Observation #21
 Today is February 17 and  this is just a test to see if I remember how to use this...'thing'

Observation #20 -after the dairy

Dec 22 2016 Observation # (who knows?-I'll look it up later)
 
Since I started this stuff- using Fr. Mike as a sort of narrator, I might as well continue with that fantasy. If he is listening I hope he is cool with what I observe on his behalf..

      The book with more than half of my diary entries is finished, and 900 books have been printed.
It is satisfying to have been remembered by so many in a positive way. What does not surprise me is to hear again how history is changing the habits of the era of my incarnation.
       Many of those who emailed my nephew no longer attend church- of any sort. Some still do of course and will continue to- as may their  children and their children's children.
    It has been gratifying for my ego ( I still have the memory of vestiges of that human characteristic) to hear how I was appreciated. I did the work  I did, not as work, but rather as a sort of obsession. I knew I could make a difference in people's lives in a way most  people don't have the opportunity to.
So how could I pass that up?
          There is no doubt it was my inherited strong ego (at times expressed in selfish ways), that made me bold enough or confident enough to attempt things others though were not doable. There were many times during the war that my sense of being indestructible enabled me to do what I did.
      That night when I visited the lads in the woodshed, I really had no conscious idea of how to find them. Whatever you who read this call it- luck or divine providence, I have no doubt that I was being guided to the right location by some force that was beyond my mortal power to comprehend. I chose of course to call it God, (and God by any other name) is that creative force on your planet good reader, that keeps humanity striving for the good and the positive energy to hold the negative forces at bay. That was the night I did not mention in the diary but did tell my relatives about when I came upon a German soldier in the dark, surprising both of us. He ran one way I ran the other- amusing to tell, but it could have all ended then and there for me.
   I was in no way a hero, I just did my job and was blessed with good health. The heroes of this era are those who are steadfast in their resistance to negative forces, to evil intentions, as expressed by the misguided and the psychologically damaged. In the time of WW2 there were countless deeds, obvious and unseen that were made every hour for six long years, that resulted in the defeat of tyranny. Whether or not mankind could rise to the occasion as did the heroic citizens of England during the battle of Britain, remains to be seen.
  The new Diary is now in 7 stores and 2 museums and the nephew is relieved to be free of the task of answering hundreds of emails, from which he sent out over 80 books. he is fully aware that the success of the sales is due to the publicity given to the book by 6 different print media and one television report.
   Now he is finding himself somewhat 'let down'. His habit of the past 5 years has changed from having what he viewed as a worthwhile project to be his daily work, to the past 8 weeks of being a mail order person,  to now being almost rudderless.
   Whatever the future holds, this chapter of his life has been a satisfying one. He knows something was done that has made quite a few of my old friends and parishioners happy and like his father, my brother Dennis, he has inherited a characteristic of receiving pleasure from making others happy.
    Nothing more really needs to be said, a job was started and finished- results obtained- now onto something else, which whether he knows it or not, will be exactly as it is meant to be.
  

Observation #19 After the Diary

OBSERVATION  # 19 July 2 2016

This is July 2. I am 69 years and two days old today and this was the garden on June 28.The bales of straw are small tomato and bean gardens.
After 2 years here I finally got up the gumption to grow some vegetables and straw berries.
This will be the 3rd year for the straw berries and they are very good.If I get up the gumption it might be fun to put pictures of the garden here as the miracle of plant growth progresses.

Observations # 18 June 29 2016

             Summer is well underway- nice warm days- but too little rain- still our strawberries are good.

I have finished the Diary Project and now just await the return of the pages from a volunteer proof reader. Since giving the folder of 152 pages to Tim at Condor Books, to give the proof reader I have redone about 20 pages. I am getting impatient to get the pages back and get the thing really finished.

           The biggest news is that after Jasmin the grand grand daughter put an appeal on KICKSTARTER  for funds  in order to get the book printed a lot of the amount asked for has been pledged. That's more than a good start and I'm confident I'll have enough money to cover the set up and the printing costs.

      These pictures were taken about a week apart

the left side has the cucumbers and in the top picture you can see the tomato plant.

The bowl of straw berries is about 2 quarts and is about a half of today's picking  

The War Diary.

                 It has been 5 years since I decided to illustrate the diary and 4 1/2 years since I started. I have written about it so much that I have had enough of that.

Now I think it might be fun to write as if I were Uncle Mike looking on over my shoulder for these years.

