two more of oscar

both paintings are 12"x12" oil on canvas

(private collection of k. plante and oscar)

oscar and the end of october...

well, i've almost finished two more portraits of 'oscar' to complete the triptych...(see the first portrait)...the two paintings will be posted in about a week...

not much has been going on in the studio lately...i've been wondering about what the coming months will provide with the world in a state of financial uncertainty...i am continuing to work on the saturday smalls and have started to post them on ebay...there are several sketches on my desk for very large paintings of mid-west american scenes...despite the uncertainty, i will push on with work...

*sigh*

enough depressing thoughts for now, back to the easel...

'lola'...

18"x14"

oil on canvas

the new howling canvas website!...

well, it is done...i've finished the website in a record three days...three days of staring at a computer screen redesigning it to look pretty and it does...i hope you have a look...

thehowlingcanvas.com

also, during that time i decided to create a newsletter which can also be found on the website...

hope whatever you are doing involves sunshine and maybe a martini!...

'moka'...

12"x 24" oil on canvas

(private collection-commissioned by k.plante)

'back from holiday...'

well, i'm back from holiday and somewhat back in a routine...although next week, i think i'll take off and go camping somewhere before september starts...since returning, i've completed one new commission which i'll post in the next entry...coming up in septmeber i'll be back with a new website, a new newsletter announcing something interesting and i'll be putting together a discussion group/meet and greet blog where clients can get together and talk about their furry companions...so in the meantime, i hope you continue to return to this blog as well as the 'saturdaysmalls' blog to keep in touch...

hope your summer has been great!...

stay tuned....

'on the road again'...

sorry i haven't been updating this blog as frequently as i have in the past, i'll be back to posting a regularly in august...at the moment i'm in joplin, missouri on my way to the state of kansas...this summer we are planning to see most of kansas via the small county roads...part of the purpose of the journey is to take reference photos for future 'saturday smalls' and a future show of large paintings with a mid-west united states theme...

anyway, i'll be back in the studio the first weekend in august and will start work on two new animal portraits....one cat and one dog...

stay tuned!...

'gabe'...

16"x16" oil on canvas

(private collection of a.lychak and m.hodgkinson)

'oscar'...

12"x12" oil on canvas

big hug to oscar!

(collection of k.plante)

where my mind is...

this week i learned of the passing of an old family friend, dr. sheela basrur or just sheela (obituary is the previous entry)...she was a fixture in my grandparent's house on oak street in guelph when i was very little...i remember being the third wheel in the friendship of my aunt donna (whom some readers may recall died suddenly two years ago at the age of 49) and sheela...i was always in tow when those two went riding bikes, for walks in the field behind the house, when 'aunt denise' would suddenly make an 'appearance' from my grandparent's closet wearing my grandma's clothes, i was the victim who lost her heart and other body parts during mock operations on my granny's drafting table, i was also the unfortunate passenger who was often tossed to the floor during our pretend airplane games, dancing in the basement, roller-skating and so many other memories from what was the most happy time during my life...sheela taught me a 'fancy' way to colour and i suspect that 'fancy' way lead me to living la vida loca as an artist today...so many memories, such carefree happiness...the passing of sheela two years after the death of my aunt donna makes me wonder...i won't articulate that thought but i just wonder many things while looking this photo of sheela, donna and myself at the cottage near sauble beach...the year was around 1968...we were young, happy and looking forward to going swimming, eating chips and staying up late while granny made a bon fire...those were the days!...i really hope that sheela and donna are somewhere having a blast together!...

i miss and love you both so dearly...

June 2 at 1:16 pm

Dr. Sheela Basrur

Dr. Sheela Basrur passed away peacefully on June 2 at 1:16 pm at Grand River Regional Cancer Centre, Kitchener, Ontario with close family members at her side.

Dr. Basrur is survived by her daughter Simone, her mother Parvathi (Pari), her father Vasanth, her sister Jyothi, her nieces Natasha and Nina, by Simone’s father Peter Koves and by friends, colleagues and admirers across Ontario, Canada and beyond.

Dr. Basrur died as she had lived: with honesty and courage. Her fight with leiomyosarcoma was a fight she shared with the world upon stepping down from her position as Chief Medical Officer of Health for Ontario on December 6, 2006 to undergo treatment for this rare form of Cancer. Her willingness to speak openly of her personal challenge served as an inspiration to so many others whose lives are affected by cancer.

On April 10th, 2008, Dr. Basrur was awarded Ontario’s highest honour, The Order of Ontario, at a special ceremony held at her bedside and presided over by the Honourable Lieutenant Governor David C. Onley .

This was followed very shortly after with what would be one of her final public appearances, with Premier Dalton McGuinty and Deputy Premier George Smitherman, where they addressed the Annual Conference of the Registered Nurses Association of Ontario. Her speech delivered from the heart received a standing ovation from over 6000 nurses from all parts of healthcare and public health.

This honour was the crowning achievement in a career and a life led to the full. Lived with passion, humour, commitment and a desire to change the world in which we live for the better.

