Opening Night rescheduled: Some New Works Including Images (illustrations) for a secret international project: EMERGENCE

Special thanks to Thomas White who is opening his Espresso Bar/Gallery in the newly happening downtown North Core centred amongst our booming new restaurants - waiting times of up to two hours! Thomas is likely to do well from the spillover alone. Paintings I couldn't complete for my last show, will be featured here. Joya will be open this Tuesday, February 17th. Official opening night for the show will be announced shortly.

Minor News - saw a flying squirrel!

Photos taken from the Internet

Christmas night. My cat, Emily and I saw a flying squirrel last night. We were outside at 11pm, behind my brother's house near Central. Emily was staring up at a tree, watching what I thought was a chipmunk running up and down a branch that was as high, and next to, the 3 story house. I couldn't recall ever seeing a chipmunk or squirrel running around at night. So I kept my eyes on it, wondering what it was doing. The squirrel jumped from the branch. All of a sudden this thing with giant wings, but in a square shape rather than normal bat wing shape, came flying towards me. But I still immediately thought it must be a giant bat. I ducked slightly thinking it might hit me, but it swooped in a big curve and landed five feet away on the tree to my left. The wings had vanished and a small squirrel ran up into the tree. Then high up on a tree to my right another squirrel was running around, so there might have been two of them. I've never seen one before!

Two Art Shows in Thunder Bay (Both extended till end of November: Lara Wood at the DEFSUP Gallery, Faces and Figures at the Habana Gallery

TWO SHOWS! Back to back and then the Studio Walkabout! Busy months. I've been painting like mad. Click on the images below for more details.

Lara Wood is a darker children's picture book for older kids who will appreciate Lara's strengths and ability to conquer adversity. The book won't be out till next year some time. Meanwhile I can build up some promotion for it and let people see the amount of work that goes into such a project.

The Faces and Figures show was inspired by Bram Dijkstra's book, Naked: The Nude in America. It's been incredibly influential on me. Although I enjoyed painting nudes, I always felt awkward – a sense of guilt. No longer! The way the nude has been depicted is fraught with difficulties, but this book gave me a clear head about many issues. I second guessed myself for years. Here's a great line from the book: "Artists who refuse to assault the body with stylishly perverse psychological or physical deformations are usually dismissed as hopelessly out of tune with today's art world. In fact the rampant imagery of paranoia and obsession rife in the contemporary art world can be traced back to the Puritanism that continues to rankle the American mind. It is not the product of artists who celebrate life by celebrating the body."

So, here are two shows that combined celebrate both the mind and body of women (mostly. There will be a few naked men in the figure show). In the children's book, Lara is a strong young woman who risks her life to save a young man, not for reward or because she is told to, but because it is the right thing to do. And she stands up to a wolf, a dangerous wizard, and is able to poke fun at the idiot king, King Nimrod who builds the Tower of Babel. In the Faces and Figures show I celebrate the human face and body in many different facets. I finally got around to painting a few women I had crushes on, and painted women from figure drawing classes whose beauty had nothing to do with sexual attraction and everything to do with human beauty, not diminished by age or popular concepts of beauty. Character can be everything, along with confidence in oneself. I plan to continue painting portraits and figures, and will incorporate them into a series I call Stage 500, for which I will have a big show one day in the future.
Special thanks to the Ontario Arts Council.

The 2014 Bologna Children's Book Fair this year was a great experience. I met with publishers from around the world and spent the last week sending pdfs of my books to interested parties. I met with friends, spending one week in Bologna, another in Switzerland (first time! Thanks Meejong!) and another week in Holland (Thanks Barbara and Gerard!). No volcanos erupted this time so I returned in good order to Thunder Bay to be met with three successive huge snowfalls. We've had SIX MONTHS OF WINTER!! So it was refreshing to mix with Europeans outdoors, see flowers bloom and swans in ponds. Although the benefit of winter weather is that it keeps me inside and productive I do get inspired by better climates too. European architecture, art, food, bicycle lanes, and the people are always inspiring. I'm back at work this summer to complete two very involved picture books, Lara Wood and The Chameleon Snake. Then I'll focus on Tiger Dream and other works. Too many ideas and not enough time!

