On Drivers Who Must Be Allergic To Their Brake-Pedals

I went for a walk today, to try and buy some wool. The wool-shop was closed, but it was a gorgeous day for a walk. I ended up buying some delicious food from the store, of which I have eaten a healthy amount.

In the process of reaching the closed wool-shop, I was almost schmunched by a car.

It was a silver car, quite nice, and the driver was turning a corner in full view of moi. I was crossing the street on a green light in the cross-walk. The car swerved a little, like to try and "sneak by" me, but then realised it wouldn't work so they ACTUALLY tapped their brakes. I still had to run a little in order to not be clipped.

This event gave me the excuse to, once again, in my country-girl, trucker-swearing, backwaters-chick manner, to shoot the driver "the bird". It felt good, for a minute, then I was angry. I walked off the steam, up to the closed wool-shop and back home (via the market for previously-mentioned delicious-foodstuffs).

Now, I came to a job-search conclusion. Is it possible to be an undercover vigilante who hands out citizen's arrests AND is it possible to get paid for this? That would be an easy job.

More Observations Made During A Walk, Also Galleries That Were Closed.

Due to horrific renovation-noise this morning, after I finished making a felt-wool scarf (this time with Jingle Bells!) I adjusted my list of things to do today, and went for a walk to check out some galleries.

The galleries I had specifically on my list were Galerie Push and Centrale Powerhouse. Both of them were closed. Up the street, I popped in to see the Simon Blais Gallery... closed. So I went for a bit of a meander to see the galleries at Centre Clark... closed! On my way home I went by a gallery that I'm curious about, seems to have work rotating through it, but is never open... closed. That one was no surprise.

Looked like everyone was in the process of changing exhibits. I suppose that means I should keep my eyes open to lists of vernisages this week and weekend!

I did have a fantastic walk, and it worked out my renovation-inspired frustrations (I no longer feel homicidal!). I observed a lot of gorgeous architecture, decoration, foliage, and other things that are pretty in this town right now. One thing in particular that I didn't really take note of before, is that the squirrels in Parc Lafontaine are really, really fat at the moment. Storing it up for the impending winter. SO CUTE! Little chunkers bouncing around the park.

Random Observations Made During Walk Wednesday pm.

I just got in from a walk. During this walk I made a few observations (when I say observations, this time, I mean mostly just random visual ones, not big, esoteric, important or meaningful ones.)

Two blocks over and one block up from my place I saw a tow-truck backing up to collect a car from a driveway. There were about five or six scruffy-looking teens hanging around, and while walking past them I almost stepped on a squashed squirrel. No-one blinked. There were two dogs keening to get out of their enclosure in a porch, and one of them eyed me like he thought I'd be tasty.

At the same time, I saw huge plumes of black, black smoke coming from someplace within a few blocks. For once, I decided to allow my curiosity to guide me, and went towards it. In the space of a few minutes, however, the smoke had cleared up. Towards the end of this smokey show I was sprinkled by some black ash. Fortunately it wasn't livid.

I meandered into Parc Lafontaine, where I saw happier, not-so-squashed squirrels being fed by generous (if illegally behaving) humans. The pigeons and seagulls seemed well-fed and happy, too. It's funny that the park isn't completely overrun by animals, however I guess they have their little areas staked out, who gets to live where, let's fight over it, no I don't want to, ok I'll live in that tree next to the dog-house where uncle Nibbles got squashed last year... etc.

Final observation: the trees right now are really pretty.

Painting, Sewing, Walking.

Over the past few days, I have rediscovered the joys of meandering (albeit quickly) throughout some of the fantastic neighbourhoods of Montreal.

I don't have a "job", I can work when I want to (though I should work MORE) and I find great joy in just going... going... seeing and observing what is around me. That's work, right? I am a visual artist. Also it is kind of my job to keep my body as healthy as I can. That's why I am jogging more often, now that I let my gym membership expire for the summer.

Yesterday and the day before, I broke out a huge pile of fabric that I had salvaged from the "trash" at my former work-place. These are new fabric swatches, and my my my don't they make for cool patchwork! I am sewing them together and will make skirts and perhaps things like bags out of them. If it works WELL then I'll try selling some of these creations. I'll keep you informed.

I have some Raw Umber paint on my palette right now, I painted some of it on about 12 little paintings earlier. Now I'm thinking to hit some of the larger works… the Poetry-Paintings. I am working on Ghazals and Shakespearian Sonnets. I have broken down the rules for these poetic formats, and am re-translating them into a visual language. Perhaps this linguistic approach to painting is inspired by my surroundings... I live in a mainly French part of the city, and I am trying to learn that new language. Perhaps it is this learning process that has made me seek something "about language" in my new work. I don't know. I have been leaning more abstractly over the past few years anyhow, and these paintings are certainly that.

Well I’ll just keep on walking, running, stretching my body and my mind to make things, observe, and be happy.