Month: October 2022

The Missing Car

October 29, 2022 / Conal

Our car was gone!

When we left the restaurant after celebrating my artist wife’s 30th birthday, we strolled casually to the parking lot with the fluorescent beams of light glowing above the pavement under the half moon.

As we rounded the corner of the building, our little Honda Civic was not there. The spot we had left our car in was filled with a black SUV.

Frantically, my artist wife whipped her head around in every direction hunting for any sign of our maroon-coloured little economy car.

Artist Spotlight: Linda Finstad

October 18, 2022 / Conal

Linda Finstad is an Edmonton-based artist and author. Throughout the pandemic, she painted using coffee. Yes, coffee. Now, she’s painting with cat hair, dust bunnies, cigarette butts, and other truly useless items. Yes, truly.

The England-born artist started out as a horse-show photographer and sort of, kind of fell into an art career because of a combination of cellphones, Facebook, and an art collector from Texas. It all comes together in the interview below.

Linda has a fabulous sense of humour — as you might expect — given her ability to paint with some of the above items. The laughs came a mile a minute during our chat. Enjoy!

[Featured Artwork: “Whole Bottle” by Linda Finstad.]

The Louvre Top 10 Tips & Observations

October 15, 2022 / Conal

There I sat on my hotel bed in Paris. My artist wife lay beside luxuriating in the white hotel bathrobe as we unwound from our busy day in the City of Lights.

She was reading a story while I was tapping out another 500-word Saturday Morning Story on my new MacBook. It was her 15th anniversary gift to me. We had just used my gift to her — a membership to the Louvre.

As I tapped out the story, I decided that it could wait. Instead, today I provide you — free of charge — 10 of my immediate observations about the Louvre fresh from that same night, mere hours after I returned from the world’s most famous museum.

Artist Spotlight: Gwyneth Leech

October 11, 2022 / Conal

Gwyneth Leech is a New York City artist whose pieces have been inspired by the city she has lived in for the last 20 years. Currently, she is focused on the ever-changing skyline and architecture in the city as it goes through a continual transformation.

She’s previously been featured in a documentary as well as the New York Times and was, somewhat amusingly to her, featured on TripAdvisor as a “What To See” attraction in the Flatiron Building (see Question 13).

She was a pleasure to speak with and learn from. I’m glad she agreed to chat and I hope you can learn something too.

[Featured Artwork: “Hudson Yards Rising with Encampment, View from West 30th Street, 2021” by Gwyneth Leech. 36″ x 44″, Oil on canvas.]

Artist Spotlight: Nikki DeOliviera

October 4, 2022 / Conal

Nikki DeOliviera is an unabashedly devout Christian who moved to the Edmonton region from Louisiana five years ago.

I’m grateful to her for filling in after another artist was unable to make their scheduled interview. Although, truth be told, with three kids and six animals, I’m not sure how she found the time.

Nonetheless, I’m glad I had the chance to chat with her. And I hope you learn a few things about her and check out her fabulously colourful art as a result.

[Featured Artwork: “Bayou Ombre – Teal Waters” by Nikki DeOliviera.]