Kids Get Books! Lots of Books! - Reading at Guildford Public Library in Surrey, B.C.

89 children from two schools, Holly and Hjorth Elementary, near the Guildford Public Library got a surprise when they trekked over for an hour's worth of stories on March 11. First, I read a few of my stories, published and unpublished, where the illustrations were projected to the wall. The last story I read was The Love Ant. Then each child got a free copy of the book! One child, rather sadly, said he didn't like the story. He returned the book, so I gave him a copy of The Ugg and the Drip. He flipped a few pages and nodded approvingly.

The two schools are part of an effort the city is taking to support early literacy in an area where 36% of the early year's population is identified as being vulnerable, as determined by UBC's Human Early Learning Project. This made me feel a lot better about giving away so many books.

The reaction made the trip and the giveaway all worthwhile. The kids were great – attentive and funny, occasionally blurting out hilarious statements in response to the stories. The teachers got the end joke of The Love Ant before the students did, but the kids quickly figured it out and burst out laughing or shared their surprise and/or distaste for the story's ending.

This event is a bit of a delayed book launch for the Love Ant. The illustrations for the book are part of the mural in the children's department. The story was told orally for 13 years, the librarians telling it to children and children to each other.

Special thanks to Sara Grant, Melanie Boyle, Amy Ashmore, the National Public Readings Program (Canada Council and Canada Writer's Union) for funding half the flight and the reading. Also thanks to Susan, Namrit, and the teachers!

Reading at St. Martins and Progress continues on Lara Wood starring Lara Wilson

For Family Literacy Day at St. Martin's School with about 200 kids brought into the new gymnasium for two one hour bouts of readings there was no time for demonstrations or much discussion. The kids were great - attentive and inquisitive. And LOUD! They read their queues for The Ugg and the Drip with gusto! Thanks to Laura Racco and St. Martin's. It was great fun for me and always a learning experience.

Lara Wood is reaching its conclusion after intermittently being worked on for the last year, adding another 14 illustration to the five illustrations I completed 15 years ago. I came across this old photograph of Lara Wilson, who posed as Lara Wood. Yes, her name inspired the name of the heroin, not Lara Croft! I gave Lara this knife to pose with and she began to goof around with it. Her mother calls me once in a blue moon to find out if I've completed the story yet. Soon! Soon!

Little Neve Memorizes My Books!

Success! Neve, my three year old niece can't yet read, yet Neve has memorized the complete text of my books Big Electric Cat and The Ugg and the Drip. She can be heard reciting the text aloud while she plays with her toys. "Dr. Yes is a crazy fool!" she'll declare. And she makes noises in rising volume to mimic the increasing size of the text. The dialogue is printed in different colours to help children discern between characters, potentially reveal a character's mood, and to make reading a little more fun. What I didn't think of was how the shape of the text on the page, which is very identifiable with the illustration, allows a child to more easily memorize the text that belongs to the corresponding picture. When Neve asked me to read The Ugg and the Drip to her, I sat with her. When I began to read she immediately began reciting the text. I was only there for comfort. She read the entire book to me! What a nice surprise. I'm honoured to have my books memorized, two of the dozen or so she has completely memorized.

