charcoal - way easier to make than it looks

 This is willow charcoal I made.  The willow trees need coppicing (chopping down) each winter and I took some sticks and pealed the bark off them.

This is an old tin something, maybe chocolates?  With a nail, puncture the hole in it.  fill it as tight as possible with sticks (green is fine, dry is better) and wrap some stiff wire around it to make sure it stays closed.  Toss it in the woodstove at the end of the day.  It's ready by morning.

Considering, with shipping and stuff, it's about a dollar a stick to buy this kind of willow charcoal, I expected it to be more difficult to make.

I painted a house (or a small part of one)

 There is more than one kind of painting going on these days.

I like the other kind better

light, shadow, lopsided

 Playing with opaque watercolours, lights and shadows.  I don't really like it, but it was fun to paint.

the one that got away

 Here's one that didn't get very far.  She's a tricky hen and I thought maybe the colours beneath the feathers... 

Nah.

Need to work on brush control more.  

Sometimes the chicken works, and other times it's just not ready to be painted yet.

armistice day

 

Today is Remembrance Day as they call it here.  

It's a bit of a shit day now.  It doesn't mean much except everyone under the age of 19 has to know the poem about the poppies.  Everyone gets a holiday unless you are in the military then you have to either work or go to stand in the cold for whatever ceremonies (unpaid) for hours.  It feels more like punishment to those who serve.

And I can't help but think how important their work is.

Here in Canada, the forces do more than practice with guns.  They are involved in search and rescue, medical evac to the remote artic when conditions are too cold for civilians, they help with floods and fires, they even go into old age homes and change dirty nappies when the government fails.  

To give a country the best years of their lives, only to get tossed aside at the end?  It's getting better for those retiring these days, but they still fail those who retired before.

Sorry.

shitty day.  

not a day many people remember except to take one of the 'free' poppies at the grocery store and have a day off work.

Also, I forgot to paint (or steal) a poppy.

still a mystery

 

I only saw her on photo day.  But yes, she was that mean.  I took her photo, she bit me.  Seems like a fair exchange.  

who is this hen?

 I don't know this hen.  I've never seen her before.  But she showed up on picture day.  And was never seen again.

Oh well.  I'll begin with a wash.