Disaster Brewing

Hi All,

I bet I hooked you in with the headline.
Did you ever notice that the bad news sells best.
No major headlines saying, "300 Smiling People March On Parliament"

Yesterday I had a brewing disaster. I was letting the latest layer on a painting dry while I bottled my second batch of home brew. I the newbie-brewmeister had made a batch of Irish dark beer - Guinness style. Bottling beer seems to be mostly about washing the bottles, disinfecting them and then rinsing. Lots of water is involved. To have an assistant is wise. Assistantless on this fateful day all was going wet and well until something slipped.

Note to self; keep more dry cloths handy during bottling process.

I had washed and racked the bottles and lay them out carefully for filling. My friendly brew store had informed me that I need not feel neurotic about sucking on the tube to get the syphoning started. I thought it might contaminate the beer. No problem. Brewing is forgiving if you clean things well. At the bottling stage the alcohol content helps to kill germs - so I was told. All was smooth until I began to lift the big 23 litre bottle onto my kitchen counter to commence syphoning delight into the bottles. Disaster struck when the bottle slipped out of my hands and began its direct descent to the unforgiving floor.

Babies may bounce but glass bottles break.

I watched in dismay as 60 unbottled bottles of beer made their downward way in ever so slow motion. It is amazing how many thoughts the brain can produce in an instant. Fate was only toying with me. The bottle did not smash when it hit the floor. This baby bounced and slid. The beer SPLASHED and my latest crop of Irish brew began to gurgle and gush out. OH NO!!!! Newbie-brewmeister disaster daze.

No tears over spilt beer. Accidents will happen. I grabbed the bottle as Noah's favourite flood of stout flowed over my kitchen floor. Uprighting the bottle I turned to grab my floor mop imaging a beer soaked floor forever sticky and fragrant as happy yeast. The beer froth in the fermentation bottle was now two big beer bottles high.

Mopping completed I did not mope over my fate. I began bottling and once that was completed I took stock of my losses. Perhaps fifteen bottles of beer had been stripped of their joyful potential and had gone down with the flush.

Oh well brew and learn.
It is an art.

I have posted a miniature abtract painting today. It is 5' x 3'' x 1/2 on stretched canvas. I love making small paintings. The miniature paintings is a tiny little world. I used both black and white undercoating on this canvas. Although small the textured surface of paint is quite thick.
This one is for sale now on eBay. Scroll down to froggy below and click to hop to my online store which links directly to eBay. If you would like to view an enlargement of this painting click on a photo and the supersized photo will appear.

ciao

john redmond in Ottawa, Canada

Art Can Be Dangerous

Hi To Y'All,

Art can be dangerous. This morning I had a prickly awakening reminder of this truth. The alarm clock sounded. I rolled and crawled out of bed to turn it off. Generally it is a good idea to keep the alarm clock out of easy reach. As I was doing this I put my knee on a pin cushion full of sewing needles. They went into my flesh. I hope you are not eating as you read this {:~DDD. It was a prickly rude awakening...OOCH, OUCH!

I pulled at least one out but there remained a self threading sewing needle stuck in my knee like a porcupine quill stuck in a dog's nose. It was the blunt end that pierced the skin. The self threading needles have barbs on them to keep the thread from coming off the needle. Under a magnifying glass they look very nasty. I tried to determine if I could remove it myself with some needle nosed pliers but one slight pull revealed that to be a painful prospect. The walk in medical clinic was my option. It is located around the corner from my apartment. I would have to roam about with the sewing needle dangling out of my knee flesh until they opened at 8 a.m.

My tale of woe continues. Having arrived at the walk in clinic just before 8 o'clock I was signed in and asked to sit and wait. Unknown to me the receptionist seems not to have had enough morning coffee. She did not put me in the line up. A longish wait is not abnormal at the walkin clinic so I was not surprised by my wait until I realised everyone was seeing the doctor before me. Hey folks. Wazup? "OOps, sorry," she said. It was an hour and a half from the time of my arrival before I was finally called to see the doctor. The kind doc fumbled around in his cupboards searching for his tools. (did ya have morning coffee sir?) He froze my knee with a needle injection and used his sterile doctor pliers to pull the quill from my abused joint. Hopefully it will not be too sore when the freezing agent wears off. The doctor admitted that he had to give a good strong yank to remove the 'foreign body'. 'Removal of foreign body' was the note he scribbled into my medical record - 'right knee'.