Book Signing and Reading

UPCOMING BOOK SIGNINGS / SALE
Soon TBA at Coles in the Mall

If you would like to order my books to have them mailed to you or a child, please send $20.00, cheque or money order, per book (shipping and handling included) to PO Box 26053 Memorial PO, Thunder Bay, ON, P7B 0B2. Please include the child's name so that the package can be addressed to the child. Please let the child open the package - there will be creative packaging.
Past Book Signings
COLES in the Mall: This Thursday, Nov. 28, 11am to 5pm, Friday, 11am to 5pm
Baggage Building at Prince Arthur's Landing: Sunday, Dec. 1: 11am to 5pm, as part of Christmas on the Waterfront. 
Waverly Library: Readings with projected images from the stories on Saturday, November 30 at 2:30pm.
Wiggles and Giggles:  Corner of Park Ave. and Court St. Saturday, November 30, 10am to 6pm (excluding 2:30 to 3:30 for reading at Waverly, same day.
Chapters/Indigo Memorial: Friday, Saturday, November 15, 16.
BAGGAGE BUILDING ARTS CENTRE: in Prince Arthur's Landing as part of the Christmas on the Waterfront showcasing local artists and artisans: Saturday and Sunday, Dec. 7 and 8. 11am to 5pm. 

Coinciding Events: Word on the Water, October Walkabout, Baggage Building Show

14 hour work days for a few weeks before last weekend kept me busy, with the bulk of the promotional work for the Walkabout tour, where friends sat for me in my home (also occupied by the artist John Books and his wonderful bronze sculptures) while I was in Kenora for the Word on the Water Festival. Meanwhile I have about twenty paintings and drawings in the gallery space at the Baggage Building in Prince Arthur's Landing. But no complaints! It was stressful, yet fun. Some of it made me money, and some won't but I met some wonderful people and got involved. Now I'm painting, writing and practicing lines for 3 student films where I'll play Victor von Frankenstein, an action hero, and the son of a man with Alzheimer's. More fun stuff.

In the photo above is Mike Grandmasion (amazing photographer) getting a copy of Little Ship of Fools signed by the author – our very own Charlie Wilkins who is, by the way, an excellent travelling companion. We rode back and forth to Kenora and had excellent and honest conversations. Thanks Charles! The list of other authors allows me to do some serious name dropping - Gail Bowen, Catherine Hunter, Chadwick Ginther, Sherry Peters, Doug Whiteway (whose photo above needed to be censored, but I dare not say why), Robert J. Sawyer, Karen Dudley, and the young and talented Samantha Beiko. Attendance may have been strangely low, but I loved Kenora, the enthusiasm, getting to meet other writers and being able to commiserate about this bizarre industry. The Best Western Hotel was wonderful. I loved my room! The sculptures (above) were a nice addition to the school yard by the hotel. The kids playing there were interacting with the colourful monoliths.

The October Walkabout Tour saw eight artists (see card) opening their studios with work for sale. My art was on my walls (and books for sale) and John Books had his sculptures dispersed throughout my dining/studio room. And finally, I threw up my work when a short term space became available at the Baggage Building. It's coming down soon (no deadline as yet), but I love an opportunity to show somewhere new.

One of my next missions is finding a place to show work and sell books before Christmas.

I joined two different orange gangs of crazy to contribute poetry for Random Acts of Poetry arranged by DEFSUP with their mission bring the poetic word to the people. We entertained city council last week, in camera, and heard a couple great little poems from two of the city councillors. We entertained all sorts of kids and in turn some sang for us. I forgot my camera on these tours, so the visuals above come from the Chronicle Journal.

Design Work Complete for The Ugg and the Drip

Each book gets its own look. This one is brighter than the last two and the back is packed with information and a "shadow" over the text and images - just for fun. 3,000 copies will be delivered towards the end of October and promotion of all 3 books as a package will begin.

The Big Cat says Thanks! Original Art for the book is up for another month or so.

Thanks to all those who turned up, and especially Julie Einerson of Sweet Escape Café and Bakery for her amazing cake, cupcakes and for allowing me to use her space for the launch. My apologies to all those who couldn't make it! It's my fault. I picked the long weekend and the day before Canada Day, without really checking the calendar. Silly me. For those who don't know us Northerners, here in Thunder Bay, the city is vacated as everyone heads to camp (cabins), especially when the sun is out, like it was. So, I'll follow up some time next month with a little party for everyone.

