When
he had finished gluing a plate of puzzle pieces onto the art, I went over to
see what he had done. I found in one
small area he had glued these three pieces together. I thought that it was interesting that the
bottom two pieces were actually one piece… that I had cut into two. Considering the randomness of the plate of
pieces I gave to him, I found it interesting that he managed to put two pieces
back together again.
What
was even more interesting was where he had glued these three pieces
together. To be sure, I got out my
measuring tape and this confirmed that these three pieces had been placed right
smack dab in the middle of the wood canvas!!! What are the chances? This gave me an idea…
I
asked Devon if he wanted to hide something in the art – something that no one
else would ever know about. I explained
that if we added on to his three pieces, continuing to build on the symmetry
that he had started, and then later on filled in the empty spaces with the same
randomness that we were using on the border, that no one would be able to
notice our design concept and that only we would know what we had done! He thought that this would be a cool thing to
do… and so we did it!!!
Here,
we can all see the symmetrical design that we created. Size and shape of the puzzle pieces are
symmetrical! Their colours are symmetrical! And their positioning is symmetrical!!! I love it!!!
It’s interesting events like this, that are the joys of creating
art. Later, when this area is
completely filled in, no one should be able to see the symmetry that we
created… unless people happen to have read this story, discovered our secret
and then when looking for it!
The
above photo will now lead us into the next significant area…
This
cloud is now done!!! Yeah! I love it
when an area is completed! I mentioned
early in this story, how I had to divide the original cloud design into two
parts. If I had left the cloud as a
whole, it would have dominated the sky and I didn’t want that to happen. So, I divided the one cloud into two…. and
now the smaller of the two clouds is done!
And
the third significant area of this latest effort is the completion of the large
tree in the foreground!!! This was a
very intense part of this art work!!!! This
tree filled me with a lot of doubt and I questioned my design over and again,
trying to figure out how to proceed! Let
me explain…
This
tree was one of the first components of the art to get started. I found a large selection of forest puzzle
pieces and simply thought, “Perfect!”. I
wouldn’t have to search out other sources of puzzle pieces to blend together to
create this part of the art…. and so, I began the work.
It
wasn’t until Devon and I got this much done that my doubt set in! If you look back at many of the full art
image photos that I’ve share, you will notice that in the last few, this area
didn’t grow any larger. I spent weeks
contemplating my design concepts, before I moved forward on this area again.
The
doubt came from the fact that this large triangle – representing a tree
obviously – was going to fill a large area of the completed art in a rather
uniform way. Although there are many
colours in this area, when they are all put together, they blended to become
one colour… a rather dark colour at that!
My concern was that this tree would dominate, in a negative way, the
entire art – like a soar thumb! I didn’t
want that! I wanted a final image that
would all come together in a positive way that all would enjoy!

I
reflected on the tree that I had completed in the artwork that inspired this
design. Here, you can see that I used
several large colours of Kleenex box cardboard to complete the tree. I began to wonder if I should copy this
concept into the puzzle piece art work.
I wondered and wondered and wondered… for several weeks. I kept thinking that I could get some wood
chisels and remove some of what I had already done and begin to rework this
entire tree. I worried about damaging
what I had already done!
And
then, one evening, I found peace! I had
been sitting in front of this art, staring at the tree, wondering what I should
do. Joanne walked by me and told me that
I looked really stressed out. I
explained my thoughts and then Joanne spent some time regarding the tree and
then she said, “Well, I think it looks great now and I’m sure it’ll look just
fine when it’s finished!” That was all
it took…. an outsiders observation! I
wish I had shared my concerns earlier!
It would have saved me weeks of wondering!!
So,
there ya go!!!! Even the most skilled
and confident artists find moments of struggle, confusion and doubt while in
the process of creating their art! I
believe that it is these moments that make both the artist and the artwork
stronger!
I’m
going to end this portion of the story with a zoomed in look at the texture
that is this tree…
It’s
this texture that helped me to decide (along with my wife’s encouragement) to
continue on with the design concept that became the tree. You see…. I have great demands of my audience
– LOL!!!! Not only do I want viewers to
stand back and enjoy the entire image, I want them to also come in real close,
to forget about the image as a whole and enjoy the many interesting areas of
this art with their noses only inches away from the art.
