Late in the evening, late in the morning. Saturday and Sunday night late considerations arose about my interests in the fine art of painting and drawing. This I’ll elaborate on under “Writings”.

Thursday I dropped off a bunch of items at the IODE store on first street SW. This cleared away a big pile in my bed room, a welcome leave taking of old, but still wearable clothes and functioning Christmas lights. Besides this clearing up, I also sorted more cards and classified them.

Friday evening Michelle joined me in attending the reception at ‘Master’s Gallery’ on Forth nearby. We dropped in at 6:45pm, as it was busy with a crowd that seemed more or less acquainted with themselves, which did not include either of us. So, I was thankful that Michelle had joined me at the last minute.

We wandered around examining the various Canadian impressionists on display, all priced above 25k$! However, I had come to pick up my copy of Prakash’s tome titled “Impressionism in Canada”. I’d also wanted to be witness the crowd that would gather for this event and sample the champagne along with the byte sized snacks. Both were up to the mark that you would enjoying several, as we chatted on a sofa with an impressionist’s framed expression on display above us.

I’d also wanted to be witness the crowd that would gather for this event and sample the champagne along with the byte sized snacks.

Saturday I stopped by at John and Annie who had her friend sleep over. I’d brought some articles for John, one on magnetic levitation - vertical and horizontal - people movers and a book review on modern cosmology and quantum physics. The cosmology part I could follow, but the second part I’ll have to read again. I made copies! The evening I spent placing more Christmas ornaments around my place, which I do instead of decorating a tree for which I have little room.

On Sunday I met with friends at the Palliser, where a family event livened up the ground floor. Jack joined us again and has been of late. Ken was even ten minutes before starting time! He, Shirley and I walked in together, which was a first time for me over all those years. In the late afternoon I went over to see Rene, who is still in the hospital. He asked me to get him some outside food from down stairs and we chatted a bit as he munched away.

Returning home, I dug out my mailbox, which contained a Christmas cards from Els and Derrick, with Derrick’s selfies of us both, from my visit last fall. Those along with his gracious thank you for having come over to share my last summer’s family visit memories with him. You are most welcome Derrick, I enjoyed the sharing!
<11:05am, coffee time and restart at 11:18am>.

I did purchased - at Master’s Gallery you purchase - the dining table tom by Prakash, which is subtitled ‘A Journey of Discovery’. The book examines the very beginnings of impressionism in Europe, to then focus on the Canadian impressionists.

The book and even the original Globe and mail add back in October ‘spoke to me’ as it were; that is I experienced an unusual appeal from the add and later the advance copy of the book at the gallery. I said to Rod the manager - ‘You can put me down for one’. Over all that time the appeal had only grown stronger and on Friday night I walked home, accompanied by Michelle and with my copy of “Impressionism in Canada”.

Michelle joined me for a tea yet and later on I did the dishes, but something was stirring in me about art. I dug up my copy of “A history of Canadian Culture” and searched the index for ‘impressionism’, which was absent, but the Group of Seven was a hit.

‘What is it with this interests in Impressionism all of a sudden?

On Saturday evening late I started to ask myself: ‘What is it with this interests in Impressionism all of a sudden? Was there something else relating to this interest?’ Slowly, but surely I started to recall the interests in the ‘fine arts’ that I had taken up the year 1957/8, when I was a working student at the HTS Polytech in Utrecht at the Vondel Laan. I started to recall all the art books I’d brought over from Holland in 1959 most now gone. I checked in late, knowing there was something there, but not just what.

Sunday night I returned to my theme of the fine arts, now firmly recalling exhibits I had visited, such a Henry Moore’s and Lipchitz’s, as well as one on Cubism in Amsterdam's City Museum. But, since Friday another strand had emerged. I had always viewed cubism as a reaction against pre-WW1 arts.

Things had to be rearranged from the ground up after that war, hence cubism, abstraction, pointillism and others. Gauguin I saw as searching in the early human cultures - Tahiti - expressions for new forms. My question was now, ‘Did the Canadian painters such as the Seven, seek a healing in nature from the WW1 wounds in the Canadian setting?

I started to look at art as a development in human interaction with its own experience. Around 1880 things looked pretty much assured and impressionism was there to match that sentiment. It had freed itself from the biblical, antiquity and romantic themes and was attuned with evolution, physics and technology, to turn destructive in WW1.

I left this for what is appeared to be, because it would entail a life time study. But, what was not resolved was my own fascination with the painters and human cultural expression in general. This made me recall my motives for ‘studying’ the fine arts at the time (1957/8).

At that time I wanted to counter balance my technical education.

At that time I wanted to counter balance my technical education. This remained with me as a newly landed immigrant, but was displaced with my need at make a living here and put some solid ground under my feet back in 1959.

Today my old interests are resurfacing, but to what purpose and why did I experience such a strong fascination? The latter meant that I needed to remain focussed on this resurfaced interest. Subsequently, I went back over my life time and recalled a number of instances that related to an interest in arts and culture. This resulted in a firm opinion on my part that these interests were genuine and would have functionality, which could not be becoming a painter at my age. I have done my Left_Hand art work, but that depended on processes that I needed to clarify at the time in 1991/2 and later. AS I write this, I suppose that I could do a left hand drawing on this topic of my fascination! I’ll keep that for now.

Returning to my musings of last night, I came to the conclusion that the process of art is the bringing to conscious awareness a content that is ready to be expressed in symbolic form.

Returning to my musings of last night, I came to the conclusion that the process of art is the bringing to conscious awareness a content that is ready to be expressed in symbolic form. In that sense I look at the making of an art work as a meditation, which is also a process to become aware of something that is close to the threshold of awareness.

I felt that through my renewed interest in art and particularly the impressionists I was reminding myself of the necessity to use the associative processes of artistic creation. To be accepting of letting it play a role in my formulations of what we humans are up to in this existence, which is the subject that occupies me at present.

A reworking of the old principles that are current in our society is needed now today, just like is was for the artists after the WW1 experience. Today we are talking about a restructuring of our own sense of meaning and destiny as humanity in our integrating social and global network.

What are the new values to become, which old ones must we keep and what to do about all these differing identities that we as humans adhere to?

Lots of work in the shop, just ask the CIA and they will tell you how you can go off the rail in your dedication to your identity.
<12:38pm lunch in cluded, but no edit; all complete at 5:52pm.