Marier and Shakespeare intersection - Vanier

The name of this street is what attracted me to paint this location. When I was 14-16 years old I used to read a lot of Shakespeare's work.

I had taken photos, found my spot where I wished to start painting, done some drawings, On Sunday Night I stayed up a little past midnight doing some additional drawings of the location from a computer print off taken with my digital camera several days prior. I wake up Monday morning very early... already to start painting. But it was snowing. So I stayed in bed feeling like a floating pillow.

It continued to snow, snow, snow... all day it snowed. It must have snowed 20 plus cms. Needless to say I spent a good portion of the day clearing the drive way.

The next day (Tuesday). I slept in until 8 o'clock. I was not fired up to paint like I was yesterday morning. That night my daughter Isabelle (18 months) had growing pains and slept in my bed between 4-5 am. So I took the morning easy and had breakfast with Isabelle and Erika (my wife). About an hour later I prepared my equipment for a day of painting and set off.

It was a cold day. It was -22 plus a wind chill that made it feel like -26. The day was beautiful. After an hour of painting I felt like a bird, a tree, a red garbage can, a telephone wire, pavement, dirt pure snow.

At lunch time I ran over to purchase some food at a local business. It was reasonable food. I continued to paint while eating. The can of coke froze very quickly and was wasted.

Several people made encouraging comments. And I had some nice conversations with a couple of individuals. Having just moved from London England and still getting settled, it was nice to meet people.

As the day passed the cold really set in. My body felt like I was waiting at a bus stop for 9 plus hours while trying to read some text book for a university exam.

A broken card board box was blowing down the middle of the street. So I used it to stand on. Like homeless people use card board to isolate the ground from the cold. My teeth really started to hurt, they felt like they were rotten and falling out.

It was getting late and I really had to work hard and fast. Cars had turned there lights on and the sun was setting.

The walk home was like wind walking on a cloud. A deep sense of freedom blew in my soul. When I arrived home my wife had waited for me to start dinner. A warm bowl of soup, organic bread and I passed on the dessert (ice cream).

After eating I had a long shower to clean a warm up. Isabelle kept running from her bedroom into the bathroom to give me her teddy bears. Erika and I smiled. Once I was dry and dressed we played games and before her bed time we looked at books fill with animals and colors.

there is no home
no home to burry bones

there are no worms
in a winter's garden

cardboard insulates the
pavement from the cold

these teeth are not rotten
and are not falling out

when the cold sets in
I become a bird, a tree

a red garbage can, a
telephone wire, pavement

melting in the sun
freezing and free

written March 2005