This
is how I know that I’ve captured someone’s attention. When this art is done, I should see viewers
looking at it from a distance. Then they
see something in the art and they get closer.
Then they step back again, to view it as a whole, while keeping in their
minds what they just saw up close. This
art, when completed, should have viewers stepping in close, then away, several
times!!!
So –
what’s next??? Although my mind is still
thinking about all that space that will eventually be the foreground, I’m just
not ready to tackle that portion of this project, quite yet! I think I’ll get Devon and me to focus on the
blues of the sky, for the next few weeks… and maybe a bit more of the sun!
So,
until then…. have a wonderful springtime!
I’ll look forward to sharing more in another week or so…..
First
of July, 2019
Well,
it’s been a bit longer than a couple of weeks since I last shared an update
about this artwork! I’ve been very
busy! This is why I rarely do any art
during the summer months, there’s just so much other stuff to do!!!
This is where we left off...
Today, I have 3 photos to share with you today!
Nothing spectacular! No new revelations!
Just a few photos showing how the art has progressed!
In
this photo, you can see that a lot of sky got done… in the upper left portion
of the art! This happened on a rainy
day, when I couldn’t work in my garden!
I spent the morning listening to some LPs on my record player and
enjoyed working on this art…. it had been a while since I last did any work!
In
this photo, you can see that even more blue sky got done! This was the afternoon that I had some
plumbers at my house fixing my bathroom sink.
I couldn’t leave them in my house alone, so I settled down and got to
work!!!
This
photo was taken just last week! Again –
another rainy morning that kept me from working outside! I spent the first two hours working on more
of the sky and then I went to work on a
few sun rays. You can see that I got one
of the top ones completed and the next two sunrays – moving counter-clockwise
from the other one almost got completed!!!!
January 2020
My summer's are always so busy that I rarely have time to work on any art projects. This fall ended up being very busy, as well. Devon and I worked very hard supporting the Green Party during the Federal Election!!!!
It wasn't until the last week of the Christmas holidays when I found time to get back to it. My focus, was to get myself used to doing this style of art, again, and I thought the best way to do this would be to concentrate on just one area. I chose to work on the blues of the sky...
This is a close up of the newly completed portion of the sky....
During this time, our washing machine was giving us problems. For a while, I had to go to a nearby laundromat to wash all the towels that my wife uses at her dog grooming business - Happy Tails! Instead of sitting around, twiddling my thumbs, waiting for the wash and dry cycles to finish, I took a box full of puzzles and spent my time getting ready to continue my work on the sky!

'
There were many other people at the laundromat, and when they walked past me, I could see a question forming on their face... wondering what I was doing. I'm actually surprised that no one came up to me and asked!
Today, is January 15th, and I actually found several hours to work in peace and quiet!!! I spent the afternoon listening to a few of my records (Yup! I'm talking vinyl LPs - anyone remember those?) and I finished a rather large portion of the sky.....
And after a few more hours over the next week....
And today - February 6, 2020 at 11:00am - the blue sky is done!!!!
February 21, 2020
If you think about the size of the space that is the border, in this art, you'll notice that it is quite large.... I kinda figure that it's about 1/7 of the entire art! As I move forward, my plan is to work on the main image and complete small portions of it and then work on a bit of the border. That way, I'm not left with a massive area to do at just one time. Working like this keeps the whole project moving forward....
So - since I recently completed the blue portion of the sky, I have been working on a part of the border.....
I'm going to work on a bit of the border, for the next week or so and then I'm gonna have to make a choice.... Do I finish the clouds or work on the sun rays... or maybe even the two small trees??? We'll have to wait and see what happens......
Mid-March, 2020
So.... I've been picking away at the border for the last little, while, as I said I was going to... and here are a few small results...
The upper right corner got filled in a little bit more
and, just today...
I filled in this rather large area of the border!!!
Since I'm working on the border, just a bit at a time, I'm now going to work on some other areas of this artwork. Maybe I'll pick away at some clouds or maybe I'll finish another ray of sunshine. I'm excited to see what I do next...
The Covid19 Coronavirus Lockdown Begins - Mid-March 2020
Like everybody else on this planet, the spread of the Covid19 virus and the forthcoming lockdowns affected my family! This puzzle artwork project quickly got put to the side, as we focused on more pressing matters... like changing all aspects of how we live our lives! But this did not stop me from being creative. In fact, I ended up creating many other artworks and some of them were used to help our local food bank. To see my artworks, poems and photos.... and some of Devon's artworks and poems.... follow this link....