You might be wondering why the needle cushion was there on the floor. Here is my lesson in art technique. I use sewing needles to remove hairs, long specs of dust and unwantd paint globs from my paintings as they dry. Dust specs can be very long! Globs are annoying. If such things remain on the canvas the wet paint will be drawn to them and a mark is left. A certain amount of this is does not matter if it does not interfere with the final look of a piece. It is, afterall, abstract painting. I generally monitor the painting while it is drying to remove what I can. A sewing needle or two come in handy for this purpose.

I keep the needles in a little red cushion. And I do put it out of the way so that I will not step on it as I walk around my work area. Last evening I was working on a couple paintings and used the needles. I did put the pin cushion in a 'safe' out of the way spot. My knee encountered the prickly demon despite my caution.

So dear friends here is the message. Art can be sublime and art can be dangerous.

Now for today's painting. This one that I have posted photos of today is a lovely abstract reminiscent of clouds blowing over water. The horizon line is low creating a big sky. Colours dance through the air.

The dimensions are 24'' x 24'' x 1/2'' on stretched canvas.
Click on an image to view an enlargement.
Scroll down this page to the froggy and click to hop to my online store with links direct to eBay. Today this painting is posted on eBay.

Enjoy your day but beware; Art can be dangerous {:~DD

ciao,

john redmond
in Ottawa, Canada
news

Dance Dance Wherever You May Be

Greetings to You,

The painting that I am posting today, currently posted on eBay, was created for a show at the Cube Gallery, Ottawa entitled 'Homage'. Fifty or sixty artists participated and each was to create a painting in homage to an artist who influenced their work. My choice was Jackson Pollock. I employ an action splatter and pour technique especially at the undercoat stage.

This painting is one of two that I created in preparation for the Homage show. I painted them simultaneously, side by side in two session. Lots of paint; gobs of paint were applied to the canvas. Most of the work was done in the first session whch lasted the good part of an early evening. The next morning I added some final touches. These paintings took days to dry. I had to tip toe around them as they lay on my living room floor during the drying time. Both paintings have lots of texture and many intersting layers that peek out from the canvas and paint. I chose the other painting to show at the Cube gallery. Another time I will post that painting which at the time appeared in Ottawa's daily newspaper, The Citizen.

The one I post here was named 'Dancer' by a friend of mine who saw it. I liked the name and have kept it. The dimensions of 'Dancer' are 30'' x 24'' x 1/2'' on stretched canvas. The pallet I used was one I do not usually employ. It was, after all a homage to Jackson. A varnish was not applied to 'Dancer' as I felt it uneccessary and perhaps unlike Pollock.

Click on the images to view enlargements.
Scroll down to the Froggy below to hop to my online store to view more paintings. It has links to eBay.

Dance, dance wherever you may be,

cioa,

john redmond
in Ottawa, Canada

A Way of Moving

Hi,

I think I titled this blog 'A Way of Moving' because the painting I have posted is sold.

It was up at my recent solo show at Irene's Pub in Ottawa. The dimensions are 28'' x 20'' x 1/2'' on stretched canvas. Click on an image to have an enlarged view.

I am happy that it has a nice home. An artist needs to let go of his work and allow it to flow on. It makes room for more work to come through. Just like life; flow on.

Today I worked on a new painting. I had actually applied the black and white undercoating some time ago. I was in the mood to pull that canvas out and apply some colour. It seemed that the colour was turning muddy as I applied it so I kept adding more, including some light gold. I may seem strange to add more paint but I work with water and that means things flow on and all changes. At this stage the colour looks relatively light. There appears to be a nice foreground. I decided to leave well enough alone and let it dry as I head out.

Enjoy you're weekend. I am going to the Rainbow Bistro to hear Wicked Grin perform - wickedgrin.ca will get you to their website. They play around Ottawa, Kingston, Toronto and have performed at the Ottawa Bluesfest too. They offer Blues with Bite.


ciao,

john redmond
in Ottawa
P.S. check with the froggy below to hop toward more of my paintings.