Lara Wood will be out in 2014. The paintings are going well. Once they are complete (sort of), I go back into them, looking to balance out colour, correct shadows, tones, etc, so that the images don't look too dissimilar and yet exciting on their own. It's quite the task, like trying to create 14 little masterpieces, a story within each, that leads to a dramatic conclusion. And it's a dark story, so I'm taking a risk in terms of sales. I have no idea how it will be received. I'm trusting the child creator within to guide me more than I trust the adult who has too many societal weights on his shoulders and worries too much.  The text has yet to be fully sketched, but it's looking good. I aim for five hours of painting a day, but I have to take days off to market the other books, work on other projects and continue with writing columns and reviews. 

And I took in a couple baby skunks. I kept them for one night. I Googled for some knowledge and figured they were old enough to be outside on their own, that their mother was probably alive and hadn't abandoned them. They like cat food. Didn't make much of a stink. After I let them out, they had joined up with another sibling, so there were three. And the night after an adult skunk appeared - a very big and fast skunk. After sighting this skunk, the three little ones disappeared from under the back porch. 

Two Months: Fun, Press, Painting and New Book -– BIG ELECTRIC CAT

Big Electric Cat has arrived! Years ago I took a break from working on Night Wall and after an exciting trip to Mexico, I completed BEC in six months. It was rejected by a number of publishers.

Finally it's out and after only two weeks parents are reporting that their kids are loving it. At the market where I was selling the book, kids were demanding the story be read to them a second time. Good signs!

In May students from the Confederation College Film program came to interview me for a documentary about visual artists in town. Click here to see the video. Andrea Feltrin asked very good questions. Two weeks later Luke Skalesky, in the same program, did an interview with me and other writers to ask about a writer's life, inspired by his brother who was completing a novel. He was able to capture on video the arrival of 3,000 copies of Big Electric Cat from Winnipeg. At the time I had just set up a show at the Sweet Escape Cafe and Bakery.

Evelynne Bernstein, a Teacher-Librarian at Lawrence Park C.I. in Toronto interviewed me for the glossy Teaching Librarian Magazine, distributed to all public schools in Ontario. I had to recall thoughts and feeling from years ago when I came up with ideas for my stories. I felt it was important to show how being open-minded to all sorts of influences allows for ideas to flow - creating "writer's waterfall."

Research Continues/ Landing Pages

I have a lot to read! This is just a portion of the material I'm going through for Tiger Dream. I have yet to order books that I couldn't take with me from Ghana – books that were too heavy or in a library. My reading was delayed for three weeks, but now I'm getting back into the swing of things. I'm hitting the drawing board also, to sketch out scenes for Tiger Dream, which will include images of Elmina Castle, slave ships, costumes, people and street scenes. I'm also creating landing pages for my website (right) and then will set up a sales page from which I can sell pdfs of my books to the public. Over the summer, one of my big projects is creating the advertising for my eBooks. 

New Digs! Out with the Drug Dealer! In with the Art!

Returning from Africa and Holland, I moved into a friend's home whose father mistakenly rented to a drug dealer, who they call "hippie." Hippie trashed the place. On the outside it looks quite nice, and the location is perfect, with a great view, but inside the house is a disaster. On the left is one of the many night-vision security cameras that hippie left. He left nearly everything - after being forced out by the city and when the police took an interest. Many truck loads of junk were taken to the dump.

Walls were covered with graffiti and others painted black. Doors and windows were broken, and parts of ceilings ripped out. I spent a great deal of time sanding, painting, sweeping, and loading up the trucks with junk. The landlord will have the kitchen and bathroom redone. I'm paying a reduced rent until the place is fixed up to liveable standards. After a two month trip I don't feel settled - like I'm still on the move. It's strange not having a home. I can't wait to get back to work and have some friends over for dinner. My girlfriend, Debbie Holseth, tries on the dress and jewelry I brought back from Africa.

