Hands on Auction

Bluejay in Summer, watercolour,
framed in a dark wood that's hard to see against the background

The other day I was photographing this framed watercolour painting, just before bringing it to the Dundas Valley School of Art to be part of the DVSA 42nd Anniversary Art Auction. In the last shot I took, my little boy put his hand over top of the painting. As he placed his hand on the glass, Clarence said, "I'm going to stop the bird from flying away."  Uch, too cute. And if the bidding at the auction gets opened up to include paying in Lego, Clarence really could stop this blue jay from flying away to a new home.

Come to think of it, this hand on painting photo makes me think of last year when I was also photographing a piece that went to the DVSA Art Auction, and Clarence wanted to touch the bunny rabbit.  And now that has me thinking about the time I was at an art gallery in Washington, D.C. (I can't remember which one because I was very young), and one of my two older brothers dared the other one to touch a VanGogh painting. The dare was followed through on but I don't think the result was as exciting as either one of them had hoped.

Larf Love

I've been meaning to share a recommendation for a great new children's book called Larf. My official assessment is: "I give it a gazillion thumbs up." The illustrations are beautiful and fun, making them the perfect accompaniment to the narrative which is both whimsical and thoughtful. My little fella Clarence is also a fan. "Want to read Larf," is a clear sign of unequivocal 2.5-year-old endorsement. I won't tell you too much about the book, but you should know that  Larf is a sasquatch, or as he's also described, "a hairy, seven-foot-tall, scarf-sporting manbeast..."  Awesome.

And you know what else is great? I went to Sheridan with Ashley Spires, the author of Larf and a number of other superb children's books, and she's great! I'm a completely reliable source on this because, as you can see, I have Quill & Quire to back me up and they're no slouches. Ashley dedicated Larf to her former classmates in the postgraduate Illustration program at Sheridan, something which makes me feel pretty darn special, especially give that Larf is a very special book.

For information about what other's have to say about my favourite manbeast, click here