Emoticon Totem Pole

Wikipedia entry for "emoticon".

Wikipedia entry for "totem".




Click to enlarge.


May 30, 2006

This is the last day in which you will be able to smoke inside a public place, in Ontario. After Midnight, the closest watering hole will become non-smoking. I'm going to be there; just to see if there are any protestors, flaunting the new directive.


Ideas: CBC radio, May30, 06

Margaret Thatcher (Wiki article) used to make a big (public) deal out of the fact that she was the only (British) politician of note (Presumably of her time) that had a degree in science.

However, her only scientific work of note was spending 18 months of her life discovering ways to inject air into ice cream. (Telegraph article) Thus: reducing the amount of expensive ingredients in a scoop, increasing the profit and reducing the quality. Presumably, she left it up to others to market the crap. I find it amusing that her lone "scientific achievement" was to help adulterate a product with such wholesome connotations. She would spend the greater part of her life creating a great, grand adulteration of Great Britain.

Recently, "premium" ice-cream makers have been at pains to trumpet the reduction of air in their ice cream.

May 31, 2006

Codco
2'nd link

Alliance Atlantis, which purchased Salter Street Films, has declared that they are not interested in releasing the Codco catalog on DVD. There is a petition online, to remedy the situation. Salter Street also produced some of my other favourite Canadian TV comedies: Made In Canada (marketed as The Industry, stateside) and This Hour Has 22 Minutes, which is still in production -presumably under AA.


No smokers' riots in Fort Frances, last night.



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stuff

Click pics for larger photos.


Bass in tophat.


Cool old Ford Econoline van that -presumably- the FF high shop will be rehabbing.


Sunset; outside my studio.



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Eric's got the mad Canadian Tire Bucks.
Wikipedia Canadian Tire Money article.

Excerpt:

Contrary to popular belief, the man on the "money" is not Canada's first Prime Minister Sir John A. Macdonald; he is actually a fictional creation named Sandy McTire.

It seems that Can. Tire stock took a leap last week, because an american investor made known his desires about CT selling off its credit card division and selling properties it owns article.
CT says it's a bunch of bad noise.



Fishosaur; inspired by a news story.




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New native blog

Larry Mitchell, at The Native Blog
found this new site; Voice of a Native Son.
Thanks for the find, Larry.

Voice of a Native Son is angry and smart. Here's a taste:

the no-frills version of America as a colonialist and imperial state that has managed to effectively surpass ancient Rome is without question a factual reality borne out by the incipient horror of the facts. Ask any honest person Indigenous to the Americas, your local history teacher or any Iraqi citizen not yet killed by American military personnel. Not that this reality is much talked about let alone discussed as serious history. It isn’t. But the factoid that America as a democratic, humanistic beacon of enlightenment is a patently false facade perpetuated by openly bigoted Europeans emotionally driven to purge the historical record of their monstrous deeds towards their fellow human beings goes unmentioned. Americans, desperate enough to deny their own record of Indigenous genocide, African slavery and imperialist control over other, significantly weaker nations and populations readily adopt and adapt to state propaganda that frankly, tells them that they are good people doing the entire world a favour.

A direct link to this posting.



Studio moment.



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Fisherman and trout (acrylic painting, metal and papier mache).
click for detail pic


Canoe and Heron (acrylic painting).
click for detail pic


Tags:
bingorage,blog,painting,studio,native art,native author,poetry,writing,Indian Country

Update stuff

Click thumbs for larger pics and detail...


Beaded bottle; with leather and shell.


Beaded bottle; with leather and shell (detail). [Good closeup pic]


update: May 28


Adding first background colour to new canvas.






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Explosive potatoes invade Canada

Workers flee explosive chips - Yahoo! News UK

Workers find fragments of World War 2 ordnance in potatoes from France and Belgium at a McCain, Scarborough, Ontario plant; including a whole grenade.
Cops called, Hilarity ensues.

Why is Canada importing tarrarist potatoes from France and Belgium?

* Found at Fark.com

random pics and service industry

I used to be in the service industry -and may be there again, someday (yikes)- Here are a couple of sites by those who have to put up with us.


Click the owl for WaiterRant. A consistently updated, well-written piece about running a high-end restaurant.


Click the Emo war memorial for Pizza Man, an occasional funny blog about the adventures and gripes of a pizza delivery guy in Minneapolis.



Tickle Mishepezhou for rants about customers at Angry.Net

Smile



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The question is, not: Are you paranoid?

It is: Are you paranoid enough?









Native American Vampire story.



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Update on Display-piece and big canvas. + New, free Native Art (INUIT) e-book.

Click for larger pics




Display set-up at Clover Valley Farmer's Market.


Priming the large canvas.



In a previous posting, I linked to Clint Leung's free ebook on Northwest Coast Art @ Free Spirit Gallery.ca. Now, he has released his free ebook on Inuit Art: An Overview of Canadian Arctic Inuit Art.
Adobe reader or other PDF reader required.



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attack gecko

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Creating new display piece for my Farmer's Market booth.

Clover Valley Farmer's Market, Fort Frances.


Most pics click to enlarge.


Using pencils as doweling, to tack styrofoam.





Papier-mached joint; detail.


Antlers added.


Papier mache mask added.


Papier mache mask; detail.


Reinforcing papier mache joint with wood piece.


Half done.

Update: May 15, 2006.