She achieved international recognition for her calm and unflinching handling of the 2003 SARS crisis while serving as Medical Officer of Health for the City of Toronto. Sheela Basrur was, however, so much more than “the SARS lady” as a child in a supermarket had once called her.

Dr. Basrur was a devoted mother who cared deeply for her daughter and her family and would be passionate about protecting time to attend concerts with Simone even whilst facing a gruelling workload and multiple competing demands.

Born in Toronto, Canada on October 17, 1956 to parents Vasanth and Pari, young graduate students from Karnataka and Kerala in South India, Dr. Basrur began her education at the University of Western Ontario where she graduated with a Bachelor of Science in 1979, and went on to receive her degree in Medicine from the University of Toronto in 1982.

Dr. Basrur was exposed to the extreme realities of the social factors shaping health while in India and Nepal in 1983. She was inspired by the need to work upstream on the factors behind poor health in populations. Dr. Basrur returned from India and Nepal to Canada, and with her experience of rural health projects in Maharastra state in India, completed a Master of Health Sciences in Community Medicine in 1987, from the University of Toronto. She then went on to be appointed Medical Officer of Health at the East York Health Unit.

In 1998, Dr. Basrur became the first Medical Officer of Health for the newly merged City of Toronto. In this post, Dr. Basrur championed a range of progressive moves by the City including implementing DineSafe, a new restaurant inspection system, taking aggressive moves to curb smoking in restaurants, pioneering work on pesticide control - all the time attempting to ensure that information and services were available and targeted to an increasingly ethnically diverse population.

In 2004, Dr. Basrur was appointed the Chief Medical Officer of Health, the first in the history of the province to be appointed by the Legislative Assembly. In her time as Chief Medical Officer and Assistant Deputy Minister for Public Health, Dr. Basrur exemplified the resolve required to speak the truth.

Her work on tobacco control included the groundbreaking Smokefree Ontario legislation passed in 2006, the establishment of Ontario’s first ever arms-length Agency for Health Protection and Promotion established in 2007, a 2005 report to the Legislature that honestly and frankly told of the challenges and work required to rebuild the Ontario public health system.

As Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Basrur also released a major report on childhood obesity sparking attention and action on the increasing health threat it posed. All of these achievements and many more earned Sheela the Amethyst Award, the highest award granted to a member of the Ontario Public Service.

All these awards and honours, bestowed on Dr. Basrur, can never fully capture the person she was. She was awarded honourary Doctorate degrees from Ryerson University and York University, and a similar event was planned by the University of Toronto this month.

Sheela Basrur is mourned by her daughter, her family and friends, her colleagues. Ontario and Canada have lost a brave and gracious leader.

The family is holding a private ceremony in the days to follow. A public celebration of Sheela’s life will be arranged in ensuing weeks.

Sheela had requested the donations be sent, in lieu of flowers, to the Grand River Hospital Foundation

Grand River Hospital Foundation
835 King St. W
Kitchener, ON
N2G 1G3
Ph: 519-749-4205
Fax: 519-749-4354
Online giving: www.grhf.org
Donations should be marked “inpatient oncology equipment”

Condolences may be forwarded to the family through the Erb & Good Family Funeral Home, 171 King Street South, Waterloo Ontario, N2J 1P7, 519-745-8445 or www.erbgood.com

'jake'....

20"x16" oil on canvas

(private collection of s.nelson)

'maggie'...

16"x12" oil on canvas

collection of m.j. catinchi

'mimi'...

16"x12" oil on canvas

collection of m.j. catinchi

'many apologies...'

i have to apologise for not posting a single word in a month...things have been hectic, tragic, sad and angry here in the studio...i'll be elaborating in a day or two once things have cooled off and i'm once again able to form sentences without the word "*&%#" in it...sorry for the profanity but that's the shape of things at the moment...

in the meantime, i hope you can visit the saturday smalls blog to see what i've been up...the work there is now available for purchase...

off to sit in the sunshine (now that my neighbour has finished cutting his lawn, yes that's right CUTTING HIS LAWN!!)

'fudge and jack'

30"x30" oil on canvas
(private collection, c.chin)

'bo'...

36"x48" oil on canvas
private collection of b. bashan, colorado

'fudge and jack'...

work has been steady on the this painting since i started...so far things have been moving along smoothly and i'm really enjoying spending time with this piece...not much else to report at the moment...

we are in the midst of a huge snowstorm, with a windchill of -16C...i'm loving it!...i wish i could say that i've had enough of winter but summer just doesn't do it for me, at least summer in a crowded, polluted, violent city...also, i find it so noisy outside during the summer and as mentioned in previous posts, my neighbour makes being outside in the backyard an annoying experience...

let it snow, let it snow, let it snow...

back to the easel...

it's my birthday...

another year old and whole new attitude...(or something)

'bo'....

the portrait of 'bo' was completed a few days ago and it looks great...i'll be posting an image of the painting either next week or in a couple of weeks...

work has begun on 'fudge and jack' and i was hoping to finish this portrait sometime next week but things are moving along slowly...the composition is great, colours are good and the subject matter is very sweet, it's just that sometimes things transpire in the studio that make work move at a snail's pace...i can't explain it...

oh, back to work...

on a side note, there was a murder last night just down the street from my house...the body of a mother of three and owner of her own business was found in her flower shop...it's sad to see my city quickly swirling down the giant toilet of crime...my thoughts are with her as her ghost stands above the crime scene, her crime scene wondering 'what' and 'why' this had to happen to her...to think that she lived her entire life only to have it violently taken away from her...very tragic indeed...