It should be obvious to anyone that I am not a professional writer- not even a good amateur- but I have never let that stop me. I get a kick out of trying and I think I even manage to communicate sometimes. There have been times in these past 4 1/2 years that I found myself wondering what Mike would think about my choices of his entries to illustrate; also I wondered what he would have to say about the drawings.

           Like the fantasy I wrote "as if" done by the Padre before I got very far into the project, I'll just start and see where fate takes me.


                     The Padre Observes

              At last it is finished. What a painful experience I had to watch the nephew endure. But endure he did. A lot of his pain came from his lack of improvement in his typing. It seems strange to me why he has so much trouble with his fine motor skills, but it seems his fingers can't seem to land squarely on any keys! Then there is the matter of his life time lack of experience. Paying attention to the fundamentals of writing has not been high in his priorities. He has rewritten every single line in his book at least 5 times! At least he has been trying to make his sentences shorter, and reduce the need for so many commas.
              However I do understand his fundamental belief that content is more important than style. I think if he were braver he would write in a 'free' way that is comprehensible but does not have the limiting requirements of 'proper' grammatical structure. Of course luckily he knows that he is not an e.e.cummings the talented poet who refused to use capital letters.. Then there was his initial failure to foresee how many notes he would be making and the need to be super organized. All his wasted hours in the first few months while searching for something he had set aside, taught him to devise a system of storage that worked. (or the most part) There were times when his uncompromising need for authenticity in his illustrations cause even me to say that drawing is good enough. I know he won't talk about his portrayals of me. There are quite a few illustrations in which I appear and it was painful to see him draw and redraw trying to make them all look like the same person. For me they are good enough. There were times in those years when I looked in the mirror and didn't recognize my self. With the vanity I admit I was guilty of I was glad no one took any pictures of me when I shaved off all my hair. That was during those long hot dusty days on the roads with thousand of marching boots and trucks. 
             Right now I am sharing his impatience with receiving the rough draft he left with his friend in Kincardine. Yes, even we who have shucked off the 'mortal shell' still have our human attributes. The difference now here in the Eternal, is that we see that all is illusion- there really is no such thing as impatience.
It is another of those abstract concepts that humans use to justify or explain.
            Yet for the nephew, the waiting and impatience is real enough to be be causing him to waste his precious time stewing over it. He will get it soon enough and I expect that sometime by mid July he could be taking his finished files to the printer.
            Kickstarter is an interesting way of begging. The nephew had and still has reservations about using it. He justifies it to himself by saying to himself what he has done is of some value, and that others are not obliged to donate. He pushes aside the fact that asking friends and relatives for their money rather puts them 'on the spot'. However it looks as if he will exceed the asked for sum.That, he knows, is a lucky thing because the $2500 was a cautious 'ask' and he will need at least $4000 to cover the costs. That does not include the surprisingly large sum he spent on ink cartridges, large and normal size paper, photocopying, markers, paint, digital gadgets to save his work in and printing some photographs.
              We share a laugh when we hear of  the hourly rate charged by those who have to make a living in this field. In the past 5 years his 60 hour weeks would by now have made him a millionaire. If you don't believe me do the math at $50 an hour. But don't bother to waste your time on such trivia.

