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Blue

blue (blue); mixed media on cradled wood panel; 18 x 24 (x 1.5) inches; painting surface is birch hardwood mounted to a basswood frame

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Canadians are blue. It's a fact! "A higher percentage of Canadians are clinically depressed than any other population in the world," states Dr. Vera Grey of the Tristful Centre for Wayward Studies. She explains: "There are some key factors at play in Canada -- the ten-month winters, frequent lectures by the Queen, a national fondness for cough syrup, the popularity of Nina Simone, psychic vapours, etcetera -- that combine and reinforce each other to create a culture of bitterness and unhappiness." Glinda Moody of Chapfallen, Saskatchewan describes her own psychological makeup as typically Canadian. "Oh absolutely," she says. "I've hated everyone my entire life. Some days it takes all my strength not to hit the milk man with a broom handle, just because he said good morning to me. And if I see one more picture in the newspaper of Paul McCartney and that little smirk of his, by God I'm going to set this whole town on fire." Other Canadians embrace their weary and downhearted ways. Says Donna Grimshaw of the new mothers support group Melancholy Babies, "Look, everyone knows that things are never going to get better. The world is doomed. So lets have a drink or two or eleven and crank up the karaoke machine. We're all going to be dead soon anyway."

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This painting is part of the "O Canada, O New England" show I'm having next Saturday with my friend Susan at artstream studios in Rochester, New Hampshire. I'll be posting more throughout this week.

Comments

  1. I think central Pennsylvania must have a lot in common with Canada.

    Every time I see the mailman, my hand instinctively reaches for the broom.

    And now that the leaves are falling, I go into my usual Autumn funk, wondering whether or not I will survive the winter.

    I'm sure I'll be listening to Nina Simone over the next several cold, dark months? Is there a problem with that?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Never, Kim. There is *never* a problem with listening to Nina.

    ReplyDelete
  3. It’s the “psychic vapours” that really get me down...

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous8:28 pm

    How do I gets me a job at the Tristful Centre for Wayward Studies? Surely they need a wayward archivist...

    ReplyDelete
  5. Okay, you got me at Melancholy Babies. This blog is definitely going on my blogroll. Thanks for the laugh tonight. :)

    ReplyDelete

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