'cami and spinnaker' portrait...

'cami and spinnaker' 18"x24" oil on canvas

'bo' and 'fudge and jack'...

the portrait of 'bo' is almost done and it looks great!...the portrait of 'fudge and jack' is next on the easel...i'll be posting a photo of 'cami and spinnaker' on friday after the client receives it...

'cami and spinnaker'...

this painting is finally finished...i laid the final brushstroke down the other day...a photo of this painting will be posted in the next week or so...please check back then to see it...

also, please be sure to check out my new blog 'saturdaysmalls' for weekly updates on new, small-scale paintings i'll be painting and placing online for sale...(it's a weekly painting routine at the moment but that will be changing to a daily one in the near future)

the work on the portrait of 'bo' continues...i don't quite have a 'feel' as to when i'll be completing this piece but so far things are going along rather smoothly...

'hotel howdy ll'...

5"x7" oil on gessobord

for more images (upcoming) please visit saturdaysmalls.blogspot.com

'saturday smalls'....

most of you who read my blog regularly have seen me starting to post what i've nicknamed 'saturday smalls'...these are paintings done on small boards (5"x7" or so) during saturdays in the studio...i'll be posting the paintings online here for now...then exclusively on my 'saturday smalls' blog with the offer to purchase these small works of art at some point in the near future...at the moment, i'll be working on compositions from my few trips across the continent often visiting small towns in america that in some cases are quickly disappearing...

i look forward to your comments on the new paintings and hopefully you'll consider becoming a collector of this little gems...

the address of the 'saturday smalls' blog is 'saturdaysmalls.blogspot.com'

'circus tent'...

'circus tent' oil on board 6"x7"

'grain crossing'...

'grain crossing' oil on board 7"x5"

'coke sign corner'...

'coke sign corner' oil on board 6"x4"

'hotel howdy, I'...

5.5" x 7" oil on board
part of the 'saturday smalls'...

'salsa'...

12"x12" oil on canvas.

'chirpster'....

this painting is 12"x16", oil on canvas.

wednesday...

it's cold outside...

the studio is chilly...

not much to report except in the next week, i'll be posting two new portraits, one of a bird named 'chirpster' and the other of 'salsa' a black poodle...

i'm currently working on 'cami and spinnaker' and hope to finish it by the weekend(fingers crossed)...

in the meantime, here is the first installment of my 'saturday smalls' a series of small paintings (less than 6"x8")

this on is of a furniture shop in a small town in the america midwest...

the week so far...

today is the day that marks the decline to the weekend...wednesday as the kids call it...since i've been home from vacation in florida, the sun has NOT shone once here in the big smoke...not once...each day i gaze outside from behind the easel to find the same old cloudy, grey day...the clouds seem to loom over toronto as if they have taken up residency here permanently...now i'm not one to really complain about the weather, especially the wintery kind but come on where is the sun?...i'm not talking a brief interlude where the sun breaks through for a moment or two but i would like to see an all out sunshinepallooza even if for one day...i love, love, love the winter time...i love to cold, the clothing, the cosiness of wrapping myself up under my duvet for a fantastic night of sleep but during the day it would be nice to feel the rays of the sun on my skin...some of you may know that even in winter i like to take a chair and my coffee/tea outside to drink it...i love listening to the silence that so often is 'heard' during the cold, snowy days...i hear the birds...the occasional airplane...my idiot neighbour sighing for summer where he can mowed his lawn three times a week...the silence is what i like, the human silence...i also love it when the elderly women in my hood go out for the morning walks (when the road is clear of snow as my hood doesn't have sidewalks) glance over and see me sitting outside enjoying my beverage...i love the silence gesture that expresses their inner nodding and commenting on my action 'meshugana'...yes, i love winter but i need at least one sunny day, just one for this month...maybe i'll just go to my easel to paint a sunny day...

i've finished a very interesting painting this afternoon...a bird...yes a sweet looking finch named 'chirpster'...i have to say that i have never painted a bird and it was a challenge for me...i'm so used to painting fur/hair but feathers!...anyway, it's done and i think it is a lovely painting...now i'm going back to rework a small painting for a client before starting work on 'cami and spinnaker'...

think sunny thoughts...

the official portrait of me...

is this the one i should use?...as i ask the great oracle of cyberspace...

'daniel and tiger man'...

here's a small sketch i did for a client in atlanta...pen, oil on board, 6"x8"

'idgie and sandy'...

the is the last painting i did in the year 2007...for clients in new york city...the size is 36"x30"