           The diary entries are well chosen. I am aware of all of them and it's almost as if I were guiding him. The nephew has intuited which of the 528 entries are ones that needed to be used. He could have used more but  the ones he chose are the ones that tell the story. Initially he had just selected about 225 entries, then after reading it again his number rose to only 290. Checking to see what entries he 'could' have used, he eventually got to the current number- some where over 329. I remember the day he sat in a hard chair for 5 hours and  selected the final 40 entries. I have to say I even approve of his putting my observations in the correct order in which they happened. Sometimes I wrote of what happened on the 5th day of the month and then later remembered what happened on the 4th day and added that. Mostly those things didn't matter. Now with my all seeing perspective I sometimes wish I had had the time to add those things I mentioned that were the stuff of drama.
           I have to say I approve of the inclusion of the soldiers'confessions. There were many more that were beyond my nephew's imagination and yes they were hard to listen to. There were so many lonely men, so many missing their home and family. In the midst of all that chaos and bloodshed nothing surprised me. My challenge was to get enough sleep to give the men my undivided attention. There were so many times I wished I'd had the power to send some of them home. Something not spoken about is the fact that when men lose hope they often seem to be the unlucky ones who are hit by a sniper or who don't  see the shrapnel coming or step on a land mine. It's not intentional, it just seems that their unhappy spirit causes them to be careless. 
            This leads me to the inclusion of the parallel theme of the Stress Syndrome. I am glad the nephew had the thought. Although, how could he not? When he started this in 2011 and up to the present there were many media stories about soldiers' problems with PTSD. Suicides in the military and other careers affected my nephew greatly.
Perhaps it was reading about all my pals who died at Dieppe that caused him to be particularly sensitive, but even in those months when depression threatened him he was able to just keep working . He often thought of another old warrior and mentor Carl Schaefer who was a war artist. Schaefer used to say in class:"work is your only salvation". To that I say Amen.
            Something I am particularly happy with is the inclusion of my realization that Ecumenism is something that in uniting all Christians, could eventually be the beginning of uniting all people- all spiritual paths, and not just those Faiths of the Book. To the citizens of the Earth at this time the constant threat of terrorism seems 
like a most threatening time. That is understandable, but the fear that present day people feel is slight when one realizes that on many ordinary days during WW2 more people died in war related conflict than have died in all the months since the war ended. That of course excludes the genocidal actions of evil men in events that have been misnamed as Civil Wars.
           Overall I am pleased with the results of my nephews work. I never dreamed that something like this could be created. Now I have to somehow try to influence my Nephew to set it aside and move onto other things. Knowing him as I do, he sees the imperfections in his work as too significant, and he has caught himself  thinking the work of the past 5 years is just a warm up for a really Major work that 'gets everything right'. I trust he will realize that this project is 'right' enough.
Pax Vobiscum
Mike.       
              
       

Observation # 17

-see the edited first and last part of # 16-

Observation # 16 Sept 01 2014

                     Oct 4 2014

    I know not what this form of correction should be called, for it is 'out' of the order in which such changes are likely done. (of that I know not as well)-Just call it a correction-

That correction is of the titles of the Attic paintings.While doing them, I was reading Alexander Pope-different things by him. I came across a sentence which seemed to sum up,for me, what those paintings had to say.

     Seeing many of those objects in my initial experience in the Attics -the treasures and 'junk' collected in a lifetime of the possession of things, seemed to suggest that attitude than people retain, even over an extended period of time, that should enlighten them, namely that one can 'go back', that one can and may ring that bell again, or put on those shoes, or read that book. Alas we seldom do. We do not know what the future holds

but it seems that some hold out a vague hope that those objects which once brought them pleasure  may do so again.Alas they seldom do. 

     The line in Pope's work :"heaven from all creatures hides the book of fate" seemed like a good title, so I borrowed it. For some reason while getting things ready for the Co Op display I completely forgot that I had borrowed that title. 

     By the way Pope considers it a gift from God that we do not know the future.

  As of today (Oct 4) the pictures (I like calling them that -it seems to remove all pretentiousness!) are all hanging and I am left to wonder how others see them-just curiosity- I have long ago given up asking others to note their comments... I will jump to the end of this post to put in a few Pictures of the wall at the Co Op.

 

               Today, the first day of September, feels like the hottest day of the summer.

 I'm returning to this little game because I have made a significant change  to Post #11's Barn.

   That change came about after I returned from a visit to a couple of old Art College pals. I visited with Al

and Dave and on the first day of our get together I did a painting Pleine Aire (on the spot).

Of course I didn't finish it- but when I returned home, the small landscape, done near Stirling (which is near Belleville), seemed to be worth tinkering with- so I did, and am not displeased with the results.

               The next day- that would be two days ago as of today-Ruth and I stopped at a garage sale and I got 6 slightly used Picture frames-they are the sort of old fashioned things with a canvas liner and a gold line around the inner edge. I know they are not fashionable but I don't really care- they work for me.

        On the same day I held up the Barn in Blog 11 and thought :"why not? " I can cut it down and rework some of the parts I find  poorly done and put it in one of my new old frames and partially solve my problem of what to put up in the Artist's Co Op Gallery as the Guest Artist for the month of October.

      Until that moment I had no idea concerning what I would offer the Co Op gallery to display. Now I do.

It will be 5 or 6 small 'framed' barn paintings-one big one(the one seen in another blog), and the painting of the 'Round Barn' which is in Ripley...as well, the two 'Attic' Paintings.

     Also, I'll include the Pleine Aire work from Stirling (which has a small very distant barn in it!).

