Greeting from Jurassic Park

It's 4 days before Christmas and I haven't done my usual ritual of scribbling my brush on some cards and sending my love out to y'all. So before guilt takes my sleep away I thought I'd try to reach as many of you as possible thru my old trusty blog. Since I haven't spewed out my words of wisdom in sometime this post may be like me- all over the place. Let's start with the brush strokes. I used to be embarassed to make a mark with a brush. I ain't no mo! I was asked recently why I love outsider/folk art. The answer was " I love childrens art!" Why is that? In a kids mind there are so many possiblities ( purple dogs, crooked houses, green people) and in the experts mind there are only a few choices. I want my heart and mind to be like a childs. The perfect is the enemy of the good! - Voltaire.

I start every morning by rolling over and looking at pics of my kids and granddaughters. I look at a painting of a rat jumping over the moon by Ronnie the Rat, a painting by Clyde Jones that I love, some pots that I love. But here is what I do- I give thanks for 5 minutes for my kids, my family, my friends,

my life, my little home, the wonderful life I have lived and continue to live. If it sounds like I drank some toxic Kool Aid maybe I did and I'll keep sipping it. A week ago I got a ball mill from my old bull buddy Ron Roy. I gathered some clay at an old clay yard in Hamilton and have been making some slips- Straight up Queenston Shale, flashing slip and porcelain slip with an addition of 3% Queenston shale. It is a dirty shitty job!!!! Do a common thing in an uncommon way. Slips and glazes everyone uses. Few of us make our own glazes anymore. Hardly anyone makes their own clay. This is why the post is titled " Greetings from Jurasic Park" In 4 decades the field has progressed 10 fold to what it was when I started. But is that progress?? Understanding your materials is like being a chef. You know how to make to taste. This is not the 300 billion hamburgers served that MacDonalds brags. The same in Toronto as in Amsterdam, as in Paris, as in Jingdezhen.

So my message for the end of 2023 - Dare to be different!. The world needs more characters. All the very best from my little house to yours. Love y'all T Virus-free.www.avast.com