Bracing the crossbeam.


Papier mache, over the turtle glyph.


Profile of the crossbeam.


Pillars mached; drying on my workbench.

I am not sure if I will paint the arch. I kinda like the colour of the kraft paper, as it is; looks like sandstone or khaki.
I will paint some pictographs on it, though; maybe the mask, too.

:Eric



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Some random Internet goodness: Webby Awards and Free Native-Art 'ebook'.

The 10'th annual Webby awards have been announced. If you are looking for a quick way to get a feel for the best: services, website designs, news and "cool stuff' available out there, this is a good place to start.
Webby Awards


Mr Clint Leung -regular Bingorage reader & commentor- has written and released a free "ebook" An Overview of Pacific Northwest Native Indian Art , at his Free Spirit Gallery Site (Download Page).
[PDF reader required; such as free Adobe Reader]

Clint also writes an excellent blog Inuit and Native Art Bulletin, focusing on Inuit and Northwest-Coast art.



This is a picture of a bronze piece, entitled "Frog Moon Walking Stick" (43" x 10 1/8"), by my old acquaintance, Ed Archie Noisecat.

I haven't seen him in a long time, but it seems like he's "out there", somewhere, producing new work. Ed's a Salish sculptor, painter and designer. You can see more of his work at his site.



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The eleven foot by four foot canvas - Act 3

Act 1
Act 2

Most pics click for larger view.



Crossbraces and elbow brackets added to the frame. I hadn't intended to put brackets on this piece, at first, but figured that it may be necessary.


Finished box frame, standing up.


Measuring the length of canvas.


Draping the canvas; making sure all sides are covered, with enough excess canvas to pull on to stretch and tighten.


An initial sharp corner. These need to be blunted, to prevent the canvas from tearing at these points. Especially if you are using a thinner canvas, like muslin (Which is possible to use on smaller canvases; cheaper and easier to find, too).


Rounding off the edges with a hammer. In this case, the back of a hatchet.


A rounded-off corner.

A short discussion of canvas stretching and tightening:

It's hard to show the process; but it is fairly straightforward. After initially "tacking" the canvas in place (once it is draped and all sides accounted-for), a 4"-wide 'point' in the middle of a short side is well-stapled (At least 4 to 5 staples, to a 'point'). Staples are placed on the narrow sides of the 1"x4" board, which will lie against the wall.

The artist then: moves to the opposite point on the canvas, pulls on the canvas with both hands, secures the canvas with left hand (for righties), then staples a 3"-4" wide point between left thumb and index finger with free right hand; keeping left hand in place, until the staples are hammered flat. Go to a point on the other set of parallel sides and repeat. It is important to tighten points opposite of each other, then to move to the perpendicular sides and repeat tightening at opposing points, so that the canvas is repeatedly and consistently tightened, as it is secured.

Tucking, folding and stapling the first corner.


Getting an idea of the size.


Finished canvas, reverse side. Pic is a little fuzzy, because I forgot to switch from "close-up" setting on the lens. Same with next pic.


Pic updated; May9, 06.



Random Pics:

New deathbike, train and mask.


10 000 Broken Vulture Bucks.




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The Eleven by Four Foot canvas - Act 2

OR

How to build big canvas; Bingorage-style


(ACT 1); here.
(ACT 3); here.


Click pics for larger, detailed view.

So... I went down to my local hardware store and bought a couple of 16', 1"x4" spruce boards and a couple of pre-cut 4' dowels (wood, unknown). I had the sawyer/ lackey cut two 11' lengths and two 4' lengths out of the 16' boards; then took them back to the studio and laid them out...

After I had finally cleared a space for them, in the Bingorage World Headquarters.

[BWQ (Bingorage World Headquarters), after dusk.]



Laying out the canvas box-frame.



Line up the butt-joints and drill the pilot holes; through the depth of one board and into the end grain of the other.



Countersink pilot holes, to recess screwheads.



Fasten butt-joint with coarse-thread drywall screws. I like to use a screw that is at least 1&3/4".



A fuzzy pic of finished butt-joint. Ooops.



Positioning the braces; shim the depth, uniformly. I used the identical tiles on the floor to eyeball the placement of the braces, equidistant from the centre and sides. I then used small, identical paperboard boxes to set the braces at equal distances from the floor (and what will, eventually, be the 'face' of the canvas).



Mark the position of the braces. I used red pastel.






Drill pilot holes in centre of brace marks, from inside.



Countersink holes, on outside.



Stand the box.



Position the braces.



Fasten the butt-joint between board and dowel.


Okay. At this point, my instructions are flying without pictures, because I haven't made the final brace, yet. But this is kinda what it's going to look like:

Crossbrace sketch.

The long cross brace will need to be butt-joined at the ends and where it crosses the dowels, giving the canvas more strength against diagonal forces and twisting; as well as reinforcing the side boards from bowing. I'll have pics as soon as I put in the big crossbrace. By that time, I should have the canvas stretched, as well.



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Neil Young's Living With War

Tickle my clown to get direct link to Neil Young's Living with War. A new album recorded in three weeks, this spring, with track titles like "Let's Impeach the President".

When I was a kid, my mom once told me that she had a cousin whom dated Neil Young. I related this tidbit to a friend, some time later and he said: Big deal. Everyone's got an aunt, cousin or sister who dated Neil Young.

Perhaps... I cannot say for certain.



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