Granville Island

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Granville Island

 

 

Ive been working on this piece since I arrived in Canada in October. I did the initial drawing the first week I was here, left it for a while then started painting/outlining it a few weeks ago. 

It is my way of expressing how I felt moving to this country, 

the new brand names I was buying, sights I was seeing and the film 'tiny furniture' I watched and loved.

Hollywood

I drew this after watching half the film 'The Day of the Locust' 1975

It is a long film and I have yet to see the ending

The casual Vacancy

      

Set in a small pastoral town similar to that of ‘vicar of dibley’, this book begins slowly and remains at this pace throughout most of the read. It is not until the last 100 pages (or so) that the tension really starts to build resulting in a cascading series of events that collapse into a rounded finish. 

   On the surface this book seems to deal simply with the day-today gossip and affairs of these Pagford and Yarvil folk. The matter of a re-election has the town in a state of excitement, triggering revelations to be divulged and sides to be taken.

                     

A character study of humans and their over-pompous behaviors divides the small society into two social classes. These two classes still represent much more than just Pagford and Yarvil, they stand for the rich and the poor and the ongoing inequality, which surrounds us today. Under a mask of insincerity sits Howard, the most obvious example of a hypocritical politician/chairman who continues this divide. Fear of living too close to the scum brings such men into positions of control and dictation. As corrupt and bitchy as Howard is the snooty Shirley. How many times growing up did I meet blabbermouth couples such as Howard and Shirley? Far too many. You are always sure to come across sickly smug couples such as them on school pta’s, church committees or as volunteers.

As long as men and women like these are in authority, the poor and invisible will remain in their place.

Unfortunately the poor cannot better themselves so fall into the same patterns and stereotypes of the ones to come before them. I thought Krystal was a very convincing character who contained the force to arouse both dislike and empathy from the reader.

JKRowling has proved she can write about fantasy and magic but this book seems so much more personal. I do not think this book is smug, I think it is truthful. JKRowling knows what struggle is from raising her daughter as a single mother and continues to help such charities as to prevent situations such as Krystal and Robbie’s from occurring. I only wish the book had been a tad shorter, I know it was slow to mimic the pace/feeling living in a small town can have but some chapters could have been cropped. This way we could still experience the slow without subtracting from the overall impact of the book.

But I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this book, as I don’t usually like suburban narratives. Although JKRowling has such expression and talent for characters that it really is a wonder I was surprised at all. I was very affected by this book and hope it can bring about some change and discussion.

My Review: The casual Vacancy, JKRowling

Cats at Christmas

   

          Cats at Christmas

I don't need an excuse to post photos of cats...but I will use christmas as one anyway! Above, is me with old man Phil. 14 year old Phil is a large black and white moggy with a loud snore and louder meow. He likes the odd bit of cheese we give him and adores having his belly rubbed. 

Some photos from a pet shop in Richmond which always draws in the crowds with their adorable newborn kittens

LEG IN THE AIR

COS HE JUST DONT CARE

And a special thought for my cats at home in England, Mabel and Toulouse 

who I miss very much and hope they are not up to too much mischief

Baking at christmas

This year we attended a large christmas dinner. On christmas day there was a great assemble of christmas dishes prepared by all the guests in attendance. Being a Vegetarian I decided to make a veggie option and Jack made his famous cheesecake desert. 

 Top left is spinach and feta pastries. They were actually very nice. On the right are vegetarian stuffing balls. Inside are onions, spices, prunes, walnuts and breadcrumbs. They came out nice and crispy with a very christmassy flavour (probably from the thyme). In the centre, Jacks vanilla cheesecake decorated with berries in shape of the union jack. It was delicious.

I made a painting for Riley for his new bedroom. He was overwhelmed with presents on christmas, so will probably enjoy looking at it more when its in his room 

Festive frolics

Christmas photos I should've already posted
So, below is the christmas tree lot we visited to select our christmas tree.
Id never seen anything like this before.
Free refreshments were provided with sticks to roast hot dogs and buns and
hot cider and hot chocolate to drink. It all felt very traditionally American and I
was reminded of 'national lampoons christmas vacation'

Vancouver Christmas market where it rained. 

we took shelter with our mulled wines and watched the German band with their trombones

 Ice rink by Vancouver Art Gallery

bring your own skates and its free!

I was very happy to see this cute display in 'Aberdeen Mall'. Aberdeen is known for its Asian population so with this came the japanese style/super cute/smiley decorations

 Snow outside our apartment