After the Crawl I was at a bit of a loss of where to start. So I decided to re-organize my
studio. I went through every box and as an assemblage artist and collector it was a big job. But I looked at everything, got rid of things I will not use, bought a couple more bookcases and ended up rearranging my work space. My studio mate Sharon liked it so much she changed her work table as well. It is amazing what just changing the way your work table is oriented can do to your space and work habits. The studio feels larger and less cluttered...at least to me anyway!
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| ALL ORGANIZED!! |
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The rest of December was spent catching up with family, friends and going to some kick ass Xmas parties. Some with live music, fab food and of course great people.
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| Donald, Zuban, Arnt and Paul |
Went on tour with
Late Thaw to Mayne Island with Arnt drumming. Was a blast with dinners, the gig and the after party. Ag Hall was packed and lots of people dancing.
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| Bruce, Warren, Kate and Simon of Late Thaw |
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| In the back Arnt drumming. |
We had a very special family visit with our nephew
Miles Arntzen coming from New York to visit us on his own for the first time. Some of the family took him snowshoeing for the first time and a family dinner at our house with the nephews and nieces. One funny thing that happened at the dinner for the under 30's was my ipod developed a glitch and the only way we could play music was on our
78 record player. It was a hit!! The reason Miles was here: on tour with a band he is the drummer for. Lots of family and friends came to see
Antibalas and we danced until 1am! Even my 85 year old father in law stayed to the end.
http://www.antibalas.com/
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| Nephew Miles |
Xmas was spent on
Gabriola with family and friends. Dinner and
caroling at my mother and father in laws with the talented Arntzen family.
http://tomarntzen.com/3_generations/generations.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lloyd_Arntzen
Bonfires and full moon at the cabin and of course lots of turkey, trimmings and drink!
One friend that we always get together with is
Tony Grove, painter, shipwright and furniture maker.
www.tonygrove.com Check out his latest project which is restoring:
“Dorothy” the oldest sailing vessel in the Pacific Northwest
and also said to be the oldest vessel in Canada that has been in
continuous use. She is a 30ft Gaff cutter (sloop) built in the James
Bay Boatyard, Victoria BC, in 1897
. http://dorothysails.com/
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| Moonrise on Gabriola |
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| Lloyd Arntzen |
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| Tony Grove |
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| Dorothy |
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| Evan, Arnt and Arnt at Tony's shop |
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| Dorothy with a few missing planks |
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Well the only thing left on 2012 is to celebrate New Years Eve! We had an amazing raclette dinner of fresh veg, steak, chicken, prawns and cheese with dear friends, Karli and Dick. It was just the four of us but we celebrated till 2:30 am with champagne, cooking together, drumming in the new year on the deck and dancing.
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| the cooking team |
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| all lined up and ready for the raclette |
ART wise I have only done one project since coming back and that is the sketchbook project which I call
"Holland by Art". I took some of my photos and stories of art I saw in Holland and created a travelogue.
www.sketchbookproject.com
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| front cover |
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| one of 16 pages called PILES |
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| another page called SEALIFE |
This year we also added to our art collection with several new pieces.
This is a painting of our boat Odin at Unwin Lake up the coast by Sibeal Foyle of West Vancouver. I bought it for his birthday.
We also bought four pieces when on our trip in Europe. One by
Rob van der Schoor of Amsterdam
www.robvanderschoor.eu/
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| she made this one for me |
We also bought a vintage photo of a Dragon sail boat, an enameled vintage sign and an old oil painting of a classic Dutch sailing scene.
We are off for a little sun in
Mexico, and just want to wish everyone all the best for 2013!