After witnessing US President Trump stopping shipments of PPE into Canada (that did eventually come across the border), I became concerned that other 'trade war' scenarios may also be heading our way so I spent a lot of time over in our gardens!! Food security will become the most important aspect of our lives, so in order to grow more food, we had to cut down a few rather useless juniper bushes and two small cedar trees in order to make room for more garden! Here's a photo showing the pathways and rock walls that I've been working on! I got quite a bit done, before the winter snows fell, but I still have a lot of work to get to this coming spring.
From the end of May until the end of July, I found myself in a very negative situation!!! This situation was so oppressing that I decided to demonstrate to Devon and others, how important it is to make a stand against people who treat you poorly by creating a Youtube video to share the story! To date, all of my Youtube videos have been filled with positive and inspiring messages, so it was very different for me to create a video of protest! Devon helped me, quite a bit, and together we were able to share our story with a great many people! Please enjoy this video link.... it is a rather hilarious video....
We had many fun family adventures throughout the summer. I celebrated my 50th birthday. And I ended the summer vacation getting involved in the leadership race election for the Green Party of Canada...
You can see that I keep my 'green' signs pretty busy!!!! Soon enough, school started and our daily routines returned to something resembling 'normal'! Shortly after that, Joanne was able to find a new location for her store. We had been looking for a better location for over two years... and it was actually because of the pandemic that we were able to move the store. Because of capacity restrictions, Gymworld had to redesign their programs for 25 kids instead of 150 and this left them with a lot or room that wasn't being used. The owner started dividing his space to lease out to other business... and Happy Tails was one of them!!!!
So... a lot of time and effort went into getting the new space ready, moving and setting things up at our new location!!!!!
We've recently enjoyed our Christmas holidays and now we are in another provincial lockdown, so we are adapting and changing.... and managing to keep food on our table - just like everybody else!
These are just a few of the things that have been keeping me busy since my last artwork post from March, 2020!!
Like most years, it's not until the snow covers the ground when I find time to get back into my artwork... and I'm pleased to share that I have been working on this puzzle piece artwork for a little over a week now and I imagine that I will be able to make steady progress over the next few months.... so let's take a quick peak at where I left off and then we'll get into some new photos....
This is the last full art photo that I shared, waaaay back in mid-February of 2020...
And this is the photo that I took just a couple of hours ago, on January 06, 2021....
The border is coming along nicely!!!! I've also been working on the clouds... but it's a little hard to see the work in this photo. I'm hoping to have the clouds done soon and when I do, I'll take a closer photo so that I can share that with you!!!
My focus over the next month or so will be to complete everything that I'm presently working on before I continue with the bottom portion of the artwork. So, we should soon see a few more tree triangles appearing and I'm very excited to complete the remaining sun rays!!!!
January 13, 2021
And the clouds are now done!!!!
This is a photo of the entire artwork and you can see that I've been very busy on the border, as well as finishing the clouds. The border actually accounts for a rather large portion of the completed art and although it's not the most exciting aspect of the art, it is bringing me a lot of satisfaction as I witness all the white spaces getting smaller and then getting completely filled in!
For the next while, I'm going to continue with the work needed for the border (maybe it'll be done by my next entry) and I'm going to pick away on the sun rays. Last year, I had set aside a small container with puzzle pieces for the remaining two triangular trees.... and if I can find that container again (wish me luck! LOL!!) I'm going to start working on that, as well!
January 20, 2021
Today was a busy day.... with lots going on! After I got Devon set up to continue with his online schooling because his school is closed due to Covid19 lockdown measures, I got busy completing the border!
10:17am
The top portion of the border is done!
11:05am
Two sides of the border are done!
I took a break for a little over an hour to watch the Inauguration of Joe Biden! Let's hope that this change of government and President will see better days for a country that has suffered so much loss over the last four years!
4:37pm
The border is done!!!
As I look back at the photo that was taken just before I started working on this artwork again, a great wave of satisfaction flows over me! There was so much to do and day by day, one little piece at a time, it got done! I'm going to take a break from this art... for just a day or so... as I've focused on it so much that I need to play a little 'catch up' on a few other things I've neglected over the last week or so.