Spring seems to have finally sprung here in Montreal!

Tonight Chris and I did the final layout of my book. Today I also cut all of my covers to size. Tomorrow I am off to the printers and Chris will visit our friend Paul's letterpress! It is coming along.

Chris at the cottage in the fall. Either Chris never wears a shirt or I only like to photograph him shirtless. Which do you think it is?

My friend Zoe Jaremus' MFA photo thesis show is up at the Parisian Laundry till Saturday.

I found an old photo of Chris on the meds after his knee surgery.

Things are coming along well for my exhibit. When it's been a while since you last mounted a solo show you forget all the details that take so much time: spotting, trimming, mounting; and then getting the prints in the frames: measuring and cutting spacers, cleaning the glass, etc. Well now all that is done. And my invites were printed today. Last week I did a first practice run of my thesis talk for the MFA class and it went pretty well. Lastly I am doing an artist book to accompany the show (an edition of 25, some of which will be available for purchase in a few weeks). So the images were all scanned and chosen a while ago, now the book layout is done and designed, the image notes for the back of the book are done, but my essay is not finished. So once that is done and the digital layout is double and triple checked I will be printing it out and stitching it together myself. Almost there, I can see the finish line in sight! I am feeling a bit more relaxed so I hope to be posting as usual from now on.

For those of you in Montreal you may not be aware that tomorrow evening Vik Muniz's Waste Land is playing as part of Films That Transform (a series that my father helps to organize) at McGill. I missed it when it was in theaters so I am hoping to find the time to see it tomorrow night.

Another cat photo. Sorry for the recent hiatus. Unfortunately it will probably continue for a few weeks while I get work done. In the meantime check out this year's FIFA line-up.

A photo from our last camping trip in August.

I have always liked Terry O'Reilly's "The Age of Persuasion" and in January of this year they started offering a podcast. The first few minutes of this episode is about the founding of Kodak.

Our cats, just because.

I am very much looking forward to Night Blanche this Saturday night. An all night art party, what could be better! Don't miss the awesome Art Souterrain, where Montreal's underground tunnels fill up with art of all kinds. Two artists showing in Art Souterrain that I don't want to miss are Diana Thorneycroft and David Spriggs.

Chris looking for a book and reading the newspaper at the cottage.

These days life has been very busy what with teaching two classes at Champlain, one at Concordia, and tutoring two sections of an art history course at Concordia. But I am not complaining, I really love the teaching. It is just hard to juggle those hours with working on my thesis show. Hopefully most of the printing for the exhibit will be done in one week's time. It is all coming together and I am very excited for my April 20th opening. But before that I still have to work on a book format of the work, think about the possibility of incorporating sound and finish reading this, as well as other research books. When it rains it pours! But it is all that nice warm, feel good rain, just a little too much of it.

Icicles galore. Have a good weekend!

Chris in orange and two orange cats in Ithaca, NY.

Summer memories.

Three talks that I am planning on attending this week:

"James Joyce and the Creative Challenge of Early Cinema", by Dr. John McCourt
Tonight (Monday Feb 14th) 8:30 pm, Concordia University
1455 de Maisonneuve W, rm H-1220

"Photography and Conceptual Art in Canada", by Jayne Ward
Tomorrow (Tuesday Feb 15th) 6:30 pm, Concordia University
1515 St Catherine Street West, EV-1.605

Corey Arnold
Thursday Feb 17th 6:30 pm, Dawson College
3040 Sherbrooke Street West, 5B-16

Some still lifes from when we painted the bathroom.

And a question: why was this book not on most people's top photo books of 2010? It can't be that poorly produced, and to me it is one of the best series around.

Dog at Jeanne-Mance Park.

Sometimes I would like to be a dog chasing after sticks all day, or my cats sleeping in the sun. Do you think that photos of cats or dogs can be anything other than cute or cheesy? And is there anything wrong with that?

My Irish Grandmother series has found a home at The Centaur Theatre for the month of February. A sequence of small prints from the series is now on view in the Seagram Art Gallery at the Centaur till February 27th, in conjunction with the Irish play "Stones In His Pockets". The space is open from 9am to 11pm, Mondays to Fridays. So if you happen to be in the Old Port stop by and take a look. The address is: 453 Saint-François-Xavier, Montreal, H2Y 2T1.

The auction that I am part of is over tomorrow (Thursday) at 1pm. Go check it out and maybe you'll be tempted to bid on a piece!

Cottage still life. A quiet moment for busy times.

A storm in the woods.

Photos above done for The Globe and Mail. Montreal designers who are participating in the Interior Design Show in Toronto, which is opening this Thursday. I had fun seeing the workshops and stores that these designers work out of. From the top: Domison, Couper Croiser, Gau Designs.

Chris in our favourite chair by the window. Also an image of him misusing a Jennifer Loeber print, which I got when we did a trade. Sorry Jennifer, it won't happen again!

Chris.

Chris as a temporary invalid (knee surgery).

The Natural History Museum, Dublin

Another image from the series that I am working on these days: "Ulysses, a personal journey". I am giving you this sneak peak because a print of this image is being included in the most recent Daniel Cooney Fine Art auction called "Of Gods and Monsters" and curated by Andrew Mroczek. You can see all lots from the auction here, and my specific image and some information about it here. Bid early and bid often!

Out for breakfast with Chris.

Out for breakfast. (at le Vieux Velo)

Images from the Red Counter: our young litchi plant, and beer bottles the morning after.

Happy New Year everyone!

Today my good friends pictured above had a baby girl! Congrats Nancy and Neal!