• A home of your own? How about a converted Martello tower? (The Guardian)
• The decline effect in science. (The New Yorker)

Peterson Creek Trail, Kamloops 
oil on canvas 61.0 cm x 76.2 cm (24" x 30")

This is a summer painting from Kamloops, B.C.

• The prison library. (The Boston Globe)

Untitled
ink
8.9 cm x 12.7 cm (3.5" x 5")

If you can think of a caption for this cartoon, please send it to me and I'll add it to the image.

• " Hopper is a painter without any sense of humor, which is a troubling fact. He paints without wit, without self-awareness." So thinks Morgan Meis. Agree or disagree? Or does it matter? (The Smart Set)
• The decline of America? (The New Republic)

An Old House
oil on board
15.2 x 20.3 cm (6" x 8")

For Winnipeg, this is an old house. Although I'm no expert, from the style of the house, I would guess that it was built sometime between 1900 and 1914.

For anyone in Winnipeg the house is on the corner of Boyle St. and Dewdney Ave. in Point Douglas.

Hallelujah Chorus: Chorus Niagara

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE! (This choir is a good reason to live in southern Ontario.)

7 Seconds: Youssou D'Nour

Not exactly a Christmas video, but for those celebrating Christmas tomorrow, Merry Christmas!

• Mystery sculpture appears and disappears in Boulder, Colorado. (dailycamera)
• The American plutocracy. (Plutocracy could apply to many countries, including Canada. ) (The American Interest)

Grey Hair
gouache
45.7 x 30.5 cm (18" x 12")

Grey Hair, or Gray Hair?

• I feel like singing today. (The Metropolitan Museum of Art)
• Which (famous) artist do you want to follow? (MutualArt)
• A different Dickens? If you're in Winnipeg tonight or tomorrow night check out Ian Mozdzen's version of A Christmas Carol at the Dalnavert Museum.

• The Andrew project, for better or worse. (CBC News)
• More dumb art thieves. (CBC News)
• New architecture in Tasmania. (The Guardian)

Electrical Outlet with Girl
gouache
35.6 x 27.9 cm (14" x 11")

I'm running out of titles.

• Scientology. (The Humanist)
• I knew that PhD was a mistake. (The Economist)

B. in Profile
gouache
22.9 x 25.4 cm (9" x 10")

This drawing isn't much; though it seems to be a good likeness in spite of lack of time that went into it.

• Know your market: more career advice for artists from Ed Winkleman.
• The virtues of gossip. (The Globe and Mail)
• Mao. (The New Yorker)

Kings Hotel
oil on board
15.2 x 20.3 cm (6" x 8")

The Kings Hotel is a familiar, if not terribly attractive, landmark in Point Douglas, a neighbourhood bordering Winnipeg's downtown.

• This from a review of Katharina Wulff's work at the Greene Naftali Gallery: “Works proceed unpredictably to their completed state, leaving figures fixed in visual moments throughout the psychological and material experience of committing them to canvas; these are interrupted always by a ‘hysteric whimsy’ that productively fails to seize Wulff’s mannered subjects in a uniformity that might be recognizable to the self-identifying techniques routinely unquestioned by contemporary culture.” Got it. (Art Baloney Blog)
• Art forgery in Portugal. (The Wall Street Journal)

Rear View
gouache
22.9 x 30.5 cm (9" x 12")

Despite the view I like this.

• Ever heard of Darwin's rival, Richard Owen? (The Telegraph)

Pink Portrait
gouache
22.9 x 17.8 cm (9" x 7")

• A decent community is one in which a crazy old lady can wander the neighborhood without fear of being put away, or so thought Paul Goodman. (bookforum)
• The Killing of Crazy Horse. (The Wall Street Journal)

Tree
oil on board
20.3 x 15.2 cm (8" x 6")

Not one of my better efforts.

River Road, Summer
oil on board
15.2 x 20.3 cm (6" x 8")

This is from last summer. The view is of River Road, north of Winnipeg, where it borders Larters Golf Course.

• The rise and fall of foreign films in America. (The Book)
• The truth about unauthorized biographies. (As as aside, are there any unauthorized autobiographies?) (The American Scholar)

K. Reading
gouache
45.7 x 30.5 cm (18" x 12")

This was a five minute painting. It shows, I know.

• Punctuacon and the octothorpe. (The National Post)
• The most beautiful(?) public libraries in the U.S. (Flavorwire) (via things magazine)

Winter River
oil on board
15.2 x 20.3 cm (6" x 8")

This is the Red River at the beginning of our street.

• Perversion isn't subversion anymore, so pity the poor artist. (The Wall Street Journal)
• Francesca Woodman, a unique photographer. (The Telegraph)
• The golden age of comic book sales. (Fine Books)
• The science of literature. (Sounds scary.) (science progress)

Black Strap
gouache
45.7 x 30.5 cm (18" x 12")

I somehow neglected finishing the model's right eye in this painting, as well as his fingers on both hands - not to mention that I cut off his legs and couldn't be bothered to do anything with the background. But give me a break. Time was short and my eyesight isn't so good.

• Who says the Japanese are crazy? Crazy for vans, that is. (Speedhunters) (via things magazine)
• Architecture as seen from Toronto. (No Mean City) (via things magazine)

Pregnant
ink
30.5 x 45.7 cm (12" x 18")

I think that I must have missed something when I was doing this drawing. The model couldn't have been as pregnant as I've drawn her.

• Do Jeff Koons and Versailles deserve one another? (The Art Newspaper)
• Stefan Zweig. (Slate)

Woman Looking Down
ink and watercolour
45.7 x 30.5 cm (18" x 12")

This woman had strong looking hands. I might have overdone them a bit, particularly the the left hand, which looks not only odd, but too large.