our attention.  The we passed the book to the left.  Same again on a new page and so on.  Meanwhile the pages and the drawings could connect in any way.

Composition week 2

I tried another study during class.  The idea is to make a painting that has structure, that comes out from the page.  The first step is to get down the basic tones.  Then further layers will add the structure.  I worked from a photo of a tea towel which wasn't really structural enough.  I'm going to try a pillow slip at home.  When we have something we like we're to transfer the image to canvas and go from there.

Drawing as a contemporary practice

My second course is called Drawing as a Contemporary Practice.  At the first class we got exact instructions for 4 assignments due at various points in the term.  In contrast, the work itself is meant to change and evolve as we go.  Many of the mornings will begin with 20 minutes of silence to record a diary of our morning so far.  These pieces will be gathered together later on.  It's about memory, how and what we remember.  Having tried it this week we're to plan how we want to continue next week.

Colour and Composition

The winter term at TSA started last week.  I'm taking two classes.  The first is Colour & Composition.  I took the first half over a year ago.  That was all about colour mixing -- those strips of colour painted with gouache.  This term focuses on composition using acrylics.
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We'll be doing four paintings on four topics over the twelve weeks.  We'll start each with exercises and studies.  The first one is about light and shadow using white and the three primary colours.  In class we did quick, timed studies of crumpled paper and then plastic sheets draped over chairs.

Dog Whisperer

There's a man in my neighbourhood who I call the Dog Whisperer.  He walks and boards dogs.  Toby stayed with him while I was in Scotland last fall and will again when I return in May.  Toby gets a walk with him on weekdays and there's nothing he loves more.  It's like a play-date with his friends Tiger and Eden.  Yes, it's a different world for dogs in 2012!

I first became aware of Brian last summer as I started to get out more with Toby.  Brian would come to my building with some dogs in tow to pick up more.  He'd leave the dogs tied up outside.  They each sat facing the door waiting for Brian to return.  Completely silent.  No barking, no fighting.

That's when I started to speak to Brian and ask him his secret.  I don't think he has one beyond loving dogs.  He has 2 of his own and usually has a few more staying with him.  Some days he walks 17 dogs in total.  Here's a couple photos to give you the idea.

Senior Band

I was at my first band rehearsal today.  I've joined a great program called New Horizons.  It's an amazing idea -- band for people over 50 who have never played an instrument and would like to learn (or learn a new one) or those who haven't played in decades.  Maybe since high school.  I'm in the last category though I have played some since the 1970s.  I don't think I would have survived high school without music.  I played in the band, the orchestra, the pit band and a community concert band with which I went to Expo 70 in Osaka, Japan.  For the most part I played bass clarinet but switched to clarinet in a couple of groups at university.  I'm playing clarinet in senior band.

There are 4 groups now since another is starting next week -- Beginner and Intermediate with one each in the day and the evening.  I'm in the day-time beginner band so far.  It was perfect for me today.  I could sight-read all the music but my mouth and thumb hurt.  I need practice.

This is a batik page that I did last year for art history.  I may have been the only one who saw the clarinet emerge as I added more paint.

Toby goes to the hospital

It started on Tuesday morning.  The first thing Toby did was throw up a piece of paper with a staple in it.  After that he refused to eat anything at all.  His favourite treat couldn't tempt it.  He just lay in his usual spot on the couch.  By early afternoon we were at the vet.

Toby loves going to the vet.  When we walk by on the sidewalk he pulls to go in.  Same with the groomer.  But in both places he starts shaking as soon as we're inside.  This time he had to stay and ended up being there for 3 days and 2 nights.  An x-ray showed a "foreign body" in his colon and he continued to refuse food.  He was fed intravenously.  I imagine the x-ray looked like this though they had no clue what he had swallowed.

I have to confess that at first I kicked up my heels.  Fancy free with no dog.  I slept in to 8 both mornings and then lounged about in my long undies.  That didn't last long.  After a day I could feel myself reverting to old ways of anxiety and withdrawal.  Of course I was worried about Toby but I had a hard time holding on to the enormity of any potential disaster.

The vet called me in on Wednesday evening to see if I could entice him to eat.  He refused even me.  However the next morning he finally pooed and another x-ray showed the thing was gone.  They never found what it was.  Too bad.  It might have helped my guilt.  I have to be even more vigilant on our walks to make sure he doesn't pick up anything.  It's a battle sometimes because he loves to sniff about.  Sometimes he walks with his nose along the sidewalk like Sherlock Holmes.

I brought him home last evening with 3 medicines for the next several days.  He ate his dinner and we had a walk.  And then at about 1 in the morning he vomited once more.  (Or I hope it's ONE more time.)  I'm assuming it was eating after so long that upset his stomach but it was pretty scary during the night.

After medicine, breakfast and two walks Toby seems himself again.  Back to his favourite spot on the couch.