There use to be a tree fort  on these branches and the rope ladder was swallowed up over time. This tree the biggest on on the property, a classic Canadian maple.

Here's the house and my brother's truck. The trees have always been there as long as I can remember.

This tire is one of the few remnants of the scrap yard, I should have stood beside it for scale. It's big.

Here's the lane way leading up to the house I grew up in... it's hard to believe this front yard was a junk yard! or some people use to call it a scrap metal yard. My dad "Junky Jack" as he was known, preferred the later. It's amazing how nature took over, the trees on the right side were not there, only old scrap cars mixed in with other assorted Junk. A great playground when I was growing up! 

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!!!

I may have posted this before with out word balloons, it's my version of the classic Norman Rockwell  turkey dinner.  I 'm just going to get a little nostalgic and point out a few things in the details of this image. The pots and pans in the background were always the cast iron kind that turned black with age but they just got better as they aged. The square one had a special purpose, the oblong portion was  used for bacon and the two other squares for eggs. I don't think they make them anymore and I don't know what happened to that one. The wooden pig cutting board next to the pan, I do have, it's a special thing I remember my mom using as I was growing up. I also managed to find my dads musical saw and bow and Alex has his grandfathers welding goggles. There're just a few more things on the side table like the ice cube rolling pin and the cone colander used for making apple sauce. 

My brother lives in the house we grew up in and I've been going back every summer as long as I've lived out west. I'll attach a few pics I took last summer.    

These images are some of my water colour "caricartoons" I 've been doing at conventions over the last few months. They were done at the Vancouver Expo, London Comicon and Yukomocon in Whitehourse. The Yukon was the best because I was working non stop for  three days of the con. and then I had many take home commissions. The other cons were really good to. It seems the more samples I have to show people, the more they want to have theirs done. I just take their photos with my iPhone and  ask them what their favourite character is, or if they already have a costume on, then I just copy that. They go away and when they come back, the image is done, they don't have to sit while I draw. The iPhone has been a great tool for me to use in many ways because I can google reference for any character - in a flash! 

I dedicate this post to our student and friend LISA-JO, who we lost to a tragic cycling accident this summer.

She was a truly remarkable person I had the pleasure of knowing for such a brief time. One year ago she walked into my classroom, and I just knew we were going to have fun! She had a wonderful child-like sensibility, which we too often lose as we mature.  Her drawings and sculpture were so spontaneous and full of life, just like her. 

She was so excited to get down and play with any medium and she came up with novel ways of incorporating unconventional things into her sculpture, she would experiment and see what worked and if it didn't... she'd try something else until it worked. Like in the image below, where she took a beef bone that a dog may have chewed and discarded. It was the perfect size and shape for the laundry basket, so she used the bone for a base, then she sculpted over the top of it to look like a wicker basket. She was so excited to show me what she had done - we both had a good laugh because we knew and no one else knew what was under the surface of the dirty laundry basket!!! 

Creativity was so spontaneous with her, tempered with a remarkable sophistication of humour and charm that would bring a smile to anyone who saw her work.  These two self portraits are a reminder of Lisa - Jo as a young child and as an expectant mom who later had four children... they must have had such fun with her. She was only fifty seven and just so happy to create comics later in life. She delighted in making people laugh and have fun with her unique sense of humour. 

I will really miss you, Lisa-Jo... you touched my funny bone, and left us all with some really great comics to read and learn from!