31st (Monday)
Sent Kiyeon a Halloween e-mail, with photos
Stretched paper for the portrait, titled 'Girl
from Tokyo (Portrait of Minako as the Chinese
Pirate Madame Chiang, at Halloween). Clear,
sunny, cool, with a strong wind blowing all
day
November
1st (Tuesday) [Girl from Tokyo]
Talking to Myle as she was driving from the
doctors to lunch, through a traffic light,
& past a swat team. Is frightened of driving
up or down hills. Stopped by Donburi to let
Tokyo girl know I had started a portrait of
her. Her name is Minako. She seemed to like
the idea of skulls in the background
2nd (Wednesday) [Girl from Tokyo]
Texting & talking to Myle, who wants me to
help her write a poem for her 1 yr old niece's
birthday. Told me that Cindy said Agnes Chow
had moved back to Hong Kong
3rd (Thursday) [Girl from Tokyo]
Hailstorm around 3 o'clock, which lasted 10
minutes or so. Followed by large tracts of blue
sky between blue/black clouds, & sunshine
through the sparkling wet leaves
4th (Friday) [Girl from Tokyo]
Text from Myle asking if could help her finish a
poem for her nieces birthday. Lovely white
clouds in the sky this afternoon. Clear, & quite
chilly
5th (Saturday) [Girl from Tokyo]
Reanne describing her heritage to me : which
included native Trinidad, Irish, 'Katmandu'. I
inspired her, she told me, to do a portrait titled
'Girl from Port-of-Spain', of her mother. Compared
the color of the veins in my wrist with one of her
customers. I was a blue blood, she said, & the
customer was green. Mild, sunny day
6th (Sunday) [Girl from Tokyo]
Continuing the text messages with Myle that began
last night. Wants me to phone LV to see if the
manager is on holiday, or trying to avoid her call
Talked to Eve for the first time in a month. Told
me she quit her other job & is working two days a
week at the new post office in Yaletown. Would
love to do a portrait of her. 'Portrait of a Girl
from the former Dutch East Indies'? Banter with the
Indian girl at the Bay, talking to her mother on
the cell, trying to persuade her to buy 10 boxes of
biscuits on sale
7th (Monday) [Girl from Tokyo]
Dark, cold, light rain all day
8th (Tuesday) [Girl from Tokyo]
Dark, mild, light rain
9th (Wednesday) [Girl from Tokyo]
Showed 'Little Red Riding Hood' the photo of
herself with Minako. She reacted with a little
exclamation & 'Thank you!' Her name is Emi
10th (Thursday) [Girl from Tokyo]
Sunny, mild afternoon. The trees along Burnaby
glorius with colour
11th (Friday) [Girl from Tokyo]
Eve telling me she's working six days a week,
with no time to work on projects. Liked the
8X10 'Shopping Queen' print of Myle.
Another great discussion with Reanne, who
described an outline she's working on, the
image of a woman sort of merging, as I
understand it, with the form of a tree;
selling art with sketches of studies,
certificate, etc. as a sort of added
package. 'Like we used to get with L.P.'s
I told her. Around 2:30, as I was finishing
up the portrait, a heavy shower of rain,
with huge gusts of wind, sending clouds of
leaves swirling through the air
12th (Saturday)
Describing the portrait to Minako, though
I'm not sure how much she understood what I
said. Though she did understand I'm bringing
it in on Monday & seemed excited about
seeing it. Told her about Madame Chang, &
when I suggested she was her at the
Halloween party, she thought a moment, &
laughed out loud
14th (Monday)
Bright sun this morning, with a strong wind
Showed the portrait to Eve, at London Drugs
Post Office. She seemed to like it quite a
lot, & thought it would be interesting to do
a series of the same subject. Text message
from Myle saying she was leaving for Hong Kong
on Friday. In the afternoon showed the
portrait to Minako & Kaori. Her English is
limited, I'm not entirely sure what she thinks
17th (Thursday)
Gave Minako a few prints of the portrait. Mostly
overcast, cold, wet & threatening snow