Amsterdam Library, Kitchen Sink, Research, and Art

For research into the slave trade I chugged off to the Amsterdam library near the central station. Some of the design is silly, but overall it's a big and beautiful space with sci-fi tables and lighting - the books glow because they are specially lit - central image above. Here I found great books on the slave trade. The giant kitchen sink (or parked space-ship) under construction (below) is a new Fail of modern architecture. Liesbeth Ten Houten in her apartment, is a semi-retired top agent for some of the best artists in the Netherlands. Liesbeth is also a teacher and world traveller. We met three years ago on a flight to Italy for the Bologna Children's Book Fair. She invited me to the Dutch party held at an inner city palace where I met European publishers which later brought me to Leipzig, Stockholm, and Amsterdam. I met with Liesbeth a couple times in Amsterdam and she is always enthusiastic, optimistic, and inspiring. Liesbeth passed on some wonderful advice regarding the publishing industry, which I will follow up.

Above, a shoe store in Amsterdam fails to properly light the shoes, but looks cool. In the Rembrandt House, I chatted with the artist who demonstrated how Rembrandt ground and mixed his pigments with various oils. It was fascinating. The house was well preserved, and the art, of course, was wonderful. Below are examples of stencils in the Cuyperhause Museum, Roermond. Architect Pierre Cuypers used stencils to create wonderful imagery. Another inspiring exhibit. Children get a taste for using stencils too.  

Roermond, Venlo, and a Kid's Party

At Nicole's bookstore in Roermond a customer selects a book for his child. Nicole introduced me to a Japanese method of telling stories in a theatre-like format. Nicole, Barbara and I, like many customers hang out for coffee and tell our own stories. 

Gerard, Barbara (my hosts and friends), and I try out a Greek restaurant in Roermond. Gerard's nephews, Baer and Sjraar have a birthday on the same day. Friends come over and we take a group of kids to the park. I have some Ragu and a Dutch hotdog while we watch a soccer game. The photo of the young woman on a bicycle below is just a sample of the many women, professional and otherwise who ride bikes everywhere. Wow! Men do too, but I don't notice them as much. I love Holland for the bikes and lanes. I wish we could have more of Holland in Canada. 

Arrival in Europe

Welcome to Europe. After a month in Africa, and entering the airport at Frankfurt one is struck by huge contrasts. It felt like I was entering a film set of a science fiction film - everything was huge, shiny, clean, and cool - but a little antiseptic, as if everything of the natural world had been swept away. (Welcome to Modernism!) When I left the airport by train the beautiful fields and old buildings came into view, I felt better connected and more comfortable. The photos of the "e" symbol and the shop with the big hole (above) I took 3 years ago when in Frankfurt. The Rabobank outside of Roermond looks robotic. The oval building is a clothing store in Eindhoven. Below, the vending machine distributes underwear, not pop. I snapped the downtown picture of Roermond (where I am currently staying with friends, Barbara and Gerard). I met them three years ago at the Bologna Children's Book Fair in Italy. Leaving Dusseldorf, Gerard's brother's son, Sjraar, plays the drums in his home in Venlo. 

Reading and Learning in Accra, Ghana

Here I am recording the text of my book, The Boy from the Sun, for multi-TV in Accra, Ghana. Esi, who showed up for my workshop invited me to do a reading. I supplied the images, which I had on my laptop. Although the reading was something I should get paid for, I was willing to do this one time donation of my work as a philanthropic good cause.

Below, Christine (the owner of the Nabuku Foundations cafe, and Hiroko cook up a storm for us: Dr. Benjamin Sperry (historian at U of G), Dr. Edem Dzregah (English prof. at U of G, who supplied me with great intel about trickster stories), Manu Herbstein (Commonwealth Prize winner for his extensive novel, Ama, and very knowledgeable about the slave trade and culture in Africa) and Manjit Chodha (an artist and auditor directorate who is looking into corruption and policy solutions on campus). I managed to swerve the conversation at the dinner table to topics of interest, primarily the slave trade and its effects on Africa. We covered all sorts of related topics and it was fascinating how people's backgrounds and professional studies inter-related. These types of conversations happened often and was a great learning experience for me. We were all eager and interested in the differing viewpoints. The great food Hiroko prepared was a special delight that kept us at the table for long while.