Ragged Ass Road
This road actually exists and is located in Yellowknife. I took a picture of this sign in 2019 (see below) when I went to Yellowknife for a federal-territorial meeting. I paired the sign with a picture of a light post located in Québec City and added some Ottawa pigeons. Et voilà - an all Canadian composition.
Doesn't it reflect well life and the current climate of late?
Last month marked the end of my working relationship with the federal public service. Some people would call it retirement, I call it conscious uncoupling and the beginning of well deserved and earned alimony :)
I have absolutely no regrets leaving the federal public service a year ago to be on leave without pay. I realized that I don't miss the work, in fact, at the end of my tenure, I was hating the work. There was no interest in vision and strategy and the basic principles of good people management had become inexistant. As a senior assistant deputy minister, my job had become mainly to be a glorified and overpaid issues manager. It is so sad when you think about it. Hearing Mark Carney talked like a nerdy economist brings me back to my early days at the Department of Finance where substance abounded. I really hope that a pendulum swing towards analysis and evidence-based decision making, both for my ex-employer but also in societal debates. I may be dreaming in technicolour here but better to dream than to falter.
While my official "uncoupling" day generated no change to my daily life, psychologically, the day truly marked the end of a cycle, the definite loss of a professional identity and new found freedom. Nothing earth shattering but a sense of new beginning.
I had managed over my close to 30-year career in the public service not to have any pay issues... but alas, I became a statistic in the last month of my career (IYKYK). Ugh! I was so close!
Artistic Endeavours
One of the most surprising things that occurred during my year off was how little painting I did. I was not feeling it and I didn't force it. I realised that I had approached my artistic career, when I formally launched it in 2020 by displaying my art, in a typical type A way, with objectives and goals to reach. Art is everything but that. Sure you can have goals and objectives but the creative process and the expression of oneself should be the main driver of everything, the rest will follow.
Instead of painting, I actually did a lot of crafts and I learned to do silkscreen, which I really enjoy. I deconstructed and re-discovered my artistic purpose - what is it so important to me to create - and I have started to paint again. My style and subjects are meant to evolve so you will definitely see a change in my art. Only time will tell.
I also realised that my art needs to be tied to giving back in some shape or form - whether it is to raise issues, give a voice or fundraise for a given cause. As such, last month, I released a Collection of reproductions stemming from original silkscreen prints. Each print will be reproduced professionally only 20 times, in an 8 by 10-inch format and are $75 each; $40 of each sale will be donated to the Centre 507 and the Cipto in Gatineau.
The Collection is called Rising Up and reflects the Canadian sentiment following certain events and most of all, comments made South of the border.
I actually learned Saturday that my big beautiful red beaver roaring at Trump (Rising up 1 below) has been accepted in a juried art exhibition put together by the Ontario Society of Artists!
The exhibition is called The Unquiet North/le nord agité and will be at the Donna Child Fine Art Gallery in Toronto from June 18th to July 8th.
You will be able to buy the original at the show or you can buy a limited reproduction of Rising Up 1 and other silkscreen prints by clicking here.