So now to work at the three new works for the next 3 weeks. I will post them here but I will not be spending too much time making written Observations. We are heading for Ottawa on the 23rd and I have to have 

works ready for the Gallery by Sept 30.
                                                Original...I forget what I titled it-
                               was it Barn #1 2014? with 'hard 'edges to the white clouds

the re-worked version with the cloud edges softened

and some colour adjustments.

This is the location of the on the spot study near Stirling 

after some additional work and a reduction in size...

this detail is closer in colour to any of the others,and shows the 3

small trees (bushes) in the bottom left that I thought pulled the eye out 

of the bottom corner.......so....

I painted them out -presto -gone

The final thing-call it: Barn near Stirling

Drawing in a reddish Purple colour on Panel for: 'Barn #2 2014'

some colour added

some Value 7 neutral gray added

with mostly values 7 and 8 added to light areas

both of these are poor indications of the colour- 

some local colour added..... contemplating what to do with the sky....

 some blue and violet added to sky area

there were a lot of changes made in the two weeks I worked on this(while working on the other 2

which are coming up)-but this is fairly close to what it looks like in the frame

Call this one 'Barn #3 2014' also on 11 X 14 masonite panel

When I started to put some warm washes over the drawing I was reminded

of the hand tinted Black and white photographs I experimented with using oil paint-

that feels like it was a life time ago!

...and I resolved to make this one Monochrome.

once more the colour is ... about half way between these two

and yes... it's not quite monochrome

thew slight haziness is due to the layer of varnish-  guess I should get a filter to avoid that

The final one is the same barn, same size, same materials -just a different season-

the grass showing through the snow is not nearly so warm in colour

Yes, I forgot ,by this time to take pictures, -started to seem rather unnecessary but

 "you get the Picture" (sorry)

The last photograph 'was' going to be the last-but I might as well add some other not very good pictures of 

some works that might be in the Owen Sound Artist's Co Op Gallery in October.

This is from the Big Barn door in the barn at in Minto Glen, before we made it into a

 Studio for Ruth's Pottery  

Attic#3 with Trap Door(yep that's the Title) 

                This one is another attic in a series of the interiors of old buildings. I really did find these places

and started with the structures seen here but added stuff over the years-I used to think of these places as Stage Sets and they would have made great ones-the Ghosts were the silent actors and I, the Observer-

the audience of one.This one is titled  :Attic #4 with Window                                            

 I guess that's it for now

-Now back to my Uncle's War Diary Project -  the text is from about 190 Diary entries that were taken from the 528 entries Mike made over the years he kept the Diary.

I will not be  putting the progress of that project on this Blog- it is too time consuming

to you who enter here- all the best 

this is the corner of the space in the Co Op Gallery

this is the entire space.....

and this is why it is almost 'silly to hang something

with it's center about nine feet above the floor.

...impossible to find Pope's quotation written in the Book of Fate in the lower right corner 

Observation #15- the resurrected Sleigh

During this prolonged winter of my prolonging new work,(aka procrastination) this 'older work of a little sleigh in the weeds seemed to be worth trying to save. It was one that just barely past the cut when we moved to Owen Sound.
When we moved I tossed out a few works and gave away a few more-this one I was unsure of...
     The canvas had already been part of a salvage process-that is my having taken a large 'magnificent failure'
and cutting it up to make what might be 2 or 3 works worth keeping.(OK maybe it wasn't magnificent -I just like the expression) -it WAS big- 5 feet by 7 feet
  The Three Crows was the lower left side of the large original

The Crows Flying up the Valley was the upper section

This was inspired by a real experience of surprising a murder of crows(something I have seldom done)-I guess their watchman was asleep- they flew up that break between the trees into the setting sun.

The remaining area of the original(the bottom right) is the one I have been  reworking  and have now after only a week have concluded is worth keeping

The fence the crow is sitting on above is continued to the left in this, the final one with the Redeemed Sleigh.

After a few days of working mostly balancing the shapes and increasing the contrast, this is  what turned out

This is fairly close to the final colour but the rusted reddish metal parts are not so

warm and the upper right corner is not so hazy 

The weather has not  been favorable for taking photographs of paintings -either too cold to take outside and my light in this studio room is too uneven and today it is raining.

by sheer luck I found this photograph from July 2010-the source of the above three canvases-

it was so big I had to construct a folding stretcher to transport it  that explains the curve in the edges

I'm rather glad this does not exist any longer...

...makes me remember Al Purdy's Poem  on admitting he has written